Three hundred and seventy-five years ago on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 1636, the National Guard was born in Salem, Mass. On that fateful day, the Massachusetts General Court in Salem directed that all able-bodied men between the ages of 16 and 60 were required to join the militia, becoming citizen-soldiers who would train together in order to defend the Massachusetts Bay Colony, if called upon. The colonists established the North, South, and East Regiments with this order, marking the first time a militia was raised on the North American continent. Those units have continuous and unbroken ties to today’s National Guard, making Salem the Guard’s birthplace, according to Guard officials. (NGB report by Bill Boehm)
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.