CHAPTER 227

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 2-27.1, 44-8, 44-11, 44-17, 44-20, 44-21,
44-28, 44-25, 44-27, 44-30, 44-81, 44-33, 44-41, 44-48, 44-44, 44-49,
44-48, 44-49, 44-80, 44-93, 44-115, 44-185 and 44-204 of the Code of
Virginia as severally amended, all relating to the Virginia military
establishment. 'S 85]

Approved March 31, 1964

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 2-27.1, 44-8, 44-11, 44-17, 44-20, 44-21, 44-28, 44-25, 44-27,
44-80, 44-31, 44-33, 44-41, 44-48, 44-44, 44-45, 44-48, 44-49, 44-80, 44-93,
44-115, 44-135 and 44-204 of the Code of Virginia, as severally amended,
be amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 2-27.1. No State, county or municipal officer or employee shall
forfeit his title to office or position or vacate the same by reason of etther
engaging in the war service of the United States or when called forth
by the Governor pursuant to the provisions of § 44-75 or when called to
active duty in the armed forces of the United States; and any such officer
or employee who, voluntarily or otherwise, enters upon such war service
or is called to service as above provided may notify the officer or body
authorized by law to fill vacancies in his office, of such fact, and there-
upon be relieved from the duties of his office or position during the
period of * such service; and the officer or body authorized to fill vacan-
cies shall designate some suitable person to perform the duties of such
office as acting officer during the period the regular officer is engaged in
* such service, and during such period the acting officer shall be vested
with all the powers, authority, rights and duties of the regular officer
for whom he is acting.

§ 44-8. The Governor shall be Commander in Chief of the * armed
forces of the Commonwealth, and shall have power to employ * such
forces to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, and enforce the execution
of the laws.

§ 44-11. There is hereby created the Department of Military Affairs
to which is transferred all of the functions, powers and duties of the
former Division of Military Affairs.

The Governor shall appoint an Adjutant General with the rank of
brigadier general, * major general or heutenant general as the Governor
may prescribe, subject to confirmation by the General Assembly if in
session, and if not in session, then at its next succeeding session *. The
Adjutant General shall not hold the rank of lieutenant general unless such
rank is federally recognized. The Adjutant General shall be in direct
charge of the Department of Military Affairs and shall be responsible to
the Governor and Commander in Chief for the proper performance of
his duties. All the powers conferred and the duties imposed by law upon
the Adjutant General shall be exercised or performed by him under the
direction and control of the Governor. The Adjutant General shall serve
at the pleasure of the Governor for a term coincident with that of the
Governor. No person shall be appointed Adjutant General who shall not
have had at least * ten years’ commissioned service in the Virginia Na-
tional Guard in at least field grade. The Adjutant General, while serving
as such, may be a member of the Virginia National Guard.

The Adjutant General shall receive a salary prescribed by law.

§ 44-17. The Adjutant General is empowered to make such regula-
tions pertaining to the preparation and rendering of reports and returns
and to the care and preservation of public property as in his opinion the
conditions demand, such regulations to be operative and in force when
promulgated in the form of general orders, circulars, * circular letters,
or other regulations and documents. —

§ 44-20. The Adjutant General shall have * a deputy Adjutant Gen-
eral whose grade shall not exceed that of brigadier general and he shall
have other assistants and such clerical forces as may be necessary * who
shall serve at the pleasure of the Adjutant General, subject to the pro-
visions of general law, and shall perform such duties as he may assign
them. The Adjutant General shall have such other clerks and employees
as may be necessary for the administration of his office.

§ 44-21. The Adjutant General and his * fiscal clerks shall each
give bond, with sufficient sureties, to be approved by the Governor, as
provided by law for other State officers. The penalties of the bond shall
be as follows: Of the Adjutant General, ten thousand dollars, of each of
his * fiscal clerks, three thousand dollars.

§ 44-23. The Adjutant General shall make annually a report to the
Governor, * not later than sixty calendar days after the thirty-first day
of December, of the strength, condition, training and equipment of the
* armed forces of the * Commonwealth, and of the expenditures of the
Department of Military Affairs since the last annual report.

§ 44-25. Except as otherwise specifically provided by the laws of
the United States, the organization of the National Guard, including the
composition of all units thereof, shall be the same as that prescribed for
the * active army, air force and navy, subject in time of peace to such
general exceptions as may be authorized by the Secretary of Defense.

§ 44-27. All officers of the National Guard shall be appointed and
commissioned by the Governor as follows:

(1) Appointments of second lieutenants shall, when practicable, be
made from the enlisted men within the organization. Commanding offi-
cers shall forward through * channels the name * of the * best qualified
* enlisted man in their organization, accompanied by * the necessary
documents and his military records, with * the commander’s endorse-
ment thereon, to the Adjutant General’s Office for consideration by the
Governor.

(3) Original appointments in new organizations, all appointments
* in the headquarters and hearquarters detachment, and to all staffs
higher than brigade, and the appointment of brigade and higher com-
manders shall be made upon the recommendation of the Adjutant General.

(4) Within the organization, insofar as practicable, all appointments
and promotions * shall be based on professional qualifications, efficiency,
length of service in grade, length of commissioned service, and demon-
strated command and staff ability at the appropriate level, and will be
effected only when an appropriate vacancy exists in the applicable table
of organization and equipment or table of organization * or distribution.

§ 44-30. No person shall hereafter be appointed an officer of the
National Guard unless he first shall have successfully passed such tests
as to his physical, moral, and professional fitness as the President shall
prescribe. The examination to determine such qualifications for com-
mission shall be conducted by a board of three commissioned officers ap-
pointed by the Secretary of * Defense from the * active army or the
National Guard, or both. *

§ 44-31. Relative rank among officers of the same grade shall be
determined according to * current and subsequently amended Department
of Defense and National Guard regulations.

