title: Billionaire Boys Club (2018 film)

text: Mick LaSalle of the "San Francisco Chronicle" said that he has no doubt that "Spacey is very good at playing the bad guy" and that although only in a supporting role "dominates every moment of every scene in which he appears". LaSalle was unconvinced by the idea that Hunt made "bad decisions involving thousands [that] led to more bad decisions" but rather "the storm was of his own making" and concludes as his "life unravels, so does the movie". Eric Kohn at IndieWire called it a "wannabe "Wolf of Wall Street"" and said that it is "intermittently engaging as a B-movie" but "never finds a satisfying tone." John DeFore at "The Hollywood Reporter" called the film "a derivative bore" and accused it of being "creatively clueless" for "indulging in this period piece without finding some fresh critique".


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, spanning Sydney Harbour from the central business district (CBD) to the North Shore. The view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is widely regarded as an iconic image of Sydney, and of Australia itself. Nicknamed "The Coathanger" because of its arch-based design, the bridge carries rail, vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Under the direction of John Bradfield of the New South Wales Department of Public Works, the bridge was designed and built by British firm Dorman Long of Middlesbrough, and opened in 1932. The bridge's general design, which Bradfield tasked the NSW Department of Public Works with producing, was a rough copy of the Hell Gate Bridge in New York City. This general design document, however, did not form any part of the request for tender, which remained sufficiently broad as to allow cantilever (Bradfield's original preference) and even suspension bridge proposals. The design chosen from the tender responses was original work created by Dorman Long, who leveraged some of the design from its own Tyne Bridge which, though superficially similar, does not share the graceful flares at the ends of each arch which make the harbour bridge so distinctive. It is the eighth longest spanning-arch bridge in the world and the tallest steel arch bridge, measuring from top to water level. It was also the world's widest long-span bridge, at wide, until construction of the new Port Mann Bridge in Vancouver was completed in 2012.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The southern end of the bridge is located at Dawes Point in The Rocks area, and the northern end at Milsons Point on the lower North Shore. There are six original lanes of road traffic through the main roadway, plus an additional two lanes of road traffic on its eastern side, using lanes that were formerly tram tracks. Adjacent to the road traffic, a path for pedestrian use runs along the eastern side of the bridge, whilst a dedicated path for bicycle use runs along the western side; between the main roadway and the western bicycle path lies the North Shore railway line.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The main roadway across the bridge is known as the Bradfield Highway and is about long, making it one of the shortest highways in Australia.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The arch is composed of two 28-panel arch trusses; their heights vary from at the centre of the arch to at the ends next to the pylons.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The arch has a span of and its summit is above mean sea level; expansion of the steel structure on hot days can increase the height of the arch by . The total weight of the steelwork of the bridge, including the arch and approach spans, is , with the arch itself weighing . About 79% of the steel, specifically those technical sections constituting the curve of the arch, was imported pre-formed from England, with the rest being sourced from Newcastle. On site, Dorman Long & Co set up two workshops at Milsons Point, at the site of the present day Luna Park, and fabricated the steel into the girders and other required parts.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The bridge is held together by six million Australian-made hand-driven rivets supplied by the McPherson company of Melbourne, the last being driven through the deck on 21 January 1932. The rivets were heated red-hot and inserted into the plates; the headless end was immediately rounded over with a large pneumatic rivet gun. The largest of the rivets used weighed and was long. The practice of riveting large steel structures, rather than welding, was, at the time, a proven and understood construction technique, whilst structural welding had not at that stage been adequately developed for use on the bridge.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: At each end of the arch stands a pair of concrete pylons, faced with granite. The pylons were designed by the Scottish architect Thomas S. Tait, a partner in the architectural firm John Burnet & Partners.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Some 250 Australian, Scottish, and Italian stonemasons and their families relocated to a temporary settlement at Moruya, south of Sydney, where they quarried around of granite for the bridge pylons. The stonemasons cut, dressed, and numbered the blocks, which were then transported to Sydney on three ships built specifically for this purpose. The Moruya quarry was managed by John Gilmore, a Scottish stonemason who emigrated with his young family to Australia in 1924, at the request of the project managers. The concrete used was also Australian-made and supplied from Kandos.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Abutments at the base of the pylons are essential to support the loads from the arch and hold its span firmly in place, but the pylons themselves have no structural purpose. They were included to provide a frame for the arch panels and to give better visual balance to the bridge. The pylons were not part of the original design, and were only added to allay public concern about the structural integrity of the bridge.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Although originally added to the bridge solely for their aesthetic value, all four pylons have now been put to use. The south-eastern pylon contains a museum and tourist centre, with a 360° lookout at the top providing views across the harbour and city. The south-western pylon is used by Transport for NSW to support its CCTV cameras overlooking the bridge and the roads around that area. The two pylons on the north shore include venting chimneys for fumes from the Sydney Harbour Tunnel, with the base of the southern pylon containing the Transport for NSW maintenance shed for the bridge, and the base of the northern pylon containing the traffic management shed for tow trucks and safety vehicles used on the bridge.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: In 1942, the pylons were modified to include parapets and anti-aircraft guns designed to assist in both Australia's defence and general war effort.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: There had been plans to build a bridge as early as 1814, when convict and noted architect Francis Greenway reputedly proposed to Governor Lachlan Macquarie that a bridge be built from the northern to the southern shore of the harbour. In 1825, Greenway wrote a letter to the then "The Australian" newspaper stating that such a bridge would "give an idea of strength and magnificence that would reflect credit and glory on the colony and the Mother Country".


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Nothing came of Greenway's suggestions, but the idea remained alive, and many further suggestions were made during the nineteenth century. In 1840, naval architect Robert Brindley proposed that a floating bridge be built. Engineer Peter Henderson produced one of the earliest known drawings of a bridge across the harbour around 1857. A suggestion for a truss bridge was made in 1879, and in 1880 a high-level bridge estimated at £850,000 was proposed.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: In 1900, the Lyne government committed to building a new Central railway station and organised a worldwide competition for the design and construction of a harbour bridge, overseen by Minister for Public Works Edward William O'Sullivan. Local engineer Norman Selfe submitted a design for a suspension bridge and won the second prize of £500. In 1902, when the outcome of the first competition became mired in controversy, Selfe won a second competition outright, with a design for a steel cantilever bridge. The selection board were unanimous, commenting that, "The structural lines are correct and in true proportion, and... the outline is graceful". However due to an economic downturn and a change of government at the 1904 NSW State election construction never began.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: A unique three-span bridge was proposed in 1922 by Ernest Stowe with connections at Balls Head, Millers Point, and Balmain with a memorial tower and hub on Goat Island.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: In 1914 John Bradfield was appointed Chief Engineer of Sydney Harbour Bridge and Metropolitan Railway Construction, and his work on the project over many years earned him the legacy as the father of the bridge. Bradfield's preference at the time was for a cantilever bridge without piers, and in 1916 the NSW Legislative Assembly passed a bill for such a construction, however it did not proceed as the Legislative Council rejected the legislation on the basis that the money would be better spent on the war effort.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Following World War I, plans to build the bridge again built momentum. Bradfield persevered with the project, fleshing out the details of the specifications and financing for his cantilever bridge proposal, and in 1921 he travelled overseas to investigate tenders. His confidential secretary Kathleen M. Butler handled all the international correspondence during his absence, her title belying her role as a technical adviser. On return from his travels Bradfield decided that an arch design would also be suitable and he and officers of the NSW Department of Public Works prepared a general design for a single-arch bridge based upon New York City's Hell Gate Bridge. In 1922 the government passed the Sydney Harbour Bridge Act No. 28, specifying the construction of a high-level cantilever or arch bridge across the harbour between Dawes Point and Milsons Point, along with construction of necessary approaches and electric railway lines, and worldwide tenders were invited for the project.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: As a result of the tendering process, the government received twenty proposals from six companies; on 24 March 1924 the contract was awarded to Dorman Long & Co of Middlesbrough, England well known as the contractors who later built the similar Tyne Bridge in Newcastle Upon Tyne, for an arch bridge at a quoted price of AU£4,217,721 11s 10d. The arch design was cheaper than alternative cantilever and suspension bridge proposals, and also provided greater rigidity making it better suited for the heavy loads expected. In 1924, Kathleen Butler travelled to London to set up the project office within those of Dorman, Long & Co., "attending the most difficult and technical questions and technical questions in regard to the contract, and dealing with a mass of correspondence".


