By Vicki Allen
Reuters, 26 January 2006
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army notified Congress on Thursday it planned to reduce troop strength for its reserves and National Guard, a step Democrats questioned because of demands from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
The Army proposed reducing its reserves' strength to 188,000 from 205,000, and the Army National Guard to 333,000 from 350,000, said Rep. Ike Skelton (news, bio, voting record) of Missouri, top Democrat on the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee.
"Given the demands on the current and future force, I question the rationale," Skelton said in a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
The National Guard is made up of part-time soldiers under command of state governors to respond to weather emergencies and other crises, but also can be mobilized for overseas duty by the
Pentagon. The Army Reserve is made up of part-time soldiers on federal duty under the command of the Pentagon.
Large numbers of National Guard and reserves have been deployed in Iraq.
Skelton questioned whether the reduction was being proposed "because the Army cannot recruit to the authorized levels," or whether the Pentagon figured it could not afford to invest in new weapons systems while maintaining current force levels.
The regular Army, its reserve and National Guard all missed their fiscal 2005 recruiting goals.
Skelton also said he had heard Army estimates that restoring its equipment to pre-Iraq war levels would cost about $12 billion annually once a substantial drawdown of troops begins, with a total estimated cost of about $35 billion.
"This figure continues to grow and does not include the additional cost to acquire all the equipment needed for a transformed Army," Skelton wrote. He said total costs for transforming the Army into smaller, more mobile and interchangeable units could be $80 billion.
The Army told lawmakers of its proposal to reduce reserves and National Guard forces a day after Rumsfeld fended off findings from two studies that warned of a looming crisis in the all-volunteer military amid large troop deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The force is not broken," Rumsfeld told a Pentagon briefing. "This armed force is enormously capable."
A number of lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, have said the Pentagon has overstretched its forces with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, relied too heavily on reserves and National Guard, and required extended and repeated deployments.
The United States has cut its force in Iraq to 136,000, the lowest since last summer, as it draws down from about 160,000 troops in the country for last month's elections.
Additional reporting by Will Dunham
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Citation: Vicki Allen. "Army sees reductions in National Guard, reserves," Reuters, 26 January 2006.
Original URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060127/us_nm/iraq_forces_dc
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