The Alabama State Defense Force (ASDF) is the

state defense force In the United States, state defense forces (SDFs) are military units that operate under the sole authority of a State governments of the United States, state government. State defense forces are authorized by state and federal law and are unde ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, allowed by the

Constitution of Alabama The Constitution of the State of Alabama is the State constitution (United States), state constitution of the U.S. state of Alabama. It was adopted on November 28, 2022, as a recodification of the Alabama Constitution of 1901 which had been in ef ...

, federal law, the Code of Alabama, and Executive Order. It has an authorized strength of 1,000 members and is organized on the United States Army structural pattern. The ASDF is under the control of the

Governor of Alabama A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

, as the state's Commander in Chief, and comes under the authority of The Adjutant General (TAG) of Alabama. The ASDF is an adjunct, volunteer, augmenting force to the

Alabama National Guard The Alabama National Guard is the National Guard of the U.S State of Alabama, and consists of the Alabama Army National Guard and the Alabama Air National Guard. (The Alabama State Defense Force is the third military unit of the Alabama Mil ...

. Currently, the ASDF is inactive awaiting reorganization by the

History

Origins

Prior to the modern

National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...

, states would provide volunteer militia units to augment the federal army in times of war. In the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...

, Alabama provided the United States with

multiple units A multiple-unit train (or multiple unit (MU)) is a self-propelled train composed of one or more Coach (rail), carriages joined, and where one or more of the carriages have the means of propulsion built in. By contrast, a locomotive-hauled ...

of Alabama militia, with most serving for less than a year. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, both Union units and Confederate units were raised in support of the war effort. In the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

, Alabama raised three volunteer infantry units.

20th century

After the declaration of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the majority of the National Guard was mobilized, leaving governors without troops to guard against invasion, provide disaster relief, and protect against civil unrest. Therefore, many states, including Alabama, raised

s to act as a replacement for the National Guard during the war. In 1940, Governor Frank M. Dixon created the Alabama State Guard, recruiting primarily from

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

veterans in the

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States, U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It comprises U.S. state, state, Territories of the United States, U.S. terr ...

. Alabama took a unique approach in creating its state defense force. While other states actively recruited from veteran's organizations, Alabama went a step further and "gave the American Legion of Alabama the responsibility for creating and running its State Guard," and in return, Alabama "was able to achieve a functioning state guard sooner than most states." By using an existing private organization as the framework for their state defense force, Alabama was able to achieve full readiness far sooner than might be expected. At the war's end, the Alabama State Guard was deactivated. On December 22, 1983, Governor

George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who was the 45th and longest-serving governor of Alabama (1963–1967; 1971–1979; 1983–1987), and the List of longest-serving governors of U.S. s ...

signed Executive Order Number 20, which authorized the creation of the Alabama State Defense Force, the successor of the Alabama State Guard which was disbanded in World War II.

21st century

Before the start of the

United States invasion of Afghanistan Shortly after the September 11 attacks in 2001, the United States declared the war on terror and subsequently led a multinational military operation against Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The stated goal was to dismantle al-Qaeda, which had exe ...

in 2001, the Alabama State Defense Force began training at

Fort McClellan Fort McClellan, originally Camp McClellan, is a United States Army post located adjacent to the city of Anniston, Alabama. During World War II, it was one of the largest U.S. Army installations, training an estimated half-million troops. After t ...

to serve as stateside replacements for deploying units. In 2008, members delivered meals and water to

Hurricane Gustav Hurricane Gustav () was the second most destructive tropical cyclone of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. The seventh tropical cyclone, third hurricane, and second major hurricane of the season, Gustav caused serious damage and Casualty (per ...

evacuees. On August 14, 2012, Governor Robert Bentley signed into law the Alabama State Defense Force bill (SB278), which added clarification to the role of the ASDF in relation to the Alabama National Guard, so that the two organizations can be better integrated in future stateside missions. As recently as April 2013, the ASDF was still seeking applicants, but as of November 2013, it was stood down from active status. While not abolished or disbanded, the ASDF was placed in inactive status while "the future structure, mission and manning of ASDF are determined." As of June 2022, the state of Alabama was still issuing Alabama State Defense Force license plates to its active and inactive members. After the Alabama State Defense Force was shifted to inactive status, some of its members formed th
Alabama Volunteers
as a private organization organized under the Alabama State Defense Force Association, in order to continue their volunteer service in disaster relief efforts until the ALSDF is reactivated. In Southern Alabama, the U.S. National Reserve Corps was started with members from the ASDF, this national organization also consists of volunteers dedicated to service in disaster relief efforts and participated with the Red Cross in 2014 in damage assessment in Baldwin County. As of January 2025, over 11 years since the temporary suspension began, the state of Alabama has not yet finished its reorganization of the Alabama State Defense Force.

Mission

The mission of the Alabama State Defense Force is to on order of the Adjutant General of Alabama provide trained and ready volunteer individuals and units to support the National Guard conducting Defense Support to Civil Authorities missions to mitigate and/or alleviate the effects of a natural or man-made disaster.

Organization

The ASDF is headquartered in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama. Named for Continental Army major general Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River on the Gulf Coastal Plain. The population was 2 ...

. The ASDF has three operational Brigades.