If the United States goes to war with Iraq, a large part of the military burden will be shouldered by civilians.
By the tens of thousands they will leave their jobs and families to serve with the U.S. military for as long as they’re needed, which in some cases might mean a year, or possibly two, away from home.
Though some call them “the new draft,” they are not conscripts but civilian volunteers–members of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine and Coast Guard Reserves, and the National Guard and Air National Guard. Today, America cannot wage a major war without them.
The Pentagon on Tuesday refocused attention on the near-certainty of a large call-up. Thomas Hall, assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs, said some Guard and Reserve members might get advance notice of mobilization. “We’re looking at a full range of options.”
Though they normally lead civilian lives, the declining strength of the active duty military, the increased demands for an American military presence around the world and the war on terrorism have dramatically increased Reservists’ roles in the nation’s conflicts.
The National Guard is a state militia, under the command of a local governor unless federalized. Reserve units are adjuncts to active duty service branches, providing additional personnel when needed.
About 83,000 Guard and Reserve personnel were on active duty at the height of the Afghanistan war, and about 51,000 still are. An estimated 100,000 Guard and Reserve troops may be needed in a war with Iraq.
“There is no question but that we will continue to be making various types of call-ups–Reserve and Guard call-ups,” Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said at a recent Pentagon briefing.
The Guard and Reserve represent 47 percent of the total force the Pentagon counts as the U.S. military. Army National Guard and Army Reserve troops outnumber those of the active-duty Army, 550,000 to 480,000. Yet because reserve forces serve only when needed, they consume only about 8 percent of the military budget, providing the Pentagon with a huge, relatively inexpensive force.
A generation ago, they were often derided as “weekend warriors” who, unlike draftees and enlistees, fulfilled their military obligation mostly by attending monthly meetings at hometown armories and airfields.
Integral part of military
Now personnel in the Guard and Reserve are an integral part of the uniformed U.S. military–part-timers who nevertheless pull recurring hard duty alongside regulars in such dangerous places as Afghanistan, Kuwait, the Sinai, Kosovo and Bosnia.
“They [the armed forces] cannot function without the Guard and Reserve,” said retired Army Col. Bill Taylor, former director of national security studies at West Point.
The increased use of the Guard and Reserve has raised questions about whether it is sound policy to rely so heavily on civilians, who may be ill-prepared and unwilling to interrupt their regular lives for such long periods.
Jay Farrar, a former Marine Corps officer and now vice president of Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the country has no choice but should do a better job of explaining to reservists the burden they’re going to have to bear.
“It’s not a matter of reservists being undertrained or incapable,” he said. “It’s that we’re inadequately telling them and our country that they’re now callable at any time for any reason for extensive periods of time.”
Others added that the nation needs to be selective in how it uses the reserves.
“If we go to war with Iraq, that’s tailor-made for the sort of Guard and Reserve concept we have today,” said Michael O’Hanlon, military expert at the Brookings Institution. “But if we’re talking about the war on terrorism, which of course may continue for many years, I think we have to selectively look at individual units and ask if we’re having to activate certain ones too often.”
At some point, the frequent call-ups may affect recruiting, Hall said Tuesday.
“If we have those people that are always going to be called up each time, then that’s going to impact on recruiting and retention,” he said. “That’s a major issue and concern because those young men and women have lives; they have civilian jobs.”
The current use of reserves is a recent phenomenon that has become a permanent condition, said Maj. Gen. David Harris, adjutant general of the Illinois National Guard.
“The National Guard is picking up more and more missions around the world,” Harris said. “It was a big deal just a few years ago when the [Guard’s] 49th Armored Division took over command-and-control in Bosnia. You would have thought the military world was turned upside down. Now, that’s become a permanent mission for the Guard.”
America’s active duty military was 2 million strong at the end of the Persian Gulf war. After that conflict and with the end of the Cold War, officials decided the U.S. could get by with a smaller active force. Troop strength now is 1.4 million.
But in the same 10-year period, U.S. overseas military deployments were increased 300 percent. The Pentagon has had nowhere to turn but the National Guard and Reserves to bring in sufficient numbers to meet the new commitments.
The Air National Guard provides 64 percent of the Air Force’s air traffic controllers, 49 percent of its tactical airlift capability, 45 percent of its air refueling tankers and 32 percent of its fighter force.
Illinois National Guard pilots have been flying combat missions in Afghanistan. A Chicago-based Guard Special Forces unit has troops there. For the first seven months of this year, the Illinois National Guard had 1,300 troops serving in Europe in support of the anti-terrorist Operation Enduring Freedom–some 10 percent of the state’s force of 10,000 Army National Guard and 3,000 Air National Guard personnel.
Two Illinois Air National Guard pilots face disciplinary procedures because one of them mistakenly attacked a Canadian ground unit in Afghanistan that was on a night training mission, killing several.
Rigorous training is now essential. “All Guard personnel train to the same standard as their active duty counterparts,” Harris said.
Additional responsibilities
Adding to their responsibilities, National Guardsmen are also subject to call-up by their state governors as emergency first-responders. And the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks put new demands on the Illinois Guard and Reserve, as it did for those of other states.
“We flew combat air patrols over selected cities and, of course, we had our guardsmen at 10 airports in Illinois,” Harris said. “At the height of that operation we had 280 soldiers committed to our airports.”
Lt. Col. Mike Haerr of Eureka, a 12-year veteran of the Illinois Guard, was sent with his unit to provide security at nuclear power plants. Relieved of that duty at the end of the year, they were then ordered to Germany to guard military facilities.
“It was a challenge for my family and me, as well as the other 1,300 soldiers from Illinois,” Haerr said. “The family separation was the toughest part of the duty. I have a 15-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old daughter.”
Under a partial mobilization order recently signed by the president, the previous 365-day limit on active-duty service has been extended to two years, and some guardsmen and reservists in critical fields like military police and base security are facing that prospect.
Though the law requires that their civilian jobs be held for them, the loss of civilian pay and benefits in the interim only adds to the stress of a long deployment and separation.
“When you take a guardsman or reservist away from his citizen life for a year–or extend [active duty] for two years, there are some real considerations that need to be looked at,” Harris said.
Some Guard and Reserve units called up for the terrorist emergency have been assigned to mundane stateside jobs, pulling security guard and clerical duties, to free regulars for overseas deployment. Morale has suffered as a consequence, some say.
According to Craig Duehring, principal deputy assistant defense secretary, increased deployments have not yet hurt Guard and Reserve recruiting and retention, in part because states offer generous inducements. “In Illinois, we will pay for your college education at any state school as long as you are a member of the National Guard,” Harris said.
Whether that will prove enough if the U.S. engages in all-out war with Iraq remains to be seen. But military leaders think it’s important for reservists to serve for reasons that have nothing to do with cost efficiency or manpower shortages.
“You want to make sure that the military doesn’t get isolated from the society it serves,” Taylor said. “We can’t replicate what we had in the draft. But this is the next best thing.”