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Bradfield and his staff were ultimately to oversee the bridge design and building process as it was executed by Dorman Long and Co, whose Consulting Engineer, Sir Ralph Freeman of Sir Douglas Fox and Partners, and his associate Georges Imbault, carried out the detailed design and erection process of the bridge. Architects for the contractors were from the British firm John Burnet & Partners of Glasgow, Scotland. Lawrence Ennis, of Dorman Long, served as Director of Construction and primary onsite supervisor throughout the entire build, alongside Edward Judge, Dorman Long's Chief Technical Engineer, who functioned as Consulting and Designing Engineer.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The building of the bridge coincided with the construction of a system of underground railways beneath Sydney's CBD, known today as the City Circle, and the bridge was designed with this in mind. The bridge was designed to carry six lanes of road traffic, flanked on each side by two railway tracks and a footpath. Both sets of rail tracks were linked into the underground Wynyard railway station on the south (city) side of the bridge by symmetrical ramps and tunnels. The eastern-side railway tracks were intended for use by a planned rail link to the Northern Beaches; in the interim they were used to carry trams from the North Shore into a terminal within Wynyard station, and when tram services were discontinued in 1958, they were converted into extra traffic lanes. The Bradfield Highway, which is the main roadway section of the bridge and its approaches, is named in honour of Bradfield's contribution to the bridge.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Bradfield visited the site sporadically throughout the eight years it took Dorman Long to complete the bridge. Despite having originally championed a cantilever construction and the fact that his own arched general design was used in neither the tender process nor as input to the detailed design specification (and was anyway a rough copy of the Devil's Gate bridge produced by the NSW Works Department), Bradfield subsequently attempted to claim personal credit for Dorman Long's design. This led to a bitter argument, with Dorman Long maintaining that instructing other people to produce a copy of an existing design in a document not subsequently used to specify the final construction did not constitute personal design input on Bradfield's part. This friction ultimately led to a large contemporary brass plaque being bolted very tightly to the side of one of the granite columns of the bridge to makes things clear.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The official ceremony to mark the turning of the first sod occurred on 28 July 1923, on the spot at Milsons Point where two workshops to assist in building the bridge were to be constructed.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: An estimated 469 buildings on the north shore, both private homes and commercial operations, were demolished to allow construction to proceed, with little or no compensation being paid. Work on the bridge itself commenced with the construction of approaches and approach spans, and by September 1926 concrete piers to support the approach spans were in place on each side of the harbour.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: As construction of the approaches took place, work was also started on preparing the foundations required to support the enormous weight of the arch and loadings. Concrete and granite faced abutment towers were constructed, with the angled foundations built into their sides.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Once work had progressed sufficiently on the support structures, a giant creeper crane was erected on each side of the harbour. These cranes were fitted with a cradle, and then used to hoist men and materials into position to allow for erection of the steelwork. To stabilise works while building the arches, tunnels were excavated on each shore with steel cables passed through them and then fixed to the upper sections of each half-arch to stop them collapsing as they extended outwards.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Arch construction itself began on 26 October 1928. The southern end of the bridge was worked on ahead of the northern end, to detect any errors and to help with alignment. The cranes would "creep" along the arches as they were constructed, eventually meeting up in the middle. In less than two years, on 19 August 1930, the two halves of the arch touched for the first time. Workers riveted both top and bottom sections of the arch together, and the arch became self-supporting, allowing the support cables to be removed. On 20 August 1930 the joining of the arches was celebrated by flying the flags of Australia and the United Kingdom from the jibs of the creeper cranes.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Once the arch was completed, the creeper cranes were then worked back down the arches, allowing the roadway and other parts of the bridge to be constructed from the centre out. The vertical hangers were attached to the arch, and these were then joined with horizontal crossbeams. The deck for the roadway and railway were built on top of the crossbeams, with the deck itself being completed by June 1931, and the creeper cranes were dismantled. Rails for trains and trams were laid, and road was surfaced using concrete topped with asphalt. Power and telephone lines, and water, gas, and drainage pipes were also all added to the bridge in 1931.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The pylons were built atop the abutment towers, with construction advancing rapidly from July 1931. Carpenters built wooden scaffolding, with concreters and masons then setting the masonry and pouring the concrete behind it. Gangers built the steelwork in the towers, while day labourers manually cleaned the granite with wire brushes. The last stone of the north-west pylon was set in place on 15 January 1932, and the timber towers used to support the cranes were removed.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: On 19 January 1932, the first test train, a steam locomotive, safely crossed the bridge. Load testing of the bridge took place in February 1932, with the four rail tracks being loaded with as many as 96 New South Wales Government Railways steam locomotives positioned end-to-end. The bridge underwent testing for three weeks, after which it was declared safe and ready to be opened. The construction worksheds were demolished after the bridge was completed, and the land that they were on is now occupied by Luna Park.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The standards of industrial safety during construction were poor by today's standards. Sixteen workers died during construction, but surprisingly only two from falling off the bridge. Several more were injured from unsafe working practices undertaken whilst heating and inserting its rivets, and the deafness experienced by many of the workers in later years was blamed on the project. Henri Mallard between 1930 and 1932 produced hundreds of stills and film footage which reveal at close quarters the bravery of the workers in tough Depression-era conditions.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Interviews were conducted between 1982-1989 with a variety of tradesmen who worked on the building of the bridge. Among the tradesmen interviewed were drillers, riveters, concrete packers, boilermakers, riggers, ironworkers, plasterers, stonemasons, an official photographer, sleepcutters, engineers and draughtsmen.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The total financial cost of the bridge was AU£6.25 million, which was not paid off in full until 1988.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The bridge was formally opened on Saturday, 19 March 1932. Among those who attended and gave speeches were the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Philip Game, and the Minister for Public Works, Lawrence Ennis. The Premier of New South Wales, Jack Lang, was to open the bridge by cutting a ribbon at its southern end.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: However, just as Lang was about to cut the ribbon, a man in military uniform rode up on a horse, slashing the ribbon with his sword and opening the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the name of the people of New South Wales before the official ceremony began. He was promptly arrested. The ribbon was hurriedly retied and Lang performed the official opening ceremony and Game thereafter inaugurated the name of the bridge as Sydney Harbour Bridge and the associated roadway as the Bradfield Highway. After they did so, there was a 21-gun salute and an Royal Australian Air Force flypast. The intruder was identified as Francis de Groot. He was convicted of offensive behaviour and fined £5 after a psychiatric test proved he was sane, but this verdict was reversed on appeal. De Groot then successfully sued the Commissioner of Police for wrongful arrest and was awarded an undisclosed out of court settlement. De Groot was a member of a right-wing paramilitary group called the New Guard, opposed to Lang's leftist policies and resentful of the fact that a member of the British royal family had not been asked to open the bridge. De Groot was not a member of the regular army but his uniform allowed him to blend in with the real cavalry. This incident was one of several involving Lang and the New Guard during that year.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: A similar ribbon-cutting ceremony on the bridge's northern side by North Sydney's mayor, Alderman Primrose, was carried out without incident. It was later discovered that Primrose was also a New Guard member but his role in and knowledge of the de Groot incident, if any, are unclear. The pair of golden scissors used in the ribbon cutting ceremonies on both sides of the bridge was also used to cut the ribbon at the dedication of the Bayonne Bridge, which had opened between Bayonne, New Jersey, and New York City the year before.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Despite the bridge opening in the midst of the Great Depression, opening celebrations were organised by the Citizens of Sydney Organising Committee, an influential body of prominent men and politicians that formed in 1931 under the chairmanship of the lord mayor to oversee the festivities. The celebrations included an array of decorated floats, a procession of passenger ships sailing below the bridge, and a Venetian Carnival. A message from a primary school in Tottenham, away in rural New South Wales, arrived at the bridge on the day and was presented at the opening ceremony. It had been carried all the way from Tottenham to the bridge by relays of school children, with the final relay being run by two children from the nearby Fort Street Boys' and Girls' schools.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: After the official ceremonies, the public was allowed to walk across the bridge on the deck, something that would not be repeated until the 50th anniversary celebrations. Estimates suggest that between 300,000 and one million people took part in the opening festivities, a phenomenal number given that the entire population of Sydney at the time was estimated to be 1,256,000.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: There had also been numerous preparatory arrangements. On 14 March 1932, three postage stamps were issued to commemorate the imminent opening of the bridge. Several songs were composed for the occasion. In the year of the opening, there was a steep rise in babies being named Archie and Bridget in honour of the bridge. One of three microphones used at the opening ceremony was signed by 10 local dignitaries who officiated at the event, Philip Game, John Lang, MA Davidson, Samuel Walder, D Clyne, H Primrose, Ben Howe, John Bradfield, Lawrence Ennis and Roland Kitson. It was supplied by Amalgamated Wireless Australasia, who organised the ceremony's broadcast and collected by Philip Geeves, the AWA announcer on the day. The radio is now in the collection of the Powerhouse Museum.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The bridge itself was regarded as a triumph over Depression times, earning the nickname "the Iron Lung", as it kept many Depression-era workers employed.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: From the Sydney CBD side, motor vehicle access to the bridge is via Grosvenor Street, Clarence Street, Kent Street, the Cahill Expressway, or the Western Distributor. Drivers on the northern side will find themselves on the Warringah Freeway, though it is easy to turn off the freeway to drive westwards into North Sydney or eastwards to Neutral Bay and beyond upon arrival on the northern side.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The bridge originally only had four wider traffic lanes occupying the central space which now has six, as photos taken soon after the opening clearly show. In 1958 tram services across the bridge were withdrawn and the tracks replaced by two extra road lanes; these lanes are now the leftmost southbound lanes on the bridge and are separated from the other six road lanes by a median strip. Lanes 7 and 8 now connect the bridge to the elevated Cahill Expressway that carries traffic to the Eastern Distributor.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: In 1988, work began to build a tunnel to complement the bridge. It was determined that the bridge could no longer support the increased traffic flow of the 1980s. The Sydney Harbour Tunnel was completed in August 1992 and carries only motor vehicles.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The Bradfield Highway is designated as a Travelling Stock Route which means that it is permissible to herd livestock across the bridge, but only between midnight and dawn, and after giving notice of intention to do so. In practice, the last time livestock crossed the bridge was in 1999 for the Gelbvieh Cattle Congress.