THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, March 22, 1996                 TAG: 9603220562
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                         LENGTH: Short :   46 lines

GAO GUARD ANALYSIS COULD GREATLY CHANGE ITS HISTORIC MISSION

The military maintains far too large a combat contingent within the Army National Guard, a congressional study found in a report that hits a cherished role of a venerable military institution.

``The Guard's eight combat divisions and three separate combat units are not required'' to fight two major regional wars, the basic goal of U.S. military strategy, the General Accounting Office said Wednesday.

The study by the investigative arm of Congress cited interviews with Army war planners and war planning documents indicating that Guard and Reserve units would serve a more useful function in auxiliary and combat support roles.

``Although the Guard has come down in size, our analysis shows that the combat forces may still be too large for projected war requirements,'' the GAO said.

Army plans indicate that the large combat contingents would be used as occupation forces once an enemy had been defeated or deterred. ``However, we could find no analytical basis for this level of strategic reserve.''

Deborah Lee, assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs, wrote in response to the report that the Army and Joint Chiefs of Staff are studying the issue and are within weeks of making recommendations.

Lt. Col Terry Jones, a spokesman for Lee, said that under current policy, the Army National Guard serves as the primary, if not exclusive combat element in the reserve forces, while the Army Reserves emphasize combat service and support roles.

Jones noted that while proposals to reduce the combat role of the Guard are being studied, the issue cuts deeply into a U.S. military culture and into an organization that dates its origins to before the Revolutionary War.

``The combat role of the National Guard is a tradition, and when we talk about altering that tradition, that is a big change,'' Jones said.

By the end of this year Army National Guard strength will be 416,000 and the Army Reserves 211,500. By the end of 1998, those totals will have dropped to 367,000 in the Army Guard and 208,000 in the Army Reserve. by CNB