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

DATE: SUNDAY, April 15, 1990                   TAG: 9004150100
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

ARMY TO CUT FORCES ALMOST 25 BY '97

Top Army officials, pressured to meet demands for sharp reductions in Pentagon spending, have agreed to a proposal that would cut about one soldier in four from the service by 1997, senior Pentagon sources say.

Army Secretary Michael Stone and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Carl Vuono gave their final approval to the proposal on Wednesday, said the sources, who spoke on condition of not being identified by name.

Under the proposal, active duty forces would plummet from the current 764,000 to 580,000 by the beginning of fiscal year 1997.

The numbers of National Guard and Reserve forces would be slashed as well, from 776,000 to 645,000 slots over the same period, the sources said.

Even though the move cuts tens of thousands of soldiers from Army rolls - beyond what the service projected it would do in the last Pentagon budget - the proposal may not placate demands on Capitol Hill for even more severe layoffs.

In hot pursuit of a so-called peace dividend amid lessened superpower tension, lawmakers have called for cutbacks or even outright cancellation of high-cost weapons programs such as the stealth bomber. But savings can't be gleaned as quickly from long-term weapons programs as they can from personnel accounts because weaponry costs are stretched over many years.

That leaves the manpower-intensive Army, the largest segment of the 2.1 million-member military force, as the biggest target.

A source who spoke privately said the proposal was forced upon the service by "fiscal reality," even as he expressed concerns about pressures to go beyond the 580,000 level.

"That would bring us pretty close to a dysfunctional Army," he said, given the national requirement for a "trained and ready" force.

The Washington Post reported Saturday that a "fiscal guidance" memorandum issued by Deputy Defense Secretary Donald Atwood to military and civilian leaders in February calls for the Army budget to increase from $74.6 billion in fiscal 1992 to $76.5 billion in fiscal 1997 - a level that would not keep pace with the expected rate of inflation.

At a recent hearing before the House Armed Services Committee, Vuono warned that making deep cuts in personnel would lead to serious morale and readiness problems.

by CNB