Calling Up of 72,500 More Reservists OKd

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney on Wednesday authorized the call-up of another 72,500 National Guard and reserve troops to serve in Operation Desert Shield--a move certain to affect civilian life throughout the nation.

The new authority, which does not require the approval of Congress, more than doubles the number of citizen-soldiers that the Pentagon may call to active duty. The Army is expected to call up more of the 122,500 guardsmen and reservists now available than any other branch of the military.

The order came less than a week after President Bush ordered a massive buildup of U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf. That announcement last Thursday mentioned the possible deployment of 12,000 combat reservists.

Most of the remaining 60,000 reserve slots permitted under the new mandate would likely be filled by reservists trained in combat support functions, such as engineering services, supplies, communications and military police.

Among 17 naval reserve units called to active duty Wednesday was the 4th Light Armored Vehicle Company A, a Santa Ana-based medical unit that will support the Marines, the Pentagon said.

But officials at the Naval Reserve Center in Santa Ana said they have received no word yet about the deployment and had no details on what it would mean for the troops.

“If they’re going to go, we don’t have anything on it,” said Chief Petty Officer Ron Gross, command chief at the Santa Ana reserve center. “We’ve got to wait until somebody says they’re going. If we had word--any word--we’d be calling them right now.”

Gross said the center has been getting frequent calls from its reservists for weeks as rumors and reports spread about who might be activated.

“They’ve been alerted way back in August that you all better get your papers in order because when the time comes. . . . But they’re all in good spirits. They’re all good sailors,” he said.

Officials with the Navy and the Marines did not say what the company’s role might be, once activated.

In past weeks, some activated medical reservists in Orange County have been assigned to Camp Pendleton and other bases to fill in for personnel who had been deployed in the Middle East. But some military sources speculated that the Santa Ana company might act as a medical support for the 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, which is heading overseas.

The Pentagon announced last week that the 5th Brigade would be sent to the Persian Gulf in the largest call-up yet involving Orange County area troops. The Marines generally rely on the Navy for their medical personnel, officials said.

The heavy reliance on reservists in the projected new wave of deployments underscores the military’s heavy reliance on Guard and reserve forces during an emergency. It is also expected to provide a stern test of that dependence.

“Today’s armed forces are designed with combat support . . . built into the reserves,” Cheney said in announcing the new authority Wednesday. “As we increase the deployment of active-duty forces, we must also call upon more members of the National Guard and reserve.”

Cheney in August authorized the military services to call to active duty a total of 50,000 National Guard and reserve troops. The services so far have called up 36,073 such troops, and several thousand Air Guard and other reservists have volunteered for duty in the gulf. All of those called so far have been combat support specialists.

The expected call-up of thousands more “weekend warriors” is certain to leave employers throughout the country with sudden gaps in their work force.

In search of cost savings over the last decade, the armed services have shifted the burden of supporting any large-scale deployment of forces to such citizen-soldiers. As a result, most of the medical personnel, combat engineers, communications technicians and administrators that the military requires during a conflict would be drawn from guardsmen and reservists working day-to-day in the civilian sector.

Already in Operation Desert Shield, Guard and reserve units have fulfilled critical roles in providing medical care, ferrying troops and equipment, organizing and transporting military supplies inside Saudi Arabia and purifying drinking water.

“This is what they drill for” in reserve training exercises, said Rep. G. V. (Sonny) Montgomery (D-Miss.), a leading congressional advocate of Guard and reserve forces. “It’s why we pay them such good money. And it’s a good buy for the taxpayers.”

The call-up of Guard and reserve forces for Operation Desert Shield encountered its first legal snag Tuesday, when a sergeant in the Army National Guard challenged as unconstitutional an order transferring him to Saudi Arabia with his unit.

Sgt. Michael R. Ange charged in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court that the order violates a constitutional provision that empowers Congress, and not the President, to declare war.

Also on Wednesday, President Bush notified Congress that he is extending for an additional 90 days the call-up authority for reservists already serving 90-day stints in the Persian Gulf region.

Under a measure approved by Congress last month, new Guard and reserve units called to active duty will be able to serve for 180 days, and the President will be permitted to extend their tours by another 180 days.

The Pentagon had sought the extended-service authorization so that it can activate combat guardsmen and reservists, many of whom will require further training before serving in the Persian Gulf.

As a result of the congressional action, Cheney last week announced the first call-up of combat reservists in the gulf operation. The Pentagon is dispatching to Saudi Arabia three combat brigades of National Guardsmen: the 155th Armored Brigade from Mississippi, the 48th Mechanized Infantry Brigade from Georgia and the 256th Mechanized Infantry Brigade from Louisiana.