THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 25, 1995 TAG: 9510250467
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
If you're among the thousands of Hampton Roads residents serving in Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force, or Coast Guard reserve units, or the Virginia National Guard, Pentagon policymakers have a message for you: Get ready to serve some more.
A report issued last week by a task force on ``quality of life'' issues in the services underscored the trend among civilian and uniformed military leaders to use reservists more often and for more jobs traditionally done by active-duty personnel.
Most of the task force members, led by former Army Secretary John O. Marsh Jr., signed a three-page addendum to the report urging Defense Secretary William Perry to commission a more thorough study of the role of the reserves. That inquiry would focus on such issues as how the reserves can reduce the time they need to prepare for deployment and whether entire missions handled by active-duty personnel can be transferred to reservists.
The report warned that the stresses of modern military life, particularly frequent deployments, are discouraging more people from entering the service and encouraging some of those already in to consider quitting.
In one random sample of Air Force personnel in September 1994, the task force found that the number of people deployed away from their home units was four times higher than in 1989.
More and better use of reserve units and individual reservists could reduce those demands on the active force, Marsh said. That would make continued service more inviting for those on active duty and strengthen the link between the military and the general public, he suggested.
Marsh said the Air Force is setting the pace for all the services. The task force reported that Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve forces are supporting at least one-third of the Air Force's routine airlift and aerial refueling missions.
Robert S. Delligatti, a retired Air Force major general who was the task force's staff director, said much of the success may be traced to its unique needs and the nature of its reserve force.
He noted that much of that force is composed of airline pilots, who by the nature of their work have considerable free time. The airlift and refueling missions the service asks them to perform take them away from home for only a day or two at a time.
Army, Navy and Marine reservists, by contrast, may have to deploy for weeks or months at a time. The task force noted that a Naval Reserve tactical electronic warfare squadron, based in Washington, returned home last month from a four-month deployment in the Adriatic with the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt.
The Navy also routinely uses reservists in counterdrug operations off South Florida.
Marsh acknowledged that there's some resistance in the active force and among reservists to giving the part-time warriors a greater role.
Some of the barriers are psychological - active-duty members often see reservists as undertrained and underequipped - and others stem from compensation for reservists. For example, the task force noted that reservists called to temporary active duty for less than 31 days do not get medical, insurance and other benefits enjoyed by those on active duty.
There's also resistance among civilian employers, whose support is needed to get reservists time off from work and assure that their opportunities for promotion don't suffer.
The task force urged a program to provide tax credits to employers who have reservists or guard members called to temporary active duty. by CNB