GUARD FACES CUT OF 3RD OF TROOPS

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

DATE: FRIDAY, January 10, 1992                   TAG: 9201100331
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium
GUARD FACES CUT OF 3RD OF TROOPS
The Virginia Army National Guard could lose as many as one-third of its soldiers under proposed cuts, senior Guard officers say.
The Army told the Virginia Guard it can expect to lose at least eight large units employing 1,750 people. Additional cuts in the Virginia Guard could reduce the force by an estimated total of more than 3,000, or a third of its manpower.
The cuts are part of the Army's post-Cold War trimming. The service has set a goal of reducing its forces by 25 percent nationally by 1996.
Only non-combat units will be cut. But if the Army follows through on all proposed cuts, the state Guard would lose virtually every non-combat unit.
As now envisioned, the cuts will fall on what the military terms combat support and combat service support units, leaving intact the 29th Light Infantry Division.
Roughly two-thirds of Virginia Guard soldiers are combat troops in the 29th, which also includes units in Maryland. The remainder - called "non-divisional units" - perform combat support and combat service support missions, such as transportation, personnel administration and military engineering.
Maj. Gen. John Castles, the state guard's adjutant general, said the cuts may not be as severe as now planned. Congress has been reluctant to cut the reserve components in the same proportion as the active duty military, he said.
Even so, Castles said, whole units will be eliminated. He would not be specific, saying he did not want to damage morale.
During Desert Storm, 10 Virginia National Guard units were mobilized for active duty and eight, with 777 men and women, were deployed to the Middle East. The eight all were combat support and combat service support units.
About 9,500 men and women serve in Army National Guard units in more than 50 Virginia communities.
An additional 1,250 men and women serve in the Virginia Air National Guard, primarily based in Richmond. "The Air Guard looks like it will survive very well," Castles said.
The Army said the cuts conform to an overall force structure plan and were planned without regard to the units' performance. Virginia Guard officials argue that performance should be a key factor in deciding which units should be retained.
For the past five years, the Virginia Army National Guard has been rated first among the state and territorial National Guards in management performance.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB