The first elements of the Georgia National Guard were established in Savannah in 1733 by Lord James Oglethorpe. For nearly three centuries, Georgia’s citizens have volunteered to leave home and family to protect their fellow citizens.
The tradition of the Citizen-Soldier continued through the colonial period, the American Revolution, and the conflicts of the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Thousands of Georgia’s Citizen Soldiers and Airmen deployed around the globe supporting missions on all seven continents.
The Ga. NG deployed overseas while providing the governor with a response force able to swiftly respond to hurricanes, floods, wildfires, civil support missions, and public emergencies at home.