8. The National Guard Is Still There

Two men from the 53rd Army Liaison Team, stationed at the Park Avenue Armory

In 2010, a bus filled with National Guard just home from the Iraq war arrived at the Park Avenue Armory, greeted by friends and family. Although not quite the elite men’s club of old, they were the Seventh Regiment, renamed the 53rd Army Liaison Team of the New York Army National Guard. This group of between 25 and 30 men and women specializes in communications and calls the fourth floor of the Park Avenue Armory its home.  The National Guard is no longer responsible for the upkeep of the building, which is now owned by New York State and they no longer use the 55,000 square-foot Drill Hall for marching exercising.