Just returned home from Ohio “Militia” duty today and this was one of the first articles I read…

I’m an officer in the Ohio Organized Militia, aka “Ohio Military Reserve”. (See ohmr.ohio.gov . Also see en.wikipedia.org for more information. I don’t believe that Idaho can form any sort of militia that isn’t ordered as a “State Defence Force” as per en.wikipedia.org and see law.cornell.edu

(note: I am not a spokesperson, and this is just written IMHO).

I”m also a former US Air Force Member (10 years before an injury that disqualified me for Federal service). Most of the OHMR members are also prior federal service. Those who aren’t go through a State version of Basic Training. Many of those in my unit who aren’t prior service are in their civilian life EMTs, Law Enforcement Officers, RNs and other upstanding, pillar-of-the-community types.

We serve without pay most of the time, providing even our our uniforms and gear. True Volunteers.

As I explained to a curious man at the gas station where I filled up my tank on my trip home today. “We are organized like the US Army in rank and procedures, except that we don’t train for combat. We are under control of the Governor of the state and cannot be federalized or sent outside of the state. We serve the state of Ohio and are trained for support functions for civilian and state organizations”

“The Ohio Military Reserve is a component of the Ohio Adjutant General’s Department and serves under the governor as commander in chief. Its primary mission is to provide a fully-manned and mission-ready civil support and sustainment brigade to support the state’s Emergency Support Function 6 (mass care) and Emergency Support Function 7 (logistics and resource support) during natural or man-made disasters or other threats to homeland security. In order to accomplish this mission, OHMR units are trained in medical support, volunteer reception and management, shelter management and logistics support in addition to basic soldier skills. Our core competencies are training to National Incident Management System (NIMS), Military Emergency Management Specialist (MEMS), and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) standards.”

I think you could sum us up as “Volunteers that follow orders”, unlike civilian volunteers (and thank God for them) who come and go with some unpredictability and the concerns for planning that go along with that.

So in summary… there are many crazy ideas from the right these days. A State Militia is not in and of itself, one of them.