[Mb-civic] Don't Downsize The Guard - Melvin R. Laird - Washington Post Op-Ed

[William Swiggard]

Don't Downsize The Guard
Funding Shortages Risk Creating a Second-Rate Army

By Melvin R. Laird
Monday, February 6, 2006; A15

There is great interest in the debate over our Army's force structure, 
strategy and the relevance of the "Total Force" concept in the 21st 
century. Some have argued that the Total Force concept no longer "fits" 
our nation's military strategy. Reflecting on all the reasons that the 
country adopted this concept in the 1970s, one must conclude that, to 
the contrary, it fits now more than ever.

We shouldn't forget that the Total Force concept was based on the hard 
lessons of the Vietnam War and fiscal realities. The Guard and reserves 
were not mobilized during that conflict because President Lyndon B. 
Johnson preferred to use the draft rather than risk the political 
fallout of activating units in America's heartland. When the Total Force 
concept was announced in August 1970, our plan was to integrate Guard 
and reserve forces as full partners in defense. In so doing we were able 
to end the draft and establish the all-volunteer force. Better training 
and fully equipping our nation's militia would be essential to ensure 
that we had a cost-effective force.

Fast-forward 30 years.

As we have experienced since the Persian Gulf War, when you call out 
Guard or reserve units, you call out America. The National Guard 
provides, through its dual state and federal mission, the necessary 
friction between the states and the executive and legislative branches 
to promote dialogue and debate about the nation's defense priorities and 
policies. The Defense Department should learn a lesson or two from the 
recently completed Base Realignment and Closure Commission. Governors 
and members of Congress are stakeholders in the defense of America. The 
Defense Department would be wise to work with them when addressing the 
states' Guard and reserve policies.

When examining the contributions to today's war on terrorism, one sees a 
force in which the Guard and reserves have flown over 80 percent of all 
airlift missions and provided as many as half of the troops in Iraq and 
Afghanistan. But under the rubric of transformation, the National Guard 
is in danger of becoming a second-rate force, falling behind in modern 
equipment and trained personnel. The new Quadrennial Defense Review 
reduces the Guard and reserves overall by more than 45,000 members, and 
it appears to be a polite way of starting downsizing.

The Defense Department should not tax its most cost-efficient agencies, 
the National Guard and reserves, to fund other shortfalls. The Army's 
budget is not sufficient to maintain or refit the regular forces, 
Reserve and National Guard, even to meet the limited military strategy 
being followed by the Pentagon. Our Army's equipment is in need of 
reconditioning and replacement after four years of war.

The percentage of military spending has not kept pace with the reality 
of a global war on terrorism. The nation is at war -- at home and 
abroad. The cost of freedom has risen since Sept. 11. It will not be 
easy or popular to reverse the downward trend in defense spending. But 
the realities of the global terrorist threat and the outside possibility 
of conventional warfare from a challenge by a China, Iran or North Korea 
demand that we take off the blinders.

As one who was there at the formulation of the Total Force concept -- 
with the end of the draft and creation of the all-volunteer force, with 
the Guard and reserves properly equipped and trained -- I would argue 
that discontinuing these policies is not the answer to defense spending 
shortfalls. If we go back to the National Guard and reserves relegated 
to hand-me-down equipment -- an afterthought -- then the lessons of 
Vietnam will have been forgotten. Our economy is large, growing and 
productive, and can absorb needed additional outlays.

The Total Force concept has been a victory for America; I urge the 
Defense Department leadership not to turn it into a defeat. Energize the 
Total Force concept. The National Guard and reserves are -- along with a 
properly configured regular force -- the cost-effective solution for an 
uncertain future.

The writer was a Republican representative from Wisconsin for nine terms 
and then served as defense secretary from 1969 to 1973. He is senior 
counselor for national and international affairs at the Reader's Digest 
Association Inc.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/05/AR2006020501060.html
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