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190.06 MILITIA; MEMBERS; EXEMPTIONS.
    Subdivision 1. Composition. The militia shall consist of:
(1) all able-bodied citizens of the state and other able-bodied persons residing in the state
who have or shall have declared their intention to become citizens of the United States, when so
authorized by federal law, who comply with the minimum age requirements for federal regular
military service under United States Code, title 10, section 505, and who are not more than 45
years of age; provided, that the governor may, when the governor deems it necessary for the
defense of the state, extend the maximum age for militia service to not more than 64 years; and
(2) persons who enlist in, are commissioned in, or are otherwise appointed to the Minnesota
National Guard in accordance with applicable federal law and regulation, including enlisted
members, warrant officers, and commissioned officers.
    Subd. 2. Classes. The militia shall be divided into two classes, the organized militia and the
unorganized militia. The organized militia shall consist of the following:
(1) the National Guard;
(2) the State Guard, which shall comprise all organized components of the militia except
the National Guard.
The unorganized militia shall consist of all other members of the militia.
    Subd. 3. Noncombatant service. The governor may authorize the appointment or enlistment
of citizens of the state and all other persons, who have or shall have declared their intention to
become citizens of the United States, in the medical corps and other noncombatant branches and
services of the organized militia, and while so serving they shall have the same status as members
of the military forces.
    Subd. 4. Exemptions from military duty. The officers, judicial and executive, of the
government of the United States and of the states; persons in the military or naval service of the
United States; custom house clerks, persons employed by the United States in the transmission of
the mail; artificers and workers employed in the armories, arsenals, and navy yards of the United
States; pilots and mariners actually employed in the sea service of any citizen or merchant within
the United States, shall all be exempt from militia duty without regard to age, and all persons
who because of religious beliefs shall claim exemption from military service if the conscientious
holding of such belief by such person shall be established under such regulations as the President
of the United States shall prescribe, shall be exempt from militia service in a combatant capacity;
but no person so exempted shall be exempt from militia service in any capacity that the President
of the United States shall declare to be noncombatant.
History: (2399) 1921 c 506 s 5; 1939 c 175 s 1; 1943 c 108 s 2; 1977 c 11 s 2; 1984 c 609
s 13; 1986 c 444; 2000 c 283 s 1,2; 1Sp2001 c 10 art 2 s 62

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes