Military Seeks to Give More Active Roles to Reservists

The U.S. armed services, in a step endorsed by Defense Secretary William J. Perry, are looking for ways to make more use of reservists in carrying out the military’s work, a Defense Department spokesman said Friday.

“Expansion is the right word to use” because no new roles are being considered, the spokesman, Maj. Tom Schultz, said in a telephone interview.

Military reserves and the National Guard already perform more than one-third of the military’s daily activities, ranging from administrative support to airlift, Schultz said.

Greater use of reservists would make it easier for the U.S. military to meet global commitments at the same time the size of the U.S. armed forces is being scaled back.

There are 1.03 million people in the six Reserve and National Guard wings under Defense Department control. About 1.6 million men and women are on active duty in the armed services.

“We’re not looking at doing anything new . . . just looking at things we’re already doing and finding ways to expand that,” Schultz said.

Perry has endorsed the concept of greater use of reservists, Schultz said. The Army, Navy and Air Force are engaged in determining how it could be done, he said.

In its Friday editions, the New York Times said officials were considering having reservists use annual training to carry out real operations, including overseas peacekeeping assignments.

Backers of the plan say it would give reservists valuable experience while reducing the strain on regular troops.

The Army plans to send a battalion of 430 reservists and 110 active-duty soldiers for a six-month rotation in a multinational observer force in the Sinai, the first time since the Army began sending troops there in the early 1980s that it was sending reservists.