The Massachusetts militia served as a central organ of the New England revolutionary fighting force during the early American Revolution and a major component in the Continental Army under George Washington.

It is currently headquartered at Hanscom Air Force Base and commanded by Major General Gary W. Keefe.

Massachusetts National Guard soldiers and airmen are trained and equipped as part of the United States Army and Air Force, and identical ranks and insignias are utilized.

Soldiers and Airmen are held to the same uniform, physical fitness, and marksmanship standards as their Active Duty counterparts.

The militia companies were nominally under the command of the colonial governor, but, in practice, operated as independent units.

The economic, social, and political consequences of King Philip's War (named after the Wampanoag sachem that led them) would echo into the following centuries.

Prior to the American Revolution, Massachusetts' armed citizens were organized into two major elements.

There was the "regular" militia, which consisted of all white males age 16 to 60, and the minutemen who were better trained and equipped and who could react more quickly to an emergency - theoretically on a minute's notice.

In the early morning hours of April 19, 1775, the militia company of Lexington, commanded by Captain John Parker, confronted British forces heading to Concord to search for stores of munitions.

After the battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, Massachusetts militia units were called into service, along with militia units from New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island, to form the Army of Observation whose purpose was to ensure that the British did not travel to locations outside of Boston which they occupied.

Massachusetts militia units were called into service to reinforce coastal fortifications protecting Boston and other locations.

The enrolled militia was simply a list of able bodied men age 18 to 45 which would only be called upon in time of war.

[3] At the beginning of the American Civil War in 1861, Massachusetts Militia units were mobilized to serve in the Union Army.

During the Spanish–American War six Massachusetts Volunteer Militia regiments were called into Federal service between May and July 1898.

The primary result of the Dick Act was that the state militias were transformed into better trained, better equipped and more professional military forces.

The National Defense Act of 1916 built upon the Dick Act by requiring National Guard units to increase their number of annual training assemblies (commonly called "drills") from 24 to 48 and the number of annual training days from 5 to 15.

Additionally, Guard units were mobilized for coastal defense at forts in the Boston and New Bedford areas.

As in the First World War, Massachusetts National Guard units were called into Federal service.

In the early 1980s the National Guard received more Federal funding and evolved into a better trained, better equipped and more professional force.

The National Guard was in a high state of readiness when units were activated to serve in the Gulf War of 1990 to 1991.

On October 29, 2007, Major Jeffrey R. Calero was killed in Kajaki, Afghanistan by a roadside bomb during a combat patrol.

The MSDF was composed of former members of the United States Armed Forces who live in Massachusetts and serve on a voluntary basis unless called to active duty.

Upon entering office in 2016 Governor Baker declined to sign the re-authorization bill concerning the guard and it was deactivated.

[citation needed] The Massachusetts National Guard has helped to administrate the COVID-19 vaccine in places such as Springfield, East Boston, and Danvers to civilians.

[10][11] Up to 250 members of the Massachusetts National Guard were activated and trained to drive school transport vans, known as 7D vehicles after a mass shortage of bus drivers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.