Irregular Militia Group

"WOLVERINES!"

– Robert Morris

Since the formation of the US, the image of the militia man has been an enduring part of the Cultural Identity of Americans. During the Revolutionary War, Minute Men were used by the Continental forces as something of a rapid response force. During the Civil War, both the North and South used militia style forces during the early years to bolster their numbers. Militias even served as late as the Spanish-American War. But by the 20th century, the usage of Militias by the US government pretty much ended as National Guard style forces pretty much took over the duties of Militias for homeland defense. A home guard style of force did exist during World War 1. But ultimately it would be folded in favor of the National Guard. In the context of Team Yankee, Irregular Militia Groups are meant to represent partisan groups operation in the US (and Canada) fighting against the Soviet Occupation. Going further, the unit in question is meant to reference the Wolverines from the film Red Dawn.

In Team Yankee

Irregular Militia Groups are a bit odd for American (and Canadian) lists. Their stats are near identical to the standard Soviet Infantryman. They do have the option to take Mortars, if that is your thing. They also have Pick Up Trucks for transport, for all that is worth. All in all, they are cheap troops. So why take them at all? Well, that's where the rule Resistance comes into play. They aren't deployed normally, but rather during the reserves part of the starting step. With the right roll, these guys come in as if from ambush in either No Man's Land or in the Opposing Deployment Zone. What's more, they don't count against your units held in reserve. Makes them a neat little unit to send in after Artillery or Anti-Air. The only real problem is they can't be deployed next to objectives. You also only get two of the units to use. Their viability on the field is probably situational at best, but that may change once the book drops.

IRL

Politics and history aside, Militia usage on the continental US has not been a thing since the 20th Century. Which makes sense given that the US has three barriers known as The Atlantic Ocean, The Pacific Ocean and 1.64 Trillion in defense spending. Even if an invading force made its way onto the continental US, there is still the presence of the National Guard.

That being said, the idea of regular Americans rising up to the defend their home has been taken into account by most foreign armies. While often misattributed, the idea of a "Rifle Behind Every Blade of Grass" is very much a valid one. And in the event of an emergency severe enough where National Guardsmen are sent to the front lines, its likely that volunteer forces at home would be hastily organized, if only to take over the Guard's other duties of disaster response and riot control. Did we mention that the US has more firearms than the entire population of the continent of Australia?

Another thing to take into account is the presence of armed groups in the US. While it's easy to think most partisan groups during a possible invasion are wholesome patriots, the reality is a lot less nice. Groups ranging from gangs to religious fundamentalists would also be present to fight back against, though many of the heavily-armed survivalist groups are more concerned with protecting their own farm from societal collapse / the man than they are with proactively fighting off a foreign invader and are at best going to be difficult to contact since they tend to live waaaaay off the grid. If you want a real life example, just look up the Basij. When given a common enemy, differences tend to be placed aside. Or you could look at the French Resistance, which was composed of a huge number of ideologically diverse cells that would fight one another until British Intelligence managed to get a handle on things and coordinated them into a more effective group. Or hell for a modern example: literally everyone in Ukraine strong enough to carry a .22.

This unit might also be an attempt to replicate an "International Brigade/Legion" formation. During multiple conflicts with major ideological components such as the Spanish Civil War or the ongoing Ukraine/Russian you might get many thousands of volunteer fighters, which while of dubious quality are still useful and better than nothing.

Still all that brings the question: why the heck is this an American unit?

They're the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front.

After Fidel took over Cuba, the US recruited a bunch of Cuban refugees to liberate the country and restore it to the mafia-owned banana republic tax haven it'd been for decades. A couple thousand Cubans were given crash training in which end of a gun to point at the enemy and sent off to storm the beaches with the promise that the whole USAF would be flying overhead shooting anything that got in their way.

They got as far as far as storming the beaches, looking up at a bright sunny Caribbean sky with no planes in it.