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The bridge is equipped for tidal flow operation, permitting the direction of traffic flow on the bridge to be altered to better suit the morning and evening peak hour traffic patterns.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The bridge has eight lanes, numbered one to eight from west to east. Lanes three, four and five are reversible. One and two always flow north. Six, seven, and eight always flow south. The default is four each way. For the morning peak hour, the lane changes on the bridge also require changes to the Warringah Freeway, with its inner western reversible carriageway directing traffic to the bridge lane numbers three and four southbound. Until September 1982, during the evening peak the tidal flow was set as six northbound and two southbound lanes.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The bridge has a series of overhead gantries which indicate the direction of flow for each traffic lane. A green arrow pointing down to a traffic lane means the lane is open. A flashing red "X" indicates the lane is closing, but is not yet in use for traffic travelling in the other direction. A static red "X" means the lane is in use for oncoming traffic. This arrangement was introduced in January 1986, replacing a slow operation where lane markers were manually moved to mark the centre median.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: It is possible to see odd arrangements of flow during night periods when maintenance occurs, which may involve completely closing some lanes. Normally this is done between midnight and dawn, because of the enormous traffic demands placed on the bridge outside these hours.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The vehicular traffic lanes on the bridge are operated as a toll road. Since January 2009, there is a variable tolling system for all vehicles headed into the CBD (southbound). The toll paid is dependent on the time of day in which the vehicle passes through the toll plaza. The toll varies from a minimum value of $2.50 to a maximum value of $4. There is no toll for northbound traffic (though taxis travelling north may charge passengers the toll in anticipation of the toll the taxi must pay on the return journey). In 2017, the Bradfield Highway northern toll plaza infrastructure was removed and replaced with new overhead gantries to service all southbound traffic. Following on from this upgrade, in 2018 all southern toll plaza infrastructure was also removed. Only the Cahill Expressway toll plaza infrastructure remains. The toll was originally placed on travel across the bridge, in both directions, to recoup the cost of its construction. This was paid off in 1988, but the toll has been kept (indeed increased) to recoup the costs of the Sydney Harbour Tunnel.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: After the decision to build the Sydney Harbour Tunnel was made in the early 1980s, the toll was increased (from 20 cents to $1, then to $1.50 in March 1989, and finally to $2 by the time the tunnel opened) to pay for its construction. The tunnel also had an initial toll of $2 southbound. After the increase to $1, a concrete barrier on the bridge separating the Bradfield Highway from the Cahill Expressway was increased in height, because of the large numbers of drivers crossing it illegally from lane 6 to 7, to avoid the toll. The toll for all southbound vehicles was increased to $3 in March 2004.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Originally it cost a car or motorcycle six pence to cross, a horse and rider being three pence. Use of the bridge by bicycle riders (provided that they use the cycleway) and by pedestrians is free. Later governments capped the fee for motorcycles at one-quarter of the passenger-vehicle cost, but now it is again the same as the cost for a passenger vehicle, although quarterly flat-fee passes are available which are much cheaper for frequent users. Originally there were six toll booths at the southern end of the bridge, these were replaced by 16 booths in 1950. The toll was charged in both directions until 4 July 1970 when changed to only be applied to southbound traffic.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: In July 2008 a new electronic tolling system called e-TAG was introduced. The Sydney Harbour Tunnel was converted to this new tolling system while the Sydney Harbour Bridge itself had several cash lanes. The electronic system as of 12 January 2009 has now replaced all booths with E-tag lanes. In January 2017 work commenced to remove the southern toll booths. In August 2020, the remaining toll booths at Milsons Point were removed.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The pedestrian-only footway is located on the east side of the bridge. Access from the northern side involves climbing an easily spotted flight of stairs, located on the east side of the bridge at Broughton Street, Kirribilli. Pedestrian access on the southern side is more complicated, but signposts in the Rocks area now direct pedestrians to the long and sheltered flight of stairs that leads to the bridge's southern end. These stairs are located near Gloucester Street and Cumberland Street.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The bridge can also be approached from the south by accessing Cahill Walk, which runs along the Cahill Expressway. Pedestrians can access this walkway from the east end of Circular Quay by a flight of stairs or a lift. Alternatively it can be accessed from the Botanic Gardens.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The bike-only cycleway is located on the western side of the bridge. Access from the northern side involves carrying or pushing a bicycle up a staircase, consisting of 55 steps, located on the western side of the bridge at Burton Street, Milsons Point. A wide smooth concrete strip in the centre of the stairs permits cycles to be wheeled up and down from the bridge deck whilst the rider is dismounted. A campaign to eliminate the steps on this popular cycling route to the CBD has been running since at least 2008. On 7 December 2016 the NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay confirmed that the northern stairway would be replaced with a 20 million ramp alleviating the needs for cyclists to dismount. At the same time the NSW Government announced plans to upgrade the southern ramp at a projected cost of 20 million. Both projects are expected to be completed by late 2020. Access to the cycleway on the southern side is via the northern end of the Kent Street cycleway and/or Upper Fort Street in The Rocks.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The bridge lies between Milsons Point and Wynyard railway stations, located on the north and south shores respectively, with two tracks running along the western side of the bridge. These tracks are part of the North Shore railway line.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: In 1958, tram services across the bridge were withdrawn and the tracks they had used were removed and replaced by two extra road lanes; these lanes are now the leftmost southbound lanes on the bridge and are still clearly distinguishable from the other six road lanes. The original ramp that took the trams into a terminus at the underground Wynyard railway station is still visible at the southern end of the main walkway under lanes 7 and 8, although around 1964, the former tram tunnels and station were converted for use as a carpark for the Menzies Hotel and as public parking. One of the tunnels was converted for use as a storage facility after reportedly being used by the NSW police as a pistol firing range.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The Sydney Harbour Bridge requires constant inspections and other maintenance work to keep it safe for the public, and to protect from corrosion. Among the trades employed on the bridge are painters, ironworkers, boilermakers, fitters, electricians, plasterers, carpenters, plumbers, and riggers.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The most noticeable maintenance work on the bridge involves painting. The steelwork of the bridge that needs to be painted is a combined , the equivalent of sixty football fields. Each coat on the bridge requires some of paint. A special fast-drying paint is used, so that any paint drops have dried before reaching the vehicles or bridge surface. One notable identity from previous bridge-painting crews is Australian comedian and actor Paul Hogan, who worked as a bridge rigger before rising to media fame in the 1970s.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: In 2003 the Roads & Traffic Authority began completely repainting the southern approach spans of the bridge. This involved removing the old lead-based paint, and repainting the of steel below the deck. Workers operated from self-contained platforms below the deck, with each platform having an air extraction system to filter airborne particles. An abrasive blasting was used, with the lead waste collected and safely removed from the site for disposal.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Between December 2006 and March 2010 the bridge was subject to works designed to ensure its longevity. The work included some strengthening.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Since 2013, two grit-blasting robots specially developed with the University of Technology, Sydney have been employed to help with the paint stripping operation on the bridge. The robots, nicknamed Rosie and Sandy, are intended to reduce workers' potential exposure to dangerous lead paint and asbestos and the blasting equipment which has enough force to cut through clothes and skin.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Even during its construction, the bridge was such a prominent feature of Sydney that it would attract tourist interest. One of the ongoing tourist attractions of the bridge has been the south-east pylon, which is accessed via the pedestrian walkway across the bridge, and then a climb to the top of the pylon of about 200 steps.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Not long after the bridge's opening, commencing in 1934, Archer Whitford first converted this pylon into a tourist destination. He installed a number of attractions, including a café, a camera obscura, an Aboriginal museum, a "Mother's Nook" where visitors could write letters, and a "pashometer". The main attraction was the viewing platform, where "charming attendants" assisted visitors to use the telescopes available, and a copper cladding (still present) over the granite guard rails identified the suburbs and landmarks of Sydney at the time.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The outbreak of World War II in 1939 saw tourist activities on the bridge cease, as the military took over the four pylons and modified them to include parapets and anti-aircraft guns.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: In 1948, Yvonne Rentoul opened the "All Australian Exhibition" in the pylon. This contained dioramas, and displays about Australian perspectives on subjects such as farming, sport, transport, mining, and the armed forces. An orientation table was installed at the viewing platform, along with a wall guide and binoculars. The owner kept several white cats in a rooftop cattery, which also served as an attraction, and there was a souvenir shop and postal outlet. Rentoul's lease expired in 1971, and the pylon and its lookout remained closed to the public for over a decade.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The pylon was reopened in 1982, with a new exhibition celebrating the bridge's 50th anniversary. In 1987 a "Bicentennial Exhibition" was opened to mark the 200th anniversary of European settlement in Australia in 1988.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The pylon was closed from April to November 2000 for the Roads & Traffic Authority and BridgeClimb to create a new exhibition called "Proud Arch". The exhibition focussed on Bradfield, and included a glass direction finder on the observation level, and various important heritage items.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The pylon again closed for four weeks in 2003 for the installation of an exhibit called "Dangerous Works", highlighting the dangerous conditions experienced by the original construction workers on the bridge, and two stained glass feature windows in memory of the workers.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: In the 1950s and 1960s, there were occasional newspaper reports of climbers who had made illegal arch traversals of the bridge by night. In 1973 Philippe Petit walked across a wire between the two pylons at the southern end of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Since 1998, BridgeClimb has made it possible for tourists to legally climb the southern half of the bridge. Tours run throughout the day, from dawn to night, and are only cancelled for electrical storms or high wind.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Groups of climbers are provided with protective clothing appropriate to the prevailing weather conditions, and are given an orientation briefing before climbing. During the climb, attendees are secured to the bridge by a wire lifeline. Each climb begins on the eastern side of the bridge and ascends to the top. At the summit, the group crosses to the western side of the arch for the descent. Each climb takes three-and-a-half-hours, including the preparations.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: In December 2006, BridgeClimb launched an alternative to climbing the upper arches of the bridge. The Discovery Climb allows climbers to ascend the lower chord of the bridge and view its internal structure. From the apex of the lower chord, climbers ascend a staircase to a platform at the summit.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Since the opening, the bridge has been the focal point of much tourism, national pride and even protests


