Older than the Army it belongs to
The South Carolina Guard traces its line to a colonial militia that was already mustering in 1670, the year Charles Town was settled. A year later the colony passed an ordinance requiring able-bodied men to serve and provide their own arms. The legal right to raise that militia had been written into the Carolina Charter of 1663, which granted the power “to Levy, Muster and Train all sorts of men.”
Sit with the dates for a second. That militia was drilling more than a century before there was a United States Army to join. The U.S. Army was established on 14 June 1775. The organization you would be joining is older than the force it now fights alongside. It was renamed the South Carolina National Guard in 1905.
Two masters, on purpose
The Guard is the one part of the military that answers to two chains of command, and that is the whole point of it. When the mission is here at home, it works for the Governor of South Carolina: hurricanes, floods, wildfires, search and rescue. When the nation calls, the President can order it to federal active duty, and it deploys and fights under the same standards as the active Army. Same Soldier, same unit. Only the orders change. (The two chains are laid out in the chain of command note.)
The storms you remember by name
Ask anyone who has lived here a while and the Guard’s state mission has a face: the storms.
- 1989 Hurricane Hugo. Around 400 Guard troops activated for coastal evacuations.
- 2016 Hurricane Matthew. At least 1,100 Army National Guard troops on duty; an engineer company cleared roads in Hilton Head as people came home.
- 2018 Hurricane Florence. Around 1,600 SC Soldiers and Airmen mobilized, with total Guard support reaching roughly 3,000 as members from at least 28 states surged in to help.
A partner across the hemisphere
Since 23 July 2012, the South Carolina Guard has been the United States’ National Guard partner to the Republic of Colombia, the 64th such partnership in a program that now spans about a hundred nations. South Carolina Soldiers and Colombian forces train together in cyber, aviation maintenance, engineering, logistics, and medical skills. A state Guard, quietly running a piece of American foreign policy.
Named for its first general
The Guard’s air base outside Columbia, McEntire Joint National Guard Base, is named for Brigadier General Barnie B. McEntire Jr., the first commander of the South Carolina Air National Guard and its first general officer. The base was renamed in his honor in 1961.
Who leads it now
The Governor of South Carolina is the Commander-in-Chief of the state’s National Guard. Day to day, it is run by The Adjutant General, a two-star officer. As of this pulse check, that is Major General Robin B. Stilwell, the 30th Adjutant General of South Carolina, who assumed command on 31 May 2025. A piece of trivia that says something about this state: South Carolina was, until recently, the last state whose adjutant general was elected by voters rather than appointed. A constitutional amendment changed that, and the office is now appointed by the Governor.
Why we put this in the Schoolhouse
None of this requires you to join. It is just worth knowing what you would be part of. If you do decide to raise your hand, you are stepping into a line that runs back more than 350 years, and if you decide it is not for you, that history is yours to know anyway. Either way, walk in knowing whose company you are keeping.
SOURCES: SC NATIONAL GUARD OFFICIAL HISTORY (SCGUARD.NG.MIL) · SOUTH CAROLINA ENCYCLOPEDIA (MILITIA; NATIONAL GUARD) · ARMY.MIL AND NATIONALGUARD.MIL (HURRICANE RESPONSE; STATE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM) · GOVERNOR.SC.GOV AND DVIDS (CURRENT LEADERSHIP) · AVALON PROJECT, YALE LAW SCHOOL (CAROLINA CHARTER OF 1663) · CURRENT AS OF PULSE CHECK DATE