The Massachusetts State Defense Force operated the State Guard, and the Women's Defense force; they had members engaged in training practices such as capturing soldires, using grenades, digging trenches, and making bombs, while the women were responsible for medical, firefighting, transportation, and communications service.
In addition to the combat division, the Massachusetts State Guard operated the Women's Defense Force (WDC), a unit made up of women who were responsible for medical, firefighting, air raid alert, transportation, canteen, and communications services. During World War II, the Massachusetts State Guard, training alongside other guardsmen from other states in New England, practiced capturing soldiers from Fort Devens (then Camp Devens) who would pose as enemy paratroopers, and "practiced using grenades, digging trenches, charging across fields with their shotguns, making incendiary and smoke bombs and Molotov cocktails, and creating roadblocks." 
