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

DATE: MONDAY, May 2, 1994                   TAG: 9405020038
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS                                LENGTH: Short

GAO: GUARD, RESERVE FORCES OUT OF SHAPE

Lax training has resulted in National Guard and military reserve troops not being physically fit for combat, a government investigation has found.

The March 23 report by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, was obtained by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, the newspaper reported Saturday.

"We believe that the [Department of Defense] can no longer afford to continue lax oversight, permitting the retention of reservists who repeatedly fail fitness tests, allowing large numbers of reservists to go untested, and creating a testing environment that allows failing scores to be changed to passing ones," the GAO concluded.

In a written response, the Pentagon said it is revising its policy on physical fitness and weight control. The revisions should be in place by the end of October and will require the services to provide an annual report assessing their physical fitness and health programs, the letter stated.

For the report, the GAO studied information from 35 reserve and National Guard units.

At one Navy unit visited by the GAO, eight reservists failed a recent fitness test, but three failures were changed to passing scores on paperwork passed up the chain of command, the newspaper reported.

by CNB