Alabama Army National Guard

Alabama Army National Guard
Alabama STARC Shoulder Sleeve insignia
Active	1807 - present
Country	United States
Allegiance	United States  Alabama
Branch	United States Army Army National Guard
Type	ARNG Headquarters Command
Part of	Alabama National Guard
Garrison/HQ	Montgomery, Alabama

The Alabama Army National Guard is a component of the United States Army and the United States National Guard. National coordination of various state National Guard units are maintained through the National Guard Bureau.

Alabama Army National Guard units are trained and equipped as part of the United States Army. The same ranks and insignia are used and National Guardsmen are eligible to receive all United States military awards. The Alabama Guard also bestows a number of state awards for local services rendered in or to the state of Alabama.

National Guard units can be mobilized at any time by presidential order to supplement regular armed forces, and upon declaration of a state of emergency by the governor of the state in which they serve. Unlike Army Reserve members, National Guard members cannot be mobilized individually (except through voluntary transfers and Temporary DutY Assignments TDY), but only as part of their respective units.

For much of the final decades of the twentieth century, National Guard personnel typically served "One weekend a month, two weeks a year", with a small portion of each unit working for the Guard in a full-time capacity. New forces formation plans of the US Army were announced in early 2007 modifying the recent (2001–2006) United States National Guard active duty callup pace. The new plan will nominally anticipate that each National Guard unit (or National Guardsman) will serve one year of active duty for every five years of service. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates imposed "a one-year limit to the length of [Federal deployments] for National Guard Soldiers." Callups by Alabama authorities for state emergencies are not included in this policy.