Meanwhile, the Congressional Digest (the official federal publication that explains legislation) in 1934 provided some basic details on the Act of 1920. Beyond what has already been described vis-a-vis the 1920 Act, the Congressional Digest explains that the Act fixed the number of members of the Army at 15,034 combat officers, 280,000 enlisted men, in addition to the number of officers (17,726) alluded to earlier in this paper. There was also flexibility built into the military, in that the size of the army could "be varied depending on the changing importance of the branches in the scheme of defense" (Congressional Digest, 1934).

In conclusion, the Army National Guard has been very active in protecting Americans at home and abroad. At one time in 2005, Army National Guard brigades made up "more than 50% of the U.S. Army combat brigades in Iraq (www.ng.mil). And in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, "more than 42,000 Army National Guard troops" from many states provided relief for the victims and property...

Truly, ever since the National Defense Acts of 1916 and 1920, the National Guard has grown and become a vital part of American homeland and foreign defense activities.
Works Cited

Army National Guard. 2011. Always Ready, Always There. Retrieved November 19, 2011,

from http://www.ng.mil.

Congressional Digest. 1934. Provisions of the National Defense Act. Vol. 13, Issue 4. Retrieved

November 18, 2011, from EBSCOhost.

Doubler, Michael Dale, Listman, John W., and Goldstein, Donald M. 2007. The National Guard:

An Illustrated History of America's Citizen-Soldiers. Dulles, VA: Potomac Books.

History.com. 2010. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signs National Defense Act. Retrieved

November 19, 2011, from http://www.history.com.

Madloff, Maurice. 1996. American Military History: 1902-1996. Jackson, TN: De Capo Press.

Raatma, Lucia. 2005. The Minutemen. North Mankato,…