National Guard Armory

After World War II, the Section 5 Committee of the Office of the Chief of Staff, War Department, chaired by MG Milton Reckord, approved a policy of constructing National Guard armories using 75% federal and 25% state funding.{{citation |title=Milton Reckord papers |publisher=University of Maryland Libraries|hdl=1903.1/1281 }} In 1968, the Army National Guard had 2,786 armories;{{citation |title=Annual Report, Chief National Guard Bureau, Fiscal Year 1968 |year=1968 |url=http://www.nationalguard.mil/Resources/FOIA/Library/FileId/88714/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504002242/https://www.nationalguard.mil/Resources/FOIA/Library/FileId/88714/|archive-date= May 4, 2021}} in 2000 the Army National Guard had 3,166 armories in 2,679 communities.{{citation |title=Still Serving: Reusing America's Historic National Guard Armories |last1=National Trust for Historic Preservation |last2 =National Guard Bureau |year=2000 |page=5 |url=http://www.nationalguard.mil/portals/31/Documents/About/Publications/Documents/Still%20Serving%20-%20National%20Guard%20Armories.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730214032/https://www.nationalguard.mil/portals/31/Documents/About/Publications/Documents/Still%20Serving%20-%20National%20Guard%20Armories.pdf|archive-date=July 30, 2022}} In 2009, the Kansas Adjutant General's Department announced it would be closing 18 of its then-56 National Guard armories "due to state budget cuts."{{cite press release |author= |title=Adjutant General Announces Location Of 18 Armory Closures |date=December 11, 2009 |url=http://kansastag.gov/press_release_detail.asp?PRid=670 |publisher=Kansas Adjutant General's Department |access-date=July 5, 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705221251/https://www.kansastag.gov/press_release_detail.asp?PRid=670|archive-date=July 5, 2022}}

A report to Congress in 2014 noted that some National Guard armories are in poor or failing condition, with "the average nationwide [Readiness Center] condition [being] fair, but bordering on poor…".{{rp|10}} The report noted that the $377 million annual expenditure for constructing and improving readiness centers would produce "major long-term risks," and recommended more than quadrupling annual funding to "get to green" on key performance indicators by completely transforming and modernizing the portfolio of readiness centers.{{rp|13-14}}

In the 20th century, a number of national guard armories were the target of burglaries and weapons theft.{{cite book |last1=Investigation |first1=United States Federal Bureau of |title=Annual Report - Federal Bureau of Investigation |date=1969 |publisher=Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation. |page=18 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ljz2CwDFaS4C&dq=national+guard.armory+robbery&pg=RA3-PA18 |language=en}} "One of several instances of burglaries of National Guard Armories and thefts of military weapons..."

Bonnie and Clyde acquired many of the weapons used for their crime sprees, such Browning Automatic Rifles, through theft from National Guard Armories.{{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=Wilbur R. |title=The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America: An Encyclopedia |date=20 July 2012 |publisher=SAGE Publications |isbn=978-1-4833-0593-6 |page=260 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vs9wCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT260 |language=en}}

Some of the burglaries were linked to radicalism, as in the case of Katherine Ann Power, who stole weapons from multiple armories in the 1970s.{{cite web |date=25 November 1993 |title=Ex-Fugitive Gets Prison Term in '70 Armory Theft |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-11-25-mn-60611-story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101162513/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-11-25-mn-60611-story.html |archive-date=November 1, 2022 |website=Los Angeles Times}} A particularly notable case in 1974 involved the theft of a huge arms cache from the Compton National Guard Armory in California, in which nearly 100 M-16 rifles and several rocket launchers were stolen.{{cite news |date=6 July 1974 |title=Huge Arms Cache Is Stolen on Coast From an Armory |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/06/archives/huge-arms-cache-is-stolen-on-coast-from-an-armory.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101200211/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/06/archives/huge-arms-cache-is-stolen-on-coast-from-an-armory.html |archive-date=November 1, 2022}} Several suspects were eventually arrested in 1975. The magnitude of this crime was considered analogous to most dangerous kind of terrorist threats.{{cite web |last1=Westbury |first1=Judith |last2=Reinstadt |first2=RN |title=MAJOR CRIMES AS ANALOGS TO POTENTIAL THREATS TO NUCLEAR FACILITIES AND PROGRAMS |date=1980 |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA511971.pdf |website=US MIL |publisher=Rand Corporation|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20221117041224/https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA511971.pdf|archive-date=November 17, 2022}}

In 1995, former soldier Shawn Nelson stole an M60A3 tank from a National Guard armory in San Diego and went on a rampage throughout the city until he was shot dead by police.{{cite news |last1=Rotella |first1=Sebastian |author-link1=Sebastian Rotella |last2=Kraul |first2=Chris |date=1995-05-19 |title=Tank's Driver Beset by Drug, Money Problems |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-05-19-mn-3459-story.html |url-status=live |work=Los Angeles Times |language=en |location=San Diego |issn=2165-1736 |oclc=3638237 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200525174000/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-05-19-mn-3459-story.html |archive-date=2020-05-25 |access-date=2022-11-11 |url-access=subscription}}

• National Guard Armory (Batesville, Arkansas), listed on the NRHP in Arkansas
• National Guard Armory Building (Searcy, Arkansas), formerly listed on the NRHP in White County, Arkansas
• National Guard Armory (Mena, Arkansas), listed on the NRHP in Arkansas
• National Guard Armory-Pine Bluff, Pine Bluff, Arkansas, listed on the NRHP in Arkansas
• Fort Homer W. Hesterly Armory, Tampa, Florida, listed on the NRHP in Florida
• Old West Palm Beach National Guard Armory, West Palm Beach, Florida, listed on the NRHP in Florida
• Villisca National Guard Armory, Villisca, Iowa, listed on the NRHP in Iowa
• Minneapolis Armory, Minneapolis, Minnesota, listed on the NRHP in Minnesota
• Kearney National Guard Armory, Kearney, Nebraska, listed on the NRHP in Buffalo County, Nebraska
• Hoosick Falls Armory, Hoosick Falls, New York
• Schenectady Armory, Schenectady, New York
• National Guard Armory (Fort Mill, South Carolina), listed on the NRHP in South Carolina
• The Houston Light Guard Armory, Houston, TX (Now the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum), listed on the NRHP in Texas
• The D.C. Armory, a multi-use facility adjacent to RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.
• National Guard Armory 127th Regiment Infantry Company G, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, listed on the NRHP in Wisconsin

• List of armories and arsenals in New York City and surrounding counties
• Drill hall
• Armory (military)

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• [http://www.nationalguard.mil/Portals/31/Documents/ARNG/ARNG2018Installations.pdf Installations+Environment, Journal of the Army National Guard, 2018]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070228191819/http://www.ngb.army.mil/ The National Guard Bureau]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060427082454/http://www.ngb.army.mil/gallery/heritage/index.asp The National Guard Bureau Heritage Collection]

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Category:National Guard (United States)

Category:Army National Guard (United States)

Category:United States Air National Guard