§ 44-33. At any time the moral character, capacity, and general
fitness for the service of any National Guard officer may be determined
by an efficiency board of three commissioned officers senior in rank tc
the officer whose fitness for service shall be under investigation, said
board to be appointed by the Adjutant General and convened on his order.
If the findings of such board be unfavorable to such officer and be ap-
proved by the Adjutant General, * such officer shall be discharged. Com-
missions of officers of the National Guard may be vacated upon resigna-
tion, if approved by the Adjutant General, absence without leave for
three months, upon the recommendation of an efficiency board, pursuant
to sentence of a court-martial, upon physical disqualification, when con-
victed of a felony in a civil court, when appointed or inducted into the
armed forces of the United States, when federal recognition is withdrawn
from such officer or his unit, upon reaching maximum age limitation, and
when it has been determined that an officer is subversive or disloyal.
Officers of the Virginia National Guard rendered surplus by the disband-
ment of their organization shall be placed in * another unit, providing
an appropriate vacancy exists, otherwise such officers shall be separated
from the Virginia National Guard and automatically revert to the
eserve.

§ 44-41. Training, including inactive training, armory drills, * an-
nual active duty for training, active duty training and other exercises,
shall be conducted in accordance with existing or subsequently amended
National Guard regulations.

§ 44-43. General courts-martial of the National Guard, not in the
service of the United States, may be convened by orders of the Governor
or of the Adjutant General of Virginia, and such courts shall have the
power to impose fines or sentences to forfeiture of pay and allowances,
in either case not to exceed $200.00, to reprimand, to dismiss or to dis-
charge dishonorably from the service, to reduce noncommissioned officers
and specialists to any grade lower than that held. * Any two or more of
* the foregoing punishments, may be combined in the sentences imposed
by such courts, except * that no sentence may provide for both a fine and
a forfeiture.

§ 44-44. In the National Guard, not in the service of the United
States, the commanding officer of each garrison, fort, post, * camp, or other
place, * division, brigade, * separate battle group, squadron, battalion,
or other detached command, may appoint special courts-martial for his
command; but such special courts-martial may in any case be appointed
by superior authority when by the latter deemed desirable. Such special
courts-martial shall * have * no jurisdiction over commissioned officers,
including warrant officers, but with respect to other ranks shall have
similar powers of punishment as do general courts-martial, except that
fines or forfeiture of pay and allowances imposed by special courts-martial
shall not exceed one hundred dollars.*

§ 44-45. In the National Guard, not in the service of the United
States, the commanding officer of each garrison, fort, post, camp or other
place, division, brigade, * separate battle group, squadron, battalion or
company, or other detachment, may appoint for such place or command
a summary court, to consist of one officer of field grade, if available, and
if none such be * available, of the highest commissioned grade available.
Summary courts-martial shall have the power to try enlisted personnel
only, the power to administer oaths and to impose fines or forfeitures of
pay and allowances, not exceeding $25.00 for any single offense, and
may reduce noncommissioned officers and specialists to any grade lower
than that held.

§ 44-48. Judgments of general, special and summary courts-martial
shall be subject to review by the Adjutant General only, and such judg-
ments may be affirmed, set aside or modified; provided, however, no
higher or greater sentence, punishment, penalty, fine or forfeiture than
that imposed by the court-martial shall be approved; otherwise trials
and proceedings by all courts and boards, including review proceedings,
shall be in accordance with the plan and procedure laid down in the
manual of courts-martial, courts of inquiry, and retiring boards, and
other procedures under military law, as may from time to time be pre-
scribed by the appropriate Secretary of the * respective services.

§ 44-49. All sentences to confinement imposed by any military court
of this Commonwealth shall be executed in such prisons as the court may
designate, subject to review by the Adjutant General.

§ 44-80. *The National Guard, Naval Militia and * the unorganized
militia or any part thereof may be * ordered into service by the Gover-
nor * in such order as he determines. |

§ 44-93. All officers and employees of the State who shall be mem-
bers of the National Guard or Naval Militia shall be entitled to leaves of
absence from their respective duties, without loss of * seniority, accrued
leave, or efficiency rating, on all days during which they shall be engaged
in * annual active duty for training, or when called forth by the Governor
pursuant to the provisions of § 44-75; there shall be no loss of pay during
such leaves of absence, not to exceed fifteen days per calendar year. When
relieved from such duty, they shall be restored to positions held by them
when ordered to duty.

§ 44-115. All matters relating to the organization, discipline and
government of the National Guard and Naval Militia, not otherwise pro-
vided for by law or by regulations, shall be decided by the custom and
usage of the United States army, air force or navy, respectively.

§ 44-135. For each armory erected or provided by the Common-
wealth the Governor shall appoint, with the advice of the Adjutant Gen-
eral, a board of control to consist of one or more officers of the organiza-
tion or organizations quartered therein. Such board or officer of control
may rent the armory for temporary purposes, subject to regulations to
be prescribed by the Adjutant General, and the money derived from such
rental shall be paid into the treasury of the organization or organizations
quartered therein.

§ 44-204. All officers and employees of the State who shall
be * members of the * reserve components of the United States Army,
Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Public Health Service or
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, shall be entitled to leaves of
absence from their respective duties without loss of pay, * seniority,
accrued leave or efficiency rating on all days during which they shall
be * engaged in annual active duty for training, not to exceed fifteen days
per calendar year. When relieved from such duty, they shall be restored
to positions held by them when ordered to duty.*

2. An emergency exists and this Act is in force from its passage.