The Green Mountaineers trace their modern origin to the old Green Mountain Boys, a loosely organized Vermont community-defense and emergency network whose roots combined state pride, local self-reliance, outdoors culture, former military experience, and the practical skills of ordinary residents.

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The organization was never composed entirely of trained gunfighters. Its membership included mechanics, hunters, climbers, medical personnel, communications specialists, engineers, tradespeople, and other residents whose knowledge became invaluable when normal systems failed.

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That structure was tested during the United Canadian Empire's (UCE's) New Canada Incident in 2012.

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UCE forces disrupted cellular networks, satellite communications, electrical infrastructure, transportation routes, and conventional government response systems across large portions of Vermont. The Green Mountain Boys mobilized alongside the Yankee Minutemen and local resistance, using terrain knowledge, old infrastructure, civilian equipment, and improvised tactics to remain operational.

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One of their most important innovations became known as the Backline. When modern communications were compromised, GMB technicians repurposed abandoned copper telephone lines, analog field phones, fax machines, legacy switching equipment, and low-speed modem connections to move information outside UCE-controlled networks. What looked obsolete became one of Vermont’s most reliable communication systems during the crisis.

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The Green Mountain Boys also became known for highly improvised defensive tactics. Snowplows, skidders, tractors, snowmobiles, logging equipment, cables, explosives, and felled timber were adapted to slow or disrupt UCE forces. Their most famous example came when conventional attacks failed against the crystalline villain Yukon. Green Mountain Boys used logging and blasting expertise to bring an enormous tree down directly onto the twelve-foot superhuman, successfully pinning and stunning him.

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The cost of the campaign was devastating.

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Before New Canada, the Green Mountain Boys numbered 124 members. Of those, 122 deployed. Eighty-eight were killed, leaving only thirty-four deployment survivors and two members who had not deployed. The immediate postwar organization therefore consisted of only thirty-six people.

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Among the dead was Josiah Wentworth, one of the organization’s principal moral and field leaders. Josiah had played a critical role in preventing the young mutant hero Nor’easter, Jack Rower, from executing Yukon out of revenge. Josiah’s lesson about the difference between justice and vengeance remained with Jack after Josiah was killed by UCE indirect fire.

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As the battle deteriorated, ordinary Vermonters began arriving independently in pickups, farm vehicles, snowmobiles, and work trucks. Some carried hunting weapons. Others carried food, fuel, blankets, tools, chainsaws, and medical supplies. This spontaneous response became known as the Green Mountain Rally.

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Once the immediate fighting began to subside, those same civilians turned rapidly toward humanitarian work. Barns, volunteer firehouses, workshops, and private homes became improvised treatment centers. Wounded Green Mountain Boys, civilians, and UCE troops were treated side by side.

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Jack Rower witnessed that change.

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When Clyde Wentworth was badly wounded, Jack used his powers to send him toward safety on an improvised ice rescue sled. Yukon returned shortly afterward. Jack still had an opportunity to escape, but he turned back toward the threat because wounded people remained behind him.

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Mortally wounded in the final confrontation, Nor’easter used his remaining strength to contain Yukon rather than execute him. Jack died protecting the people behind him.

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The surviving Green Mountain Boys carried that choice into the postwar reorganization.

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They decided not to recreate the old militia.

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The Green Mountaineers were born instead.

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