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: In 1982, the 50th anniversary of the opening of the bridge was celebrated. For the first time since its opening in 1932, the bridge was closed to most vehicles with the exception of vintage vehicles, and pedestrians were allowed full access for the day. The celebrations were attended by Edward Judge, who represented Dorman Long.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Australia's bicentennial celebrations on 26 January 1988 attracted large crowds in the bridge's vicinity as merrymakers flocked to the foreshores to view the events on the harbour. The highlight was the biggest parade of sail ever held in Sydney, square-riggers from all over the world, surrounded by hundreds of smaller craft of every description, passing majestically under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The day's festivities culminated in a fireworks display in which the bridge was the focal point of the finale, with fireworks streaming from the arch and roadway. This was to become the pattern for later firework displays.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The Harbour Bridge has been an integral part of the Sydney New Year's Eve celebrations, generally being used in spectacular ways during the fireworks displays at 9pm and midnight. In recent times, the bridge has included a ropelight display on a framework in the centre of the eastern arch, which is used to complement the fireworks. The scaffolding and framework were clearly visible for some weeks before the event, revealing the outline of the design.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: During the millennium celebrations in 2000, the Sydney Harbour Bridge was lit up with the word "Eternity", as a tribute to the legacy of Arthur Stace a Sydney artist who for many years inscribed said word on pavements in chalk in copperplate writing despite the fact that he was illiterate.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: In May 2000, the bridge was closed to vehicular access for a day to allow a special reconciliation march—the "Walk for Reconciliation" – to take place. This was part of a response to an Aboriginal Stolen Generations inquiry, which found widespread suffering had taken place amongst Australian Aboriginal children forcibly placed into the care of white parents in a little-publicised state government scheme. Between 200,000 and 300,000 people were estimated to have walked the bridge in a symbolic gesture of crossing a divide.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: During the Sydney 2000 Olympics in September and October 2000, the bridge was adorned with the Olympic Rings. It was included in the Olympic torch's route to the Olympic stadium. The men's and women's Olympic marathon events likewise included the bridge as part of their route to the Olympic stadium. A fireworks display at the end of the closing ceremony ended at the bridge. The east-facing side of the bridge has been used several times since as a framework from which to hang static fireworks, especially during the elaborate New Year's Eve displays.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: In 2007, the 75th anniversary of its opening was commemorated with an exhibition at the Museum of Sydney, called "Bridging Sydney". An initiative of the Historic Houses Trust, the exhibition featured dramatic photographs and paintings with rare and previously unseen alternative bridge and tunnel proposals, plans and sketches.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: On 18 March 2007, the 75th anniversary of the Sydney Harbour Bridge was celebrated. The occasion was marked with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by the governor, Marie Bashir and the Premier of New South Wales, Morris Iemma. The bridge was subsequently open to the public to walk southward from Milsons Point or North Sydney. Several major roads, mainly in the CBD, were closed for the day. An Aboriginal smoking ceremony was held at 7:00pm.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Approximately 250,000 people (50,000 more than were registered) took part in the event. Bright green souvenir caps were distributed to walkers. A series of speakers placed at intervals along the bridge formed a sound installation. Each group of speakers broadcast sound and music from a particular era (e.g. King Edward VIII's abdication speech; Gough Whitlam's speech at Parliament House in 1975), the overall effect being that the soundscape would "flow" through history as walkers proceeded along the bridge. A light-show began after sunset and continued late into the night, the bridge being bathed in constantly changing, multi-coloured lighting, designed to highlight structural features of the bridge. In the evening the bright yellow caps were replaced by orange caps with a small, bright LED attached. The bridge was closed to walkers at about 8:30pm.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: On 25 October 2009, turf was laid across the eight lanes of bitumen, and 6,000 people celebrated a picnic on the bridge accompanied by live music. The event was repeated in 2010. Although originally scheduled again in 2011, this event was moved to Bondi Beach due to traffic concerns about the prolonged closing of the bridge.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: On 19 March 2012, the 80th anniversary of the Sydney Harbour Bridge was celebrated with a picnic dedicated to the stories of people with personal connections to the bridge. In addition, Google dedicated its Google Doodle on the 19th to the event.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The proposal to upgrade the bridge tolling equipment was announced by the NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Various protests have caused disruptions on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. In 2019, Greenpeace activists scaled the bridge and they were arrested soon after. In 2021, a number of truck and bus drivers clogged the bridge for a number of hours; they were protesting the COVID-19 lockdown.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Historically the Australian, New South Wales had been flown above the bridge with the Aboriginal flag flown for nineteen days a year. In February 2022, Premier Dominic Perrottet announced that the Australian, New South Wales and the Aboriginal flags were to permanently fly with a third pole erected. In July 2022, it was announced that the Aboriginal flag would replace the New South Wales flag, which was given a prominent location within the Macquarie Street East redevelopment, near the Royal Mint and Hyde Park Barracks.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: At the time of construction and until recently, the bridge was the longest single span steel arch bridge in the world. The bridge, its pylons and its approaches are all important elements in townscape of areas both near and distant from it. The curved northern approach gives a grand sweeping entrance to the bridge with continually changing views of the bridge and harbour. The bridge has been an important factor in the pattern of growth of metropolitan Sydney, particularly in residential development in post World War II years. In the 1960s and 1970s the Central Business District had extended to the northern side of the bridge at North Sydney which has been due in part to the easy access provided by the bridge and also to the increasing traffic problems associated with the bridge.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: Sydney Harbour Bridge was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 25 June 1999 having satisfied the following criteria.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The place is important in demonstrating the course, or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The bridge is one of the most remarkable feats of bridge construction. At the time of construction and until recently it was the longest single span steel arch bridge in the world and is still in a general sense the largest.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: "The archaeological remains are demonstrative of an earlier phase of urban development within Milsons Point and the wider North Sydney precinct. The walls are physical evidence that a number of 19th century residences existed on the site which were resumed and demolished as part of the Sydney Harbour Bridge construction".


