Bush, Congress must stress reserves
Citizen soldiers — reservists and National Guard members — expect to get called to active service in wartime. It’s what they’ve signed up and trained for.
But, in recent years, thousands have been called to active duty more than once and for extended periods, causing members of Congress to wonder how long this can last. Somewhere between a third and 40 percent of reservists suffer pay cuts when they go on active duty. Many lose health insurance for their families, and some have to leave home on as little as a day’s notice.
At a hearing last week of the House Armed Services subcommittee on total force, Chairman John McHugh (R-N.Y.) said he worries that “if we don’t do something in Washington to smooth out the growing height of the bumps (reservists) face, we risk losing the force.”
The five reservists and guard personnel who testified at the hearing were hardly complaining, but they reported on misuse of their skills, lack of advice to their families on medical benefits, multiple call-ups and extensions of their duty time and going into debt during their service.
Pentagon officials point out recruitment and retention rates in the reserves and National Guard have not suffered despite nine mobilizations over the past 13 years, including the present call-up of nearly 220,000 for the Iraq war, about 20 percent of all reservists.
Bush has kept forces in Kosovo and embarked on a war in Afghanistan, post-Sept. 11 anti-terrorism duty at home and now a war in Iraq — all without expanding the number of active-duty forces and reserves. In addition, 15 state governors currently have National Guard units called up for duty in response to terror warnings from Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.
Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), a member of McHugh’s subcommittee, told me “it’s a very difficult situation with no end in sight. We’re overusing people, deploying them in extreme cycles. We force people into poverty, force small businesses to close, divide families. We’re using up people’s capacity for patriotism.”
Tauscher said she and Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), ranking member on the Armed Services Committee, favor a 10 percent expansion of the armed forces and a “good look” at military jobs that frequently require call-ups.
Another solution would be significant use by the Pentagon of the “call to service” short-term enlistment program sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and signed into law last year.
The measure was designed to attract college-bound young people into the service who are unwilling to make a four-year commitment, but would be willing to serve for 18 months on active duty, followed by several years in the reserves or civilian agencies such as the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps.
Yet another solution to the military manpower shortage would be a return to the draft, as proposed by Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) but adamantly opposed by the Bush administration. Meantime, Congress is acting to “smooth out some of the bumps” for reservists. The Senate just voted to double their family separation allowance from $125 a month to $250.
A significant number of reservists are police officers, firefighters and paramedics in civilian life. “What happens if there’s a terrorist attack and the National Guard unit you need to deal with it is deployed in Kosovo?” Tauscher asked.
Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld promised the Reserve Officers Association in June that he’d look into the reserve-overstretch problem. As soon as this war is over, and before the next, he ought to do that.
(Morton Kondracke is executive editor of Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill.)