Many of the 5,879 Illinois National Guard and reserve members whose positions are threatened by Pentagon-proposed cutbacks would be able to transfer into unfilled or vacated slots in other units.
Officials say such moves-even multiplied across the country-would not eat into the plan`s estimated savings.
Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Doug Hart said the plan`s overall effect, regardless of transfers and other personnel shifts, is a reduction of 140,000 positions over the next two years, which would save a projected $20 billion over five years.
When the proposed cuts were announced last week by Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, they were met immediately by harsh opposition in Congress, where members cited the economic blow Guard and reserve losses would inflict on local communities.
But state military officials, seeking to ease the worries of Guard and reserve personnel, said they would help people find spots in other units. About 15 percent of those affected by the proposed cuts work full-time. The rest typically work one weekend a month.
”We are attempting to find slots for any reserve. There are other units in the area, and some of the slots are not filled,” said Major Ray Gleason, spokesman for the Army Reserve`s 85th Training Division in Arlington Heights, which is targeted for a loss of 91 positions in fiscal 1993.
”There might be a unit that`s 80 percent filled and having trouble recruiting,” said Steve Stromvall, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Reserve Command.
But the Pentagon`s Hart said that if a unit had a number of vacancies for a long period, it would be declared ”not combat-ready” and possibly disbanded. Normal turnover rates in the military mean 10 percent of the Guard and reserve slots are open at any given time, he said. They stay vacant just as long as it takes to find a qualified replacement.
”Maybe we won`t have to wait as long now because we`ll have qualified people readily available” if Congress approves the cutbacks, he said.
The Pentagon budgets money for the reserves and National Guard based on the number of positions allocated and not the number filled, Hart said, but he acknowledged that budgeted money is not spent while positions are unfilled.
