
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, December 11, 1993                   TAG: 9312110102
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

RESERVE, GUARD TO BE CUT

The Clinton administration said Friday it will go ahead with a 2-year-old proposal to trim the size of the Army Reserve and National Guard by more than 120,000 soldiers, but will stretch the reduction out over the next five years.

The plan, outlined by Defense Secretary Les Aspin, was part of a carefully negotiated settlement designed to dampen the long-standing rivalry between the regular Army and the politically powerful Reserve and National Guard, which have blocked previous cuts in Congress.

And, on balance, it was widely seen as a major victory for the Guard.

The new schedule, revising one set earlier by the Bush administration, would trim the Army Reserve and Army National Guard from 702,000 now to 575,000 by 1999. Then-President Bush had proposed cutting the two components to 563,000 by next October.

In addition, the Pentagon plans to shift about 10,000 slots between the Reserve and the National Guard to help define the roles of both organizations more clearly, especially the Guard's role as a supplier of replacement troops for regular Army combat forces. It also will move some 4,400 aviation billets and their helicopters from the reserves to the Guard.

Pentagon officials said they would not have details before early January on which Guard or Army Reserve units might be affected, but they said it was unlikely that Friday's announcement would require any sweeping cutbacks beyond those already being planned.

Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III, the Army's vice chief of staff, acknowledged there would be "some initial short-term turbulence" while the changes are being put into effect, but he predicted that ultimately the plan would work smoothly.

Officials insisted that both the transfers and the reductions would be carried out with a view toward preserving "a broad geographic distribution" of Guard and Reserve units, and pledged the Pentagon would provide transition benefits to those who leave the reserves.

The proposal, the result of 2 1/2 years of bargaining by the three major components, would reshuffle some elements of the Guard and reserves in line with their long-term missions, and would guarantee the Guard a long-term role in providing replacement combat forces in a war.

In return, the Clinton administration has agreed to slow the shrinkage of the Guard and Reserve from the pace advocated by the Bush administration, and to cut the reserves more than the Guard.

Aspin, who announced the new plan at a news conference studded with representatives of the Guard and Reserve and their lobbying groups, said he hoped the agreement would "bring much-needed stability" to the effort so the Pentagon could go ahead as planned.

by CNB