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The bridge, its pylons and its approaches are all important elements in townscape of areas both near and distant from it. The curved northern approach gives a grand sweeping entrance to the bridge with continually changing views of the bridge and harbour.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group in New South Wales for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The bridge has been an important factor in the pattern of growth of metropolitan Sydney, particularly in residential development in post World War II years. In the 1960s and 1970s the Central Business District had extended to the northern side of the bridge at North Sydney which has been due in part to the easy access provided by the bridge and also to the increasing traffic problems associated with the bridge.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: "The archaeological remains have some potential to yield information about the previous residential and commercial occupation of Milsons Point prior to the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge transport link".


title: Sydney Harbour Bridge

text: The bridge was listed as a National Engineering Landmark by Engineers Australia in 1988, as part of its Engineering Heritage Recognition Program.


title: Emily Compagno

text: Emily Rose Compagno (born November 9, 1979) is an American attorney, TV host, and former National Football League (NFL) cheerleader who currently serves as a Co-Host of "Outnumbered" on Fox News Channel (FNC). She frequently appears on the late-night show "Gutfeld!".


title: Emily Compagno

text: Compagno was born in east Oakland's Oak Knoll Naval Hospital, Oakland California and raised in El Cerrito, California, the daughter of Katherine (née Bertsch, of English, Bohemian, and Baden-Wurttemberg descent) and John Compagno, of Sicilian descent. She has two sisters.


title: Emily Compagno

text: She graduated with a B.A. in political science from the University of Washington where she was awarded the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps' Cadet of the Quarter Award. She graduated with a J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 2006, where she was President of the Federalist Society and Articles Editor of the Intellectual Property Bulletin.


title: Emily Compagno

text: Her great-grandfather served in World War I and World War II. Her great-great-uncle served in the U.S. Army in World War I. His sister Luella served in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps in World War II, as did nine members of Luella's immediate family. In 1930, Emily's great-great-grandmother Rosa visited her children buried in foreign soil as part of the Gold Star Mother Pilgrimage. Her great-great cousin served in the U.S. Navy, and her great-uncle in the U.S. Army.


title: Emily Compagno

text: Her father John served as a Commander in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps, and two uncles served in the U.S. Army. Emily's second cousin once removed and his wife served as U.S. Navy P-3 and EP-3 pilots supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.


title: Emily Compagno

text: After passing the California bar, she worked as a criminal defense attorney in San Francisco while also serving as captain of the Oakland Raiders cheerleading squad, the Raiderettes. The NFL selected her as an Ambassador and she promoted the NFL brand in Beijing and Shanghai, and was one of five NFL cheerleaders selected by the USO to visit U.S. troops stationed in Iraq and Kuwait.


title: Emily Compagno

text: Compagno was a Senior Judge Judicial Extern for John T. Noonan at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She then went on to work as a federal attorney at the Social Security Administration. She passed the Washington bar and has also held legal positions in Cape Town, South Africa, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.


title: Emily Compagno

text: In 2018, Compagno accepted a position at Fox News as a contributor and legal analyst. She served as a semi-regular co-host of the weekday talk show "The Five" and appears on other FNC programs, such as "Gutfeld!", offering opinions or legal analysis on the news of the day. On March 9, 2020, "Crimes That Changed America," a show on Fox Nation hosted by Compagno, debuted its first season.


title: Emily Compagno

text: Compagno was then named a permanent Co-Host of "Outnumbered" on January 25, 2021. Her co-hosts are Harris Faulkner and Kayleigh McEnany. Compagno occasionally guest-hosts "The Five".


title: Emily Compagno

text: Compagno lives in New York City. She is active with nonprofits dedicated to US veterans, law enforcement, and K9 causes.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: The National Guard is a state-based military force that becomes part of the reserve components of the United States Army and the United States Air Force when activated for federal missions. It is a military reserve force composed of National Guard military members or units of each state and the territories of Guam, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, for a total of 54 separate organizations. It is officially created under Congress's Article 1 Section 8 ability to 'raise and support armies'. All members of the National Guard are also members of the organized militia of the United States as defined by . National Guard units are under the dual control of the state governments and the federal government.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: The majority of National Guard soldiers and airmen hold a civilian job full-time while serving part-time as a National Guard member. These part-time guardsmen are augmented by a full-time cadre of Active Guard & Reserve (AGR) personnel in both the Army National Guard and Air National Guard, plus Army Reserve Technicians in the Army National Guard and Air Reserve Technicians (ART) in the Air National Guard.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: The National Guard is a joint activity of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) composed of reserve components of the United States Army and the United States Air Force: the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard, respectively.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: Local militias were formed from the earliest English colonization of the Americas in 1607. The first colony-wide militia was formed by Massachusetts in 1636 by merging small older local units, and several National Guard units can be traced back to this militia. The various colonial militias became state militias when the United States became independent. The title "National Guard" was used in 1824 by some New York State militia units, named after the French National Guard in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette. "National Guard" became a standard nationwide militia title in 1903, and has specifically indicated reserve forces under mixed state and federal control since 1933.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: The first muster of militia forces in what is today the United States took place on September 16, 1565, in the newly established Spanish military town of St. Augustine. The militia men were assigned to guard the expedition's supplies while their leader, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, took the regular troops north to attack the French settlement at Fort Caroline on the St. Johns River. This Spanish militia tradition and the English tradition that would be established to the north would provide the basic nucleus for Colonial defense in the New World.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: The militia tradition continued with the first permanent English settlements in the New World. Jamestown Colony (established in 1607) and Plymouth Colony (established in 1620) both had militia forces, which initially consisted of every able bodied adult male. By the mid-1600s every town had at least one militia company (usually commanded by an officer with the rank of captain) and the militia companies of a county formed a regiment (usually commanded by an officer with the rank of major in the 1600s or a colonel in the 1700s).


title: National Guard (United States)

text: From the nation's founding through the early 1900s, the United States maintained only a minimal army and relied on state militias, directly related to the earlier Colonial militias to supply the majority of its troops. As a result of the Spanish–American War, Congress was called upon to reform and regulate the training and qualification of state militias.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: In 1903, with passage of the Dick Act, the predecessor to the modern-day National Guard was formed. It required the states to divide their militias into two sections. The law recommended the title "National Guard" for the first section, known as the organized militia, and "Reserve Militia" for all others.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: During World War I, Congress passed the National Defense Act of 1916, which required the use of the term "National Guard" for the state militias and further regulated them. Congress also authorized the states to maintain Home Guards, which were reserve forces outside the National Guards being deployed by the Federal Government.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: In 1933, with passage of the National Guard Mobilization Act, Congress finalized the split between the National Guard and the traditional state militias by mandating that all federally funded soldiers take a dual enlistment/commission and thus enter both the state National Guard and the National Guard of the United States, a newly created federal reserve force. The National Defense Act of 1947 created the Air Force as a separate branch of the Armed Forces and concurrently created the Air National Guard of the United States as one of its reserve components, mirroring the Army's structure.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: The National Guard of the several states, territories, and the District of Columbia serves as part of the first line of defense for the United States. The state National Guard is organized into units stationed in each of the 50 states, three territories, and the District of Columbia, and operates under their respective state or territorial governor, except in the instance of Washington, D.C., where the National Guard operates under the President of the United States or his designee. The governors exercise control through the state adjutants general. The National Guard may be called up for active duty by the governors to help respond to domestic emergencies and disasters, such as hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: The National Guard is administered by the National Guard Bureau, which is a joint activity of the Army and Air Force under the DoD. The National Guard Bureau provides a communication channel for state National Guards to the DoD. The National Guard Bureau also provides policies and requirements for training and funds for state Army National Guard and state Air National Guard units, the allocation of federal funds to the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard, and other administrative responsibilities prescribed under . The National Guard Bureau is headed by the Chief of the National Guard Bureau (CNGB), who is a four-star general in the Army or Air Force and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: The National Guard Bureau is headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia, and is a joint activity of the Department of Defense to conduct all the administrative matters pertaining to the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard. The chief is either an Army or an Air Force four-star general officer, and is the senior uniformed National Guard officer, and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In this capacity, he serves as a military adviser to the President, the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Council and is the Department of Defense's official channel of communication to the Governors and to State Adjutants General on all matters pertaining to the National Guard. He is responsible for ensuring that the more than half a million Army and Air National Guard personnel are accessible, capable, and ready to protect the homeland and to provide combat resources to the Army and the Air Force. He is appointed by the President in his capacity as Commander in Chief.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: The respective state National Guards are authorized by the Constitution of the United States. As originally drafted, the Constitution recognized the existing state militias, and gave them vital roles to fill: "to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasion." (Article I, Section 8, Clause 15). The Constitution distinguished "militias," which were state entities, from "Troops," which were unlawful for states to maintain without Congressional approval. (Article I, Section 10, Clause 3). Under current law, the respective state National Guards and the State Defense Forces are authorized by Congress to the states and are referred to as "troops." .


title: National Guard (United States)

text: Although originally state entities, the Constitutional "Militia of the Several States" were not entirely independent because they could be federalized. According to Article I, Section 8; Clause 15, the United States Congress is given the power to pass laws for "calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions." Congress is also empowered to come up with the guidelines "for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress" (clause 16). The President of the United States is the commander-in-chief of the state militias "when called into the actual Service of the United States." (Article II, Section 2).


