Pentagon to Cut Back on Deployment of Guard, Reserve Troops

The number of National Guard and reserve troops called to active duty for the war in Iraq will begin to decline soon, the Pentagon official in charge of reserve policy said Thursday.

The Pentagon has not said how many of the 223,790 backup troops on active duty were called up specifically for the war, but they probably number 90,000 to 120,000. The rest are performing other missions, such as security at U.S. military bases at home and abroad.

The reserves on duty Wednesday represented an increase of 587 from a week earlier. The number has been growing since war mobilizations began in the fall.

“I think we’ll see those numbers start to come down now,” Thomas Hall, assistant secretary of Defense for reserve affairs, said in an interview. “It has to. We don’t need all of those people now.”

Hall did not say how soon Guard and reserve troops would be demobilized or in what numbers.

He noted that, even as the total number on active duty goes down, some other reservists will be mobilized as replacements or for assignments related to helping with the rebuilding of Iraq.

Hall said his office is reviewing the overall mix of reserve and active duty forces to see whether some skills and specialties now largely in the reserves should be moved to the active duty force.

The Army has the largest number of National Guard and reserve troops on active duty -- 149,141. Hall said that is the largest Army Guard and reserve mobilization since World War II.

The Naval Reserve has 11,938 on active duty, the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve have 37,179, the Marine Corps Reserve has 21,115, and the Coast Guard Reserve has 4,417.