The Monday, October 1, 1917 edition of the Laramie Boomerang presented a grim cartoon for Monday morning readers as well as news on the first big Liberty Loan campaign that was kicking off.
Chances are, however, that men and women with sons in the National Guard were more interested in the article indicating that the Army was culling the officer corps of the Federalized Guard, which it was..
This is a story that's well known to students of the Guard in World War One and World War Two, but perhaps less so to others. Having just run an item here on the Guard during the Vietnam War in which I sought to correct something that's a bit of a slight to the National Guard it might seem here that I'm doing something that's a bit of the opposite, but history is what it is.
Truth be known, while the Guard had been reforming itself and drawing closer to the Army since the passage of the Dick Act early in the 20th Century, which made it an official component and reserve of the Army, old aspects of the more independent state militia system lingered on in a couple of forms. One was the existence of "Champagne Units" which were nearly fraternal military organizations for the very well heeled. These units were not necessarily bad, we should note and indeed at least one of them was very good. But that was truly an oddity. Often over subscribed these units, typically cavalry, were hard to get into and saw men who were millionaires serving as privates. Again, having said that, they weren't bad units.
More problematic is that the officer corps of the National Guard could be inconsistent. The degree to which this was truly a problem remains debated, but that there was some problem can't be doubted. Some men were simply unsuited to be officers and others were not fit enough to be officers.
Having said that, that wasn't completely untrue in the Regular Army, although it was much less true, and it would also be true of the Army raised to fight the war. All in all, most men were suited and indeed sometimes highly suited for their wartime roles and the National Guard gave a good account of itself. The war couldn't have been fought, from the American prospective, without the Guard. The lingering Regular Army resentment over the Dick Act, which had not been universally popular with the Army, played a role in what would occur with National Guard officers as well, and that would continue on in to World War Two.
By World War Two, however, the National Guard would be closer yet to the Regular Army. That war would draw it much closer and by the time of the Korean War it was much more like it is today in those regards. Today, it's very close.
As an aide in this paper, it's odd to see the headline about a "star athlete" opting to attend the university. With a big war breaking out, that's not a headline we expect to see.
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