Joseph L. Galloway
is the senior military correspondent for Knight Ridder Newspapers and a nationally syndicated columnist.
One of America's preeminent war correspondents,
with more than four decades as a reporter
and writer, he recently concluded an assignment
as a special consultant to Gen. Colin Powell
at the State Department.
Galloway, a native of Refugio, Texas, spent
22 years as a foreign and war correspondent
and bureau chief for United Press International,
and nearly 20 years as a senior editor and
senior writer for U.S. News & World Report
magazine. His overseas postings include tours
in Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Singapore
and three years as UPI bureau chief in Moscow
in the former Soviet Union. During the course
of 15 years of foreign postings Galloway served
four tours as a war correspondent in Vietnam
and also covered the 1971 India-Pakistan War
and half a dozen other combat operations.
In 1990-1991 Galloway covered Desert Shield/Desert
Storm, riding with the 24th Infantry Division
(Mech) in the assault into Iraq. General H.
Norman Schwarzkopf has called Galloway "The
finest combat correspondent of our generation
-- a soldier's reporter and a soldier's friend."
WASHINGTON - The warning order went out from Washington this week to three enhanced brigades of the Army National Guard -- the 256th Infantry from Louisiana, the 116th Cavalry from Idaho and Oregon, and the 278th Armored Cavalry from Tennessee. "Get ready to go to Iraq late this year or early next."
The Department of Defense also alerted 1,000 members of the 42nd Infantry Division headquarters from New York state that they would be the first Guard headquarters of its size to be tapped for duty in Iraq. That amounts to a total of 18,000 citizen soldiers.
Since the events of Sept. 11 changed the world, the National Guard and Reserves have been carrying a heavy load in deployments to both peacekeeping missions in Bosnia and Kosovo and combat duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, and this isn't going to change anytime soon.
Nearly half -- 46 percent -- of the 110,000 troops now rotating into Iraq for a one-year tour of duty are Reserves and National Guard. Experts at the Pentagon say next year's third shift of troops going into Iraq could include an even higher percentage of Reserve and Guard troops.
With the active duty Army skinned back to only 10 divisions and a permanent strength of 480,000, there is no way all the missions the Army has been assigned around the world could be carried out without the Reserves and National Guard.
Even as troops fan out on tough and deadly missions, the Pentagon is moving swiftly to reorganize the National Guard, streamlining an antiquated command structure that was designed for mass mobilization for a world war. The Pentagon also has added offensive, defensive and communications capabilities to many Guard units, creating "enhanced brigades" that can operate independently.
The Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, is determined to modernize and change the National Guard and make proper use of it. In return the Army would guarantee that a National Guard unit will not spend more than 12 months on active duty during a five-year period.
The number of enhanced Guard brigades will be increased from the present 15 to 22, and they will be trained and equipped to mirror the new modular Army brigades. This will be achieved by converting excess artillery battalions and air defense battalions into infantry units. Other Guard battalions will be converted to needed specialties such as military police.
Even as this is under way, Schoomaker and the Army staff are working to pull units critically needed in the early days of a deployment for combat into the active duty Army. This includes such specialties as port-opening units and civil-military affairs units. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has ordered the Army to balance the force in such a way that Guard and Reserve units would not have to be called up during the first 30 days of any combat operation.
The Army Guard and Reserves, totaling 555,000 troops, outnumber the active duty Army. Army leaders know that these part-time soldiers cost almost as much as active duty soldiers, and they are determined to get their money's worth out of them.
Pfc. Chuck Gundrum of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard's 109th Field Artillery takes in the sunrise at Camp Arijan in Kuwait. The unit, which just began a year-long deployment, was called up for the first time in 50 years. 2004 S. JOHN WILKIN, Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) Times Leader.
Army leaders hope that by making better use of a modernized Army National Guard and Army Reserve, and squeezing new combat soldier positions from a transformed active duty force, they can avoid any costly permanent increases in the size of the active Army.
Schoomaker believes privatization of soldier office jobs will recapture 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers for combat duty. He also plans to reduce the number of soldiers -- now 75,000-plus -- who are in movement at any given time, such as transferring, going to or from schools, or entering or leaving service. He believes that number can be reduced by at least 15,000 soldiers, leaving them in their units doing the jobs they were hired to do.
With those 30,000 recaptured positions and the 30,000 additional troops approved by Rumsfeld as a temporary four-year increase in Army strength, the Army chief believes he can get by without a large permanent increase in the force, which would cost billions and be extremely difficult to finance in future budgets.
Schoomaker hopes that the current high level of deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq represents a peak, not a plateau. If the future turns out to be just as busy as the present in the need for armed might, then the United States may well need a bigger Army to do its business. If that is the case Schoomaker has told Congress and his bosses in the Department of Defense that he will come back and say so and ask for the troops needed.
