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Department of Defense: Volunteer Military Force-Family Life Issues

517

THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 1992

Department of Defense:

Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs
Personnel and Manpower

559

584

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The subcommittee met at 9:03 a.m., in room SD-192, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Daniel K. Inouye (chairman) presiding.

Present: Senators Inouye, Byrd, Leahy, Bumpers, Lautenberg, Stevens, D'Amato, Cochran, Specter, and Domenici.

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

GUARD AND RESERVE PROGRAMS

STATEMENT OF STEPHEN M. DUNCAN, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR RESERVE AFFAIRS

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR INOUYE

Senator INOUYE. This morning we focus on the Reserve components of the national Defense Establishment. Last year when we met to discuss the Reserves, we were concerned with the affects of Operations Desert Shield/Storm on our military, with particular emphasis on the Reserves.

We are proud of the superb performance of both the Active and Reserve components achieved during this campaign. We are still proud, but since the victory, the world has changed more rapidly than any of us could have ever predicted.

The President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs are now engaged in the restructuring of our military forces.

As a result of a reduced military threat, we are in the particularly sad position of inviting volunteers who plan to spend a career in the Active components to leave the military. Today there is a different focus from last year's hearing. This year we are concerned with the effects of the overall drawdown of the military on the Reserve component, both Guard and Reserves.

We quite often hear the term total force and I believe the debate may be what total force means. If it means an amalgam of the Reserves and Active components, where the two are partners, used logically and cost effectively and with due cognizance given to the dual role of the Guard, then we may be in consonance.

If it means an emphasis on the role of the Active components with a lessened role for the Reserves, then I believe the views of the President and the Secretary of Defense are at diversion by those held by a large number of members of the legislative branch. I am afraid this may be the case.

This diversion is something that we will discuss this morning. As I said last year, we are in the process of deciding what the basic structure of our military forces will be into the next century. I believe that everyone in this room-representatives of the Department of Defense, and the Senate Defense Subcommittee alike—is aware that the reductions in strength of Reserve components must be considered.

Our possible disagreement with the Department of Defense, it seems to me, lies with the apparent lack of planning in a Department on the way to reduce the size of the Reserves. We are troubled by the uncertainty, even within segments of the Department, as to how to do it and with the effect such reductions will have on the overall defense readiness and policy.

MAKEUP OF PANELS

I am certain this will be a very interesting hearing and I look forward to the comments of our witnesses. Before we begin, I would like to introduce our distinguished guests. On our first panel, we will have the Hon. Stephen Duncan, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs.

The second panel will be comprised of Lt. Gen. John B. Conaway, Chief, National Guard Bureau; Maj. Gen. Raymond R. Rees, Director, Army National Guard; and Maj. Gen. Philip G. Killey, Director, Air National Guard.

Our third panel consists of Maj. Gen. Roger Sandler, Chief, Army Reserve; Maj. Gen. John J. Closner, Chief, Air Force Reserve; Rear Adm. James E. Taylor, Director, Naval Reserve; and Lt. Gen. Matthew D. Cooper, Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, U.S. Marine Corps.

To all of you welcome. May I assure you, your statements will be made part of the record. So please proceed as you wish.

STATEMENT OVERVIEW

Mr. DUNCAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and good morning. Let me note initially that my remarks are going to be brief. I have subImitted what even for me is an unusually long prepared statement. I did that in an attempt to anticipate the committee's areas of interest. With respect to the issues you mentioned in your opening remarks, I would refer specifically to that part of my statement that starts on page 53. I have there discussed the Reserve components in the new military strategy and where we are going with our planning.

But if I might, let me make a couple of brief preliminary remarks. I suppose one could reach a different conclusion from reading newspapers today, but it is good to remember that it was only 1 year ago that the temporary ceasefire was entered into in Operation Desert Storm. It has been a substantially less amount of time

since then, only a very few months, since we brought home the last National Guardsman and reservist that was mobilized.

Nevertheless, as you go around the country today and as I know you do, if you go to armories and Reserve centers and training sites all over the country, you are going to see the same intensity_of training that preceded Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Our Reserves have not missed a beat. They are back at their duty stations acting as if that almost did not happen and preparing for future conflicts that we hope will never occur.

Shortly after the temporary ceasefire was entered into, which I think was on February 28, the President referred to the National Guard and Reserve forces as part of what he characterized as the "finest fighting force this Nation has ever known in its history."

Now, as you mentioned, Mr. Chairman, we are in the process of preparing and shaping the Armed Forces for the kinds of threats that may occur in the future, a very uncertain future. I have never underestimated the difficulty of the task, but I would like to share with the committee this morning a couple of formidable advantages that we have going for us as we address the challenges of the future.

First and foremost, we can talk a lot about the high quality of the individual members of the National Guard and Reserve. They are intelligent, they are highly motivated, they are volunteers, they are leaders in their civilian communities. Most of them have considerable military experience and many have very unique civilian experience.

They are prepared to make substantial sacrifices for the interest of the Nation and their performance in Desert Storm demonstrated that vividly. Now, some unusual data was recently brought to my attention which I think illustrates this point very well.

Last year, as I was testifying before this committee and several other committees, a great deal of concern was expressed about the effect of a large callup. We did, in fact, call up in excess of 231,000 members of the National Guard and Reserve. Several thousand others volunteered; 106,000 went to the gulf. There was a great deal of concern about that mobilization. If you were a battalion commander in a ground force, you had never been called up in your entire Reserve career. And there was concern about what the mobilization would mean for retention. I was asked, "Are those people now going to realize that we are serious about using the Reserve forces in the total force policy, that they really might be called up?" There was a special concern expressed for persons who had critical skills, especially hard to recruit skills. I think back of comments about physicians and others in health care.

Well, I am happy to suggest that things have been a lot better than some suspected. At the time, when I was asked what is going to happen, I said that I did not really know. But I asserted that if the last chapter of what I characterized as the "book on Desert Shield" was written as well as we wrote the first six chapters, that is to say, if we were successful in communicating to returning National Guardsmen and reservists that their sacrifices were not in vain, that they were, in fact, essential to the victory and that they were indeed heroes, then I suspected that the data would not be

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