title: National Guard (United States)

text: The traditional state militias were redefined and recreated as the "organized militia"—the National Guard, via the Militia Act of 1903. They were now subject to an increasing amount of federal control, including having arms and accoutrements supplied by the central government, federal funding, and numerous closer ties to the Regular Army.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: Both the Army National Guard and Air National Guard are expected to adhere to the same moral and physical standards as their "full-time" active duty and "part-time" reserve federal counterparts. The same ranks and insignia of the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force are used by the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard, respectively, and National Guard members are eligible to receive all United States military awards. The respective state National Guards also bestow state awards for services rendered both at home and abroad. Under Army and Air Force regulations, these awards may be worn while in state, but not federal, duty status. Regular Army and Army Reserve soldiers are also authorized to accept these awards, but are not authorized to wear them.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: Many states also maintain their own state defense forces. Although not federal entities like the National Guard of the United States, these forces are components of the state militias like the individual state National Guards.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: These forces were created by Congress in 1917 as a result of the state National Guards' being deployed and were known as Home Guards. In 1940, with the onset of World War II and as a result of its federalizing the National Guard, Congress amended the National Defense Act of 1916, and authorized the states to maintain "military forces other than National Guard." This law authorized the War Department to train and arm the new military forces that became known as State Guards. In 1950, with the outbreak of the Korean War and at the urging of the National Guard, Congress reauthorized the separate state military forces for a time period of two years. These state military forces were authorized military training at federal expense, and "arms, ammunition, clothing, and equipment," as deemed necessary by the Secretary of the Army. In 1956, Congress finally revised the law and authorized "State defense forces" permanently under Title 32, Section 109, of the United States Code.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: Although there are no Naval or Marine Corps components of the National Guard of the United States, there is a Naval Militia authorized under federal law.. Like the soldiers and airmen in the National Guard of the United States, members of the Naval Militia are authorized federal appointments or enlistments at the discretion of the Secretary of the Navy.. To receive federal funding and equipment, a state naval militia must be composed of at least 95% of Navy, Coast Guard, or Marine Corps Reservists. As such, some states maintain such units. Some states also maintain naval components of their State Defense Force. Recently, Alaska, California, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Texas and Ohio have had or currently maintain naval militias. Other states have laws authorizing them but do not currently have them organized. To receive federal funding, as is the case in the National Guard, a state must meet specific requirements such as having a set percentage of its members in the federal reserves..


title: National Guard (United States)

text: National Guard units can be mobilized for federal active duty to supplement regular armed forces during times of war or national emergency declared by Congress, the President or the Secretary of Defense. They can also be activated for service in their respective states upon declaration of a state of emergency by the governor of the state or territory where they serve, or in the case of Washington, D.C., by the Commanding General. Unlike U.S. Army Reserve members, National Guard members cannot be mobilized individually, except through voluntary transfers and Temporary Duty Assignments (TDY). The types of activation are as follows:


title: National Guard (United States)

text: The term "activated" simply means that a unit or individual of the reserve components has been placed on orders. The purpose and authority for that activation determine limitations and duration of the activation. The Army and Air National Guard may be activated in a number of ways as prescribed by public law. Broadly, under federal law, there are two titles in the United States Code under which units and troops may be activated: as federal soldiers or airmen under Title 10 ("Armed Forces") and as state soldiers or airmen performing a federally-funded mission under Title 32 ("National Guard"). Outside federal activation, the Army and Air National Guard may be activated under state law. This is known as state active duty (SAD).


title: National Guard (United States)

text: When National Guard units are not under federal control, the governor is the commander-in-chief of the units of his or her respective state or territory (such as Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands). The President of the United States commands the District of Columbia National Guard, though this command is routinely delegated to the Commanding General of the DC National Guard. States are free to employ their National Guard forces under state control for state purposes and at state expense as provided in the state's constitution and statutes. In doing so, governors, as commanders-in-chief, can directly access and utilize the Guard's federally assigned aircraft, vehicles and other equipment so long as the federal government is reimbursed for the use of fungible equipment and supplies such as fuel, food stocks, etc. This is the authority under which governors activate and deploy National Guard forces in response to natural disasters. It is also the authority under which governors deploy National Guard forces in response to man-made emergencies such as riots and civil unrest, or terrorist attacks.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: Title 10 service means full-time duty in the active military service of the United States. The term used is "federalized". Federalized National Guard forces have been ordered, by the President to active duty either in their reserve component status or by calling them into Federal service in their militia status.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: In the categories listed above, Army and Air National Guard units or individuals may also be mobilized for non-combat purposes such as the State Partnership Program, humanitarian missions, counter-drug operations, and peacekeeping or peace enforcement missions.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: On December 13, 1636, the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony ordered that the Colony's scattered militia companies be organized into North, South and East Regiments—with the goal of increasing accountability to the colonial government and responsiveness during conflicts with indigenous Pequot Indians. Under this act, white males between the ages of 16 and 60 were obligated to possess arms and to take part in the defense of their communities by serving in nightly guard details and participating in weekly drills. The modern-day 101st Field Artillery Regiment, 182nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Engineer Battalion and 181st Infantry Regiment of the Massachusetts Army National Guard are directly descended from the original colonial regiments formed in 1636.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: The Massachusetts militia began the American Revolutionary War at the Battles of Lexington and Concord, The Massachusetts militia units were mobilized either during or shortly after the above battles and used to form, along with units from Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire, the Army of Observation during the Siege of Boston. On July 3, 1775 General George Washington, under the authority of the Continental Congress, assumed command of the Army of Observation and the new organization became the Continental Army from which the United States Army traces its origins.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: Throughout the war, militia units were mobilized when British forces entered their geographic areas and participated in most of the battles fought during the war.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: The early United States distrusted a standing army - in emulation of a long standing British distrust - and kept the number of professional soldiers small. During the Northwest Indian War, the majority of soldiers were provided by state militias. There are nineteen Army National Guard units with campaign credit for the War of 1812.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: The Marquis de Lafayette visited the U.S. in 1824–25. The 2nd Battalion, 11th New York Artillery, was one of many militia commands who turned out in welcome. This unit decided to adopt the title "National Guard," in honor of Lafayette's French National Guard. The Battalion, later the 7th Regiment, was prominent in the line of march on the occasion of Lafayette's final passage through New York en route home to France. Taking note of the troops named for his old command, Lafayette alighted from his carriage, walked down the line, clasping each officer by the hand as he passed.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: Militia units provided 70% of the soldiers that fought in the Mexican–American War, and also provided the majority of soldiers in the early months of the American Civil War The majority of soldiers in the Spanish–American War were from the National Guard.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: Labor unrest in the industrial and mining sections of the Northeast and Midwest led to demands for a stronger military force within the states.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: On July 14, 1877, workers on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) began to stop trains in Martinsburg, West Virginia in response to wage cuts. This protest developed into the national Great Railroad Strike of 1877. West Virginia governor Henry M. Mathews was the first state commander-in-chief to send in troops to break-up the protests, and this action has been viewed in retrospect as an incident that would transform the National Guard.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: After the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, calls for military suppression of labor strikes grew louder, and National Guard units proliferated. In many states, large and elaborate armories, often built to resemble medieval castles, were constructed to house militia units. Businessmen and business associations donated monies for the construction of armories and to supplement funds of the local National Guard units. National Guard officers also came from the middle and upper classes.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: National Guard troops were deployed to suppress strikers in some of the bloodiest and most significant conflicts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including the Homestead Strike, the Pullman Strike of 1894, and the Colorado Labor Wars.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: Throughout the 19th century the Regular U.S. Army was small, and the state militias provided the majority of the troops during the Mexican–American War, the American Civil War, and the Spanish–American War. With the Militia Act of 1903, the militia was more organized and the name "National Guard" recommended. In 1908, the prohibition on National Guard units serving overseas was dropped. This resulted in constitutional debates within the U.S. government surrounding the legality of the use of the National Guard overseas, culminating in 1912 when U.S. Attorney General George W. Wickersham declared the 1908 amendment to be unconstitutional. The National Defense Act of 1916 contained a provision whereby the president could discharge National Guard members from the militia and draft them into the Army in the event of a war, allowing for their use overseas. This resulted in former National Guard members being discharged from the Army entirely (also losing their status as state troops) when they left service, so the 1920 amendments to the act defined the National Guard's dual role as a state and federal reserve force; the "National Guard while in the service of the United States" as a component of the Army of the United States could be ordered to active duty by the president, be deployed overseas if they so wished, and the Guardsmen would then revert to their status as state troops. The dual state and federal status proved confusing, so in 1933, the National Defense Act of 1916 was amended again. It finally severed the National Guard's traditional connection with the militia clause of the Constitution, providing for a new component called the "National Guard of the United States" that was to be a reserve component of the Army of the United States at all times. This is the beginning of the present legal basis of the National Guard. In World War I, National Guard soldiers made up 40 percent of the men in U.S. combat divisions in France. In World War II, the National Guard made up 18 divisions. One hundred forty thousand Guardsmen were mobilized during the Korean War and over 63,000 for Operation Desert Storm. They have also participated in U.S. peacekeeping operations in Somalia, Haiti, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bosnia, and Kosovo and for natural disasters, strikes, riots and security for the Olympic Games when they have been in the States.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: Following World War II, the National Guard aviation units that had previously been part of the U.S. Army Air Corps and its successor organization, the U.S. Army Air Forces, became the Air National Guard (ANG), one of two reserve components of the newly established United States Air Force.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: On September 24, 1957 President Dwight D. Eisenhower federalized the entire Arkansas National Guard to ensure the safe entry of the Little Rock Nine to Little Rock Central High School the following day. Governor Orval Faubus had previously used members of the guard to deny the students entry to the school.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: The New York National Guard were ordered by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller to respond to the Rochester 1964 race riot in July of that year. The California Army National Guard were mobilized by the Governor of California Edmund Gerald Brown, Sr. during the Watts Riots, in August 1965, to provide security and help restore order.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: Elements of the Ohio Army National Guard were ordered to Kent State University by Ohio's governor Jim Rhodes to quell anti-Vietnam War protests, culminating in their shooting into a crowd of students on May 4, 1970, killing four and injuring nine. The massacre was followed by the Student strike of 1970.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: During the Vietnam War, service in the National Guard was highly sought after, as an enlistment in the Guard generally prevented a person from being sent to combat; only a handful of Guard units were ever deployed to Vietnam. In 1968, the National Guard had only 1.26% Black soldiers.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: During the Vietnam War, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara created the Selective Reserve Force (SRF) in October 1965. Since funding was not available to train and equip the entire National Guard adequately, the SRF would be a core group of 150,000 National Guardsmen available and ready for immediate overseas deployment if needed. SRF units were supposed to be authorized at 100% strength, receive priority training funds and modern equipment, and have more training and do 58 hours of drills of four hours each a year rather than the standard 48 hours of drills.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: The 2nd Battalion 138th Field Artillery of the Kentucky Army National Guard was ordered to service in Vietnam in late 1968. The unit served in support of the regular 101st Airborne Division. The Battalion's C Battery lost nine men killed and thirty-two wounded when North Vietnamese troops overran Fire Base Tomahawk on June 19, 1969.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: During the early 1980s, the governors of California and Maine refused to allow deployment of their states' National Guard units to Central America. In 1986, Congress passed the Montgomery Amendment, which prohibited state governors from withholding their consent. In 1990, the Supreme Court ruled against the governor of Minnesota, who had sued over the deployment of the state's National Guard units to Central America.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: During the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, when portions of south central Los Angeles erupted in chaos, overwhelming the Los Angeles Police Department's ability to contain the violence, the California Army National Guard and selected units of the California Air National Guard was mobilized to help restore order. The National Guard were attributed with five shootings of people suspected of violating the curfew order placed on the city.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: During the 1993 Waco siege of the Branch Davidians, elements of the Alabama and Texas Army National Guard were called in to assist the ATF and the follow on effort by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the National Guard's involvement was limited to several specific areas; surveillance and reconnaissance, transport, maintenance and repairs, training and instruction, helicopters, unarmed tactical ground vehicles. The Army National Guard helicopters were also used to do photographic reconnaissance work. Training for ATF agents included such subjects as Close Quarters Combat, and combat medical instruction, and a mock up of the Mount Carmel complex was constructed at Fort Hood, Texas for rehearsals. ATF also received several surplus helmets, flack vests, canteens, first aid dressings, empty magazines, and some night-vision equipment, in addition to MREs and diesel fuel. The FBI would request and receive the use of Bradley Armored Fighting Vehicles, and tank retrieval vehicles, as well as overflights by UH-1 and CH-47 helicopters.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: As a result of the Bottom Up Review and post-Cold War force cutbacks, the Army National Guard maneuver force was reduced to eight divisions (from ten; the 26th Infantry and 50th Armored were consolidated in the northeastern states) and fifteen 'enhanced brigades,' which were supposed to be ready for combat operations, augmenting the active force, within 90 days.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: National Guard units played a major role in providing security and assisting recovery efforts in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in 2001 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: In 2005, National Guard members and reservists were said to comprise a larger percentage of frontline fighting forces than in any war in U.S. history (about 43 percent in Iraq and 55 percent in Afghanistan). There were more than 183,366 National Guard members and reservists on active duty nationwide who left behind about 300,000 dependents, according to U.S. Defense Department statistics. In 2011, Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey, Jr. stated that "Every Guard brigade has deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, and over 300,000 Guardsmen have deployed in this war."


