The Scout Battalions of the Alaska Army National Guard

The "Eskimo Scouts" began in World War II as a voluntary unit known as the Alaska Territorial Guard (ATG). The ATG's duty was over at the end of WWII, and it was disbanded. In 1949, the Alaska Army National Guard started up again. Armory locations for the guard were set up all over the state. Most were set up at locations where the ATG operated. Many of the men and women that were once volunteers with the ATG signed up the newly created and one-of-a-kind Scout Battalions for the Alaska Army National Guard in their villages. 

Read more about the Scout Battalions of the AKARNG and their place in their communities, Alaska, and the world in the ATG booklet. 

Eye to Eye with Ivan and the Ice Curtain

The Cold War was not fought on any conventional battlefield, and the members of the Alaska National Guard were far from a conventional unit. Alaska Natives stood guard and engaged with the Soviet Union along our nation’s western frontier for 50 years. Paul Gray’s film provides a thoughtful approach to the complicated issues of cultural contact involving the US and USSR, and Alaskan villagers within the dramatically changing times in America during the second half of the 20th century. Through stories, photographs, and archival film clips, the men of the Alaska National Guard recall a time when, while the rest of the country was learning how to duck and cover, they were standing on the shores of the Bering Sea, where the Cold War was the coldest. This video was made possible by a grant from the Department of Defense Legacy Program.