Chattanooga Pulse

“In 1965, I wanted to be a soldier,” says Mike Miller. And he got his wish. But part of that wish went unfulfilled. He decided, as a junior in high school, that he wanted to make the military a career. He joined in 1965, and left for Vietnam in 1966 after completing airborne school. Miller liked jumping off roofs as a child—he thought jumping out of an airplane would be even more fun.

“Did two tours in Vietnam,” he recollects, “’66-’67, re-upped again for a third tour without even coming home, and caught one in the leg.” While on patrol in the jungles of Southeast Asia, Miller was shot. “That put me out of the game.” The wound was serious enough to send him home. An Airborne Ranger was of little use with a leg injury.

Miller lived, reluctantly, as a civilian for the next three decades; out of the game, but never far from the sidelines. Then the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, demanded attention. “I was mad…REAL mad. Tried to get back in active duty. Said I was too old. That made me even madder,” he says indignantly. Then he saw a sign at the local post office, a recruiting poster for the Tennessee State Guard, the all-volunteer branch of the Tennessee Military Department.

The TSG is a brother organization of the Tennessee National Guard. The only differences are: There’s no pay, enlistment is open to veterans up to the age of 70 and you never have to be deployed outside the Volunteer State. He enlisted that day.

“State Guard got me back in uniform,” Miller said, “Made me feel like I was helping fight the war on terror.” In Vietnam, Miller was an NCO (non-commissioned officer). When he got out, he went to college and earned his bachelor’s degree. That meant when he enlisted in the Tennessee State Guard, he was offered an officer’s commission. Starting out at second lieutenant, he is now a major, and commanding the 1st Battalion of the 4th Regiment, located at Holtzclaw National Guard Armory.

The Tennessee State Guard, as a volunteer force, can trace its lineage back to the Revolutionary War and the Battle of King’s Mountain in North Carolina. Some 400 volunteers crossed the mountain to fight the British. The volunteer force was so effective and wreaked such havoc on the British troops that Colonel Patrick Ferguson, under Cornwallis, made the threat that if the Tennesseans did not desist in their opposition to the king, he would “march his army over the mountains, hang their leaders, and lay their country waste with fire and sword!”

This threat was met with an additional 1,000 volunteers, who turned the tide at King’s Mountain and sent Cornwallis back to the Chesapeake. In just over one hour, the volunteers, without benefit of orders, formal military training, uniforms, provisions or even promise of pay, totally decimated the highly skilled British troops. Every last red coat was either dead or captured. The dead included Col. Ferguson.

This spirit of volunteerism is alive and well in the State Guard of today.

Hal Shaw tried to get into the military when he was young. At the time, he was the last male in his family, all others having served and some having perished in defense of the United States. So, he was told he could not join. For years, he lived his life wondering “what if.” But 22 years ago the commander of the 4th Brigade, as it was then known, was looking for a firearms instructor.

Hal Shaw eventually rose to the rank of command sergeant major, the highest rank in the State Guard. After serving in that position for a few years, he was offered an officer’s commission. Now, he has risen to the rank of major and is executive officer of the 4th Regiment.

He has enjoyed a fellowship in this organization he’d been looking for all his life. “You’d have to go a long way to find better camaraderie and fellowship in any organization,” boasts Shaw. “Because all of us realize we’re all in the same boat, so to speak.” Shaw is proud of the sacrifices the troops under his command make in order to serve the state. “We’re all volunteers,” he reiterates, “we take away from our family, work time, and donate our time to the state.”

Family time doesn’t always have to suffer. There are several husband-wife and father-son teams in the State Guard. Brenda Yancey’s husband was in the State Guard. She wasn’t content to sit at home while he attended drills, so she tagged along. After she continued to help out with clerical duties, the general finally told her, “If you’re going to do the work, you need to enlist.”

And she did.

“My husband had a massive heart attack and died the same year I joined the State Guard,” Yancey reveals. “They asked me what I wanted to do and I told them I wanted to continue on.” Now, many years later, Yancey is the first female sergeant major in the State Guard, traveling 120 miles one weekend a month to attend drill in Chattanooga.

For more information, visit www.tnsg.us or the local unit’s web site, www.4thTennessee.com.