Confused, I am. How are the national guard not military?

Afaik, the National Guard is called in by the governor of the relevant state. However, the President can deploy them as well. There was a Supreme Court ruling to that effect some years ago.
In this instance, I have no idea who called in the National Guard, but they saved lives big time.

They’re still military.

The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the militia air force of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It, along with each state's, district's, commonwealth's or territory's Army National Guard component, makes up the National Guard of each state and the districts, commonwealths and territories as applicable.

When Air National Guard units are used under the jurisdiction of the state governor they are fulfilling their militia role. However, if federalized by order of the President of the United States, Air National Guard units become an active part of the United States Air Force. They are jointly administered by the states and the Guard Bureau National , a joint bureau of the Army and Air Force that oversees the United States National Guard.

The ANG flew a variety of types in Vietnam, F-100 being one.Across the United States Wildfire suppression is administered by land management agencies including the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Army Corps of Engineers, and state departments of forestry. All of these groups contribute to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group and the National Interagency Fire Center.

Once again the pilots and crews were from the California Army National Guard, not the Army, the Air National Guard or any of the other outfits mentioned.

The crews and aircraft were from the 40th Combat Aviation Brigade, an Army unit. Salute Gentlemen, or BZ in Navy lingo. Photos courtesy of unit FB.

Airframe: CH-47 from Stockton
CW5 Rosamond
CW2 Hlebain
SGT Esquivel
SGT Powell

Airframe: UH-60M from Fresno
CW5 Goding
CW2 Hernandez
WO1 Xiong (CE pending flight school)


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....d2d679172b.jpg
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The 40th Combat Aviation Brigade is a California Army National Guard Unit. :D

Close enough for a Navy guy though. :ok:

Close enough for government work bubba. :p Nickname: Sunshine Division. Shoulder patch: A dark blue diamond on which, in yellow, is the sun with 12 rays; the patch is worn diagonally. The semi-sunburst was suggested as the unit's shoulder sleeve insignia, and represents the Division's home of Southern California. The demi fluer-de-lis symbolizes service in France during World War I. The outer rim of the sun rays refers to the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation award. The red arrowhead alludes to firepower of the Division and represents their assault landing at Luzon in World War II. The Torri gate. A symbol of the Far East, refers to the award of the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation.

Get a pass? ;)

They're also fighting the fires with water drops, CH-47 and UH-60


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Great work & thanks
 

I would bet....not a "draft dodger" among them!:D

The American military draft program ended on 01 July, 1973, 47 years ago, and the U.S. Armed Forces have been "all volunteer" since then. With that said, I think I catch your drift in that they are all "gung-ho", without a slacker amongst them. I have a very strict definition of what a "hero" is, but I believe that all seven of those men are REAL HEROS!

Cheers,
Grog

All 7 x aircrew just awarded the DFC in person by POTUS at a ceremony in CA.

That's great that the awards were made in a timely manner. Back in the bad old days (Vietnam), the awards process could be tortuous to put it mildly, with many awards being forwarded up and down the line until they were "lost in the shuffle". Of course, a few were made very quickly ... RHIP, ya know.

Cheers,
Grog

They were probably relieved that they were going into a hot extraction (no pun intended) without being shot at.

Grateful for all their work in CA ... my daughter lives 6 miles west of the "Bobcat" fire, and is braced to evacuate. Her husband is ex-British Army, so a safe pair of hands in a crisis!