title: National Guard (United States)

text: In January and February 2007, National Guard troops from 8 states were activated to go help shovel snow, drop hay for starving cattle, deliver food and necessities to stranded people in their houses, and help control traffic and rescue stranded motorists in blizzards dropping feet of snow across the country.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: In the first quarter of 2007, United States Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates announced changes to the Guard deployment policy aimed at shorter and more predictable deployments for National Guard troops. "Gates said his goal is for Guard members to serve a one-year deployment no more than every five years... Gates is imposing a one-year limit to the length of deployment for National Guard Soldiers, effective immediately." Prior to this time, Guard troops deployed for a standard one-year deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan would serve for 18 or more months including training and transit time. During the transition to the new policy for all troops in the pipeline, deployed or soon to be deployed, some will face deployments faster than every five years. "The one-to-five year cycle does not include activations for state emergencies."


title: National Guard (United States)

text: Prior to the attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001, the National Guard's general policy regarding mobilization was that Guardsmen would be required to serve no more than one year cumulative on active duty (with no more than six months overseas) for each five years of regular drill. Due to strains placed on active duty units following the attacks, the possible mobilization time was increased to 18 months (with no more than one year overseas). Additional strains placed on military units as a result of the invasion of Iraq further increased the amount of time a Guardsman could be mobilized to 24 months. Current Department of Defense policy is that no Guardsman is involuntarily activated for more than 24 months (cumulative) in one six-year enlistment period.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: Traditionally, most National Guard personnel serve "One weekend a month, two weeks a year", although personnel in highly operational or high demand units serve far more frequently. Typical examples are pilots, navigators and aircrewmen in active flying assignments, primarily in the Air National Guard, and to a lesser extent in the Army National Guard, and special operations airmen and soldiers in both. A significant number also serve in a full-time capacity in roles such as Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) or Air Reserve Technician or Army Reserve Technician (ART).


title: National Guard (United States)

text: The "One weekend a month, two weeks a year" slogan has lost most of its relevance since the Iraq War, when nearly 28% of total US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan at the end of 2007 consisted of mobilized personnel of the National Guard and other Reserve components. In July 2012, the Army's top general stated his intention to increase the annual drill requirement from two weeks per year to up to seven weeks per year.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: Prior to 2008, the functions of Agricultural Development Teams were within Provincial Reconstruction Teams of the US Government. Today, ADTs consist of soldiers and airmen from the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard. Today, ADTs bring "an effective platform for enhanced dialogue, building confidence, sharing interests, and increasing cooperation amongst the disparate peoples and tribes of Afghanistan." These teams are not only affiliated with the military, they frequently work across agencies, for example with USAID and the Department of State. ADTs provide education and expertise on the ground, while also providing security and order that is traditionally affiliated with the military. These teams have been essential to the counterinsurgency efforts in Afghanistan as a public diplomacy tool to build relations with the local people in the tribes and provinces of the country.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: ADTs provide classroom instruction and teachings to Afghans about how to improve their farming practices during non-seasonal growing months, which allows the farmers to use skills in the winter to prepare for farming in the summer and fall. This enhances agricultural production and the Afghan economy as a whole. Agricultural education also improves lines of communication and builds trust between the people, the US government, and the Host Nation. Additionally, through word of mouth in the provinces ideas are spread that inform others about these farming techniques, that may not have had direct interaction with the ADTs. The National Guard ADTs also introduce their US civilian colleagues to the Afghan University personnel, which further strengthens relations and trust in the US efforts in Afghanistan.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: ADTs also enhance public diplomacy in Afghanistan by providing security to the local provinces they are working within. This tool has provided the teams with the civilian-military partnership that is needed to conduct public diplomacy and defeat the insurgents in Afghanistan. President Barack Obama said that the US will enhance agricultural development instead of big reconstruction projects to build Afghanistan's economy, to have an immediate impact on the Afghan people. Today, these projects include "...basic gardening practices, to large watershed and irrigation projects. There are also projects that teach bee keeping and livestock production: all of which will have a positive impact on unemployment, hunger, and the ability to sustain future generations.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: More and more Afghan tribal leaders have been requesting additional ADTs, which illustrates how important the use of public diplomacy has been in the efforts to win the trust of the Afghan people. The case study from Nangarhar Province in Afghanistan serves as an excellent example. This province is one of the most stable and secure provinces in Afghanistan. For example, over 100,000 Afghans have returned to province; the province has also been declared poppy-free in 2007 by the UN. Additionally, most districts within the province have all-weather paved roads and it is also one of the most productive agricultural regions in Afghanistan.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: In 2006, Congress considered giving the president the full authority to mobilize National Guard units within the U.S. without the consent of state governors. However, this was met with resistance from states governors and members of the National Guard. The act was eventually passed, but instead, the president's authority was expanded to mobilize the reserve components for domestic operations without the consent of the governor, only during a natural disaster, terrorist attack, epidemic or other public health emergency. The following year, that authority was repealed.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: In 2020, the National Guard was activated for 11,000,000 "man days" in support of natural disasters, civil unrest, food distribution at food banks, and COVID-19 testing and vaccination. This was the highest number of activation days since World War II.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: Militia service was a common trait among presidents of the United States, 18 of whom have served in colonial or state militias and two have served in the National Guard since it was established in 1903. Among these, three served in colonial militias (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison), 15 served in state militias (James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, William Henry Harrison, William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt), one in the Army National Guard (Harry S. Truman) and one (George W. Bush) served in the Air National Guard.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: A member of the NG, often called a "guardsman," is a person who has signed an Enlistment Contract and has subscribed to an Enlistment Oath, is still alive, or has not yet been discharged. The subscription to the oath (typically a recitation) and the signature must be witnessed by a person, typically a Guard officer, authorized as an official witness. The term of the enlistment, or membership, runs from the date on the contract through the date on the discharge or the death certificate.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: The "number of guardsmen" is a statistic generated by the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC), an agency of the DoD tasked with tracking the identities of all persons in the active military, its reserves, and civilians employed by it. Membership in the Guard may be regarded as an independent variable. It changes constantly. Its value at any instant cannot be known exactly. It can, however, be estimated from the records of the DMDC. Its data and reports are for the most part inaccessible to the general public, but it does make available some reports under the category "DoD Personal, Workforce Reports & Publications."


