The 29th Infantry Division (Light) was a pre-war Light Infantry division from the VA and MD NG formed in June 1984 as part of the Reagan defense buildup and the reorganization of the Army National Guard. The division was formed as part of the new "Light Infantry Division" model and was meant more to respond to out of area crises such as Korea, or the Persian Gulf. What the division faced during the Third World War, however, wasn't anything like what the division had been prepared for.
With the destruction of Washington DC on September 2nd, 1985 and the resulting civil disorder in some parts of the Metropolitan Washington DC Area, the division's components were called up by Maryland and Virginia and ordered assist the civil authorities in restoring order to an area within 100 miles of the DC line. The 29th assumed command of these elements within 10 days of the call up, as the division was federalized on September 12th, 1985. Amongst the more notable events of the 29th's tenure in this role, was the "relief" in early October of the University of Maryland's College Park Campus after the breakdown of civil order on campus. The collapse of civil order was followed by a gross overreaction by the Prince George's County Police Department, who turned the campus into a virtual internment camp. After the division commander spoke with some of the students, who expressed a desire to simply leave the campus with an intent to either enlist, or simply get home to their families, the division commander opened the wire, and then arrested several members of the PGPD who attempted to interfere.
(To be continued)