Oklahoma Army National Guard


The Oklahoma Army National Guard is the Army National Guard component of the Oklahoma National Guard. The Commander in Chief of the Oklahoma National Guard is the Governor of Oklahoma, who appoints the State Adjutant General, a Major General from either Army or Air. Currently, the TAG is Major General Michael C. Thompson, formerly director of the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety. The previous TAG was MG Robbie Asher.
The history of the OK ARNG SOF aviation "Lords of Darkness" is complicated. Early aviation units in the OK ARNG appears to have included the 245th Medical Company and the 145th Aviation. Company, seemingly amalgamated into the 445th Aviation Company ; the 445th Aviation Company was reorganized as Company B, 149th Aviation Battalion ; and in May 1982, the 45th Aviation Battalion was organised as a Special Operations Forces unit. Organizational Authority #168-87 reorganized the 45th Aviation Battalion as the 1st Battalion, 245th Aviation, as of 1 October 1987. On 5 August 1987 the 245th Aviation was constituted in the Oklahoma Army National Guard, a parent regiment under the United States Army Regimental System. It was organized 1 October 1987 to consist of the 1st Battalion at Sperry. The 1st Battalion relocated to Tulsa on 1 July 1989. In 1986-87 there was a struggle by the OK ARNG to be accepted as a Special Operations Aviation team member by Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg and the active Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. But it appears that this process was generally successful. The unit flew 6,298 flying hours in 1992. The unit may have been deactivated in 1994.
At some point 1st Battalion, 245th Aviation was reorganized into 1st Battalion, 245th Aviation. In January 2016 the unit was preparing for deployment to the Middle East; at that time, pre-deployment training was scheduled for May-June 2016 at the state training site, Camp Gruber.

Units

The Oklahoma Army National Guard consists of the following elements:
The OKARNG controls the Camp Gruber Maneuver Training Center located near Braggs, Oklahoma.

History

Historic units