title: National Guard (United States)

text: The series "Military and Civilian Personnel by Service/Agency by State/Country (Updated Quarterly)," containing the statistics on membership in the NG by state, territory, and D.C., is updated every 3rd month at the end of the month. For example, one was generated on June 30, 2017. Like all statistics, these numbers of guardsmen are a sample culled according to a certain method. The report states that it uses the sources: "Active Duty Master File, RCCPDS, APF Civilian Master, CTS Deployment File, Civilian Deployment." The probabilities of the statistics being accurate to various percentages are not stated.


title: National Guard (United States)

text: Below is a sample summary of a profile of National Guard membership as of September 30, 2020. Only the non-total columns come from the source. The totals are calculated from the data.


title: MC Ren

text: Lorenzo Jerald Patterson (born June 16, 1969), better known by his stage name MC Ren, is an American rapper, songwriter and record producer from Compton, California. He is the founder and owner of the record label Villain Entertainment.


title: MC Ren

text: MC Ren began his career as a solo artist signed to Eazy-E's Ruthless Records in early 1987, while still attending high school. By the end of 1987, after having written nearly half of "Eazy-Duz-It", he became a member of N.W.A. After the group disbanded in 1991, he stayed with Ruthless, releasing three solo albums including the controversial "Shock of the Hour" before leaving the label in 1998.


title: MC Ren

text: Lorenzo Jerald Patterson was born in Compton, California, on June 16, 1969, and raised in Pannes Ave. around Kelly Park. He grew up with his parents, two brothers and a sister. His father used to work for "the government", until he later opened up his own barber shop. Patterson joined the Kelly Park Compton Crips (of which Eazy-E would also become a member) in attempt to make money, but soon departed and turned to drug dealing as he felt it was more lucrative. Following a raid on his childhood friend MC Chip's house, Patterson quit dealing and focused thereafter on making music.


title: MC Ren

text: Patterson attended Dominguez High School, where he met his future collaborator, DJ Train. At this time, he developed an interest in hip hop music, and began writing songs with MC Chip, with whom he formed the group Awesome Crew, and performed at parties and nightclubs. Patterson officially began his rap career upon joining forces with another childhood friend, Eric "Eazy-E" Wright, in 1985. Patterson graduated from high school in 1987 and he planned to join the United States Army after graduation, but changed his mind after watching the 1987 film "Full Metal Jacket".


title: MC Ren

text: In 1987, Patterson was signed as a solo artist to Eazy-E's Ruthless Records, while still attending high school. However, when Ice Cube went to study for a year, Ren was asked to write songs for the in-progress "Eazy-Duz-It". After writing much of the album, MC Ren was asked to join the group N.W.A. They immediately started on the album "Straight Outta Compton". With a budget of US$8,000, the album was finished in four weeks and released in August 1988. Propelled by "Fuck tha Police", the album became a major success, despite an almost complete absence of radio airplay or major concert tours. The FBI sent Ruthless a warning letter in response to the song's content.


title: MC Ren

text: One month after "Straight Outta Compton", "Eazy-Duz-It" was released, with lyrics largely written by Patterson, with contributions from Ice Cube and The D.O.C.


title: MC Ren

text: Following Ice Cube's departure from the group in 1989, N.W.A quickly released the EP "100 Miles and Runnin'" with lyrics written by Patterson, with contributions by The D.O.C. The group's second full-length studio album, "Niggaz4Life," was released the next year. Selling 955,000 copies in the 1st week and was certified as Platinum, it became the first rap album to enter #1 on the Billboard charts. This album would become the group's final, as Dr. Dre left the group over financial disputes with Jerry Heller.


title: MC Ren

text: As N.W.A disbanded, Patterson started recording his first solo release titled "Kizz My Black Azz". The 6-track EP was entirely produced by DJ Bobcat, except for one song that Patterson produced himself. Released in summer 1992, the EP was a hit, commercially and critically. Without any radio play, the EP went Platinum within 2 months.


title: MC Ren

text: Patterson began recording for his debut album, at that time called "Life Sentence", in late 1992. During the recording process, Patterson joined The Nation Of Islam with guidance from DJ Train. This caused him to scrap "Life Sentence", and "Shock Of The Hour" was released in late 1993. The album debuted at #1 on the R&B charts, selling 321,000 copies in its first month. "Shock of the Hour" was regarded as being more focused, yet even more controversial, and critics accused him again of being anti-white, misogynist, and antisemitic. The album is thematically divided into two sides; the first half deals with social issues like ghetto life, drug addiction, racism and poverty. The second half shows


title: MC Ren

text: Patterson's political side, as this half was recorded after he joined the Nation of Islam. The album features the hit singles "Same Old Shit" and "Mayday On The Frontline".


title: MC Ren

text: After 2 years of not talking to each other, Patterson reunited with Eazy-E in 1994 to produce their duet song "Tha Muthpukkin' Real" produced by DJ Yella, with Patterson co-producing. Three months later; on March 26, 1995, Eazy-E would die from complications of AIDS. The song "Tha Muthpukkin' Real" was released as a single in 1995.


title: MC Ren

text: Patterson soon fell on hard times when both DJ Train and Eazy-E died before the release of "The Villain in Black". The album, which was released in early 1996 and represented Patterson's first attempt at imitating the G-funk sound of Dr. Dre's The Chronic, was not well received by critics. It was also heavily criticized for what many saw as Patterson's pandering to gangsta rap at the cost of a reduction in the sociopolitical content found on his earlier releases. The album debuted at #31 on the pop-charts, with the first week's sales of 31,000 copies. By the second month it had sold 131,000 copies.


title: MC Ren

text: Before leaving Ruthless, Patterson released "Ruthless for Life" in 1998, which proved a small comeback, selling moderately well. The album features Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, RBX and 8Ball & MJG, and others. This was the first time Patterson worked with new producers. By the end of 1998, Patterson had left Ruthless.


title: MC Ren

text: On October 31, 2009, Patterson released his fourth studio album entitled "Renincarnated", which was released under his own record label "Villain". "Renincarnated" was only released in the US.


title: MC Ren

text: In 2015, Patterson stated that he had been working on his second EP, titled "Rebel Music" and released two singles: the title track, "Rebel Music", and "Burn Radio Burn". The official remix for "Rebel Music" was released in June 2014, and features Ice Cube. It was originally expected to be released by the end of 2015 but remained unreleased until 2022 when he canceled the project and followed it up with a new EP, "Osiris" via Twitter.


title: MC Ren

text: On May 22, 2022, he announced the track list of "Osiris", and released the EP on June 3, 2022. The eight-track EP is entirely produced by Tha Chill and features guest appearances from Kurupt, Kokane, Cold 187um, Ras Kass and others.


title: MC Ren

text: In 1988, Patterson contributed to "Eazy-Duz-It". Although officially released as a solo album by Eazy-E, numerous artists contributed. Patterson; the only guest rapper on the album, features raps of his own on almost half of the album. The album was produced by Dr. Dre and DJ Yella, while Patterson, Ice Cube and The D.O.C. wrote the lyrics.


title: MC Ren

text: In 1990, Patterson produced the debut album for his protege group CPO, titled "To Hell and Black". The group consisted of CPO Boss Hogg, DJ Train, and Young D. After the release of their debut album, the group dissolved. CPO Boss Hogg went to have a solo career, featuring on high-profile albums of N.W.A, Dr. Dre and Tupac, while DJ Train stayed with Patterson.


title: MC Ren

text: In 1993, Patterson introduced a new group called "The Whole Click". The group featured Patterson's longtime collaborator Bigg Rocc, Grinch, Bone and Patterson's brother, Juvenile. The group first appeared on Patterson's debut album "Shock of the Hour". The collective later split up. Bigg Rocc continued to collaborate with Patterson, featuring him on all his solo albums.