Department of the Army Historical Summary: FY 1969

V.

Reserve Forces

The Army's Reserve Component mission is to prepare individuals and units to augment the active Army in times of emergency. To carry it out, the Army develops mobilization and contingency plans and programs for utilization of National Guard and Reserve elements. In fiscal year 1969 this responsibility was shaped by the partial mobilization required by the war in Vietnam and by the stimulations, preparations, and adjustments that attend a contingency period.

Partial Mobilization of the Reserve Components

The Reserve Component reorganization and the limited mobilization of Army National Guard (ARNG) and U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) units, accomplished in the closing months of fiscal year 1968, set the tempo for 1969. Postmobilization training was completed in August and October by the 76 units mobilized on May 13, 1968. Of these units, 43 were deployed to Vietnam in the period August-December 1968, and 33 became a part of the Army's Strategic Reserve. In addition, approximately 2,700 members of the U.S. Army Reserve were ordered to active duty from the Individual Ready Reserve.

The 1968 mobilization, although limited, served its purpose well. Essential units were provided to meet requirements in Vietnam and in the Strategic Army Forces significantly earlier than would have been possible had active Army units been formed, trained, and equipped.

Plans were developed late in the fiscal year for the release of the mobilized units. They will be restored to state or Army area command control by mid-December 1969. To insure their logistical support, equipment on hand was allocated for their use and a funding program was developed to meet further equipment and supply needs at the time of demobilization.

By law the Army Reserve Component's average strengths for fiscal year 1969 were set at 400,000 for the Army National Guard and 260,000 for the Army Reserve. These over-all strengths were required to be reduced by the strength of the mobilized units. Thus at the close of fiscal year 1969, Reserve Component paid drill strength totaled 650,276 (388,954 ARNG; 261,322 USAR). Enlisted accessions during the year totaled 105,038 (50,454 ARNG; 54,584 USAR), including 91,607

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nonprior-service personnel (43,096 ARNG; 48,511 USAR). Paid drill strength was distributed as follows:

At the beginning of the year there were 18,426 (8,239 ARNG; 10,187 USAR) nonprior-service enlistees awaiting initial active duty for training for a period of at least four months under the reserve enlistment program. Of 69,500 (32,600 ARNG; 36,900 USAR) individuals programed to enter active duty for training, only 67,472 (31,290 ARNG; 36,182 USAR) entered, due to lack of training spaces. Enlisted men awaiting initial active duty training on June 30, 1969, totaled 41,029 (19,377 ARNG; 21,652 USAR).

During the year, 1,628 (780 ARNG; 848 USAR) individuals were ordered to active duty for failure to participate in required training. At the beginning of the fiscal year there were 2,193 (1,659 ARNG; 534 USAR) assigned aviators on flying status in the Reserve Components.

At year-end this had dropped to 2,191 (1,640 ARNG; 551 USAR). A lack of quotas for primary aviator training continued to make it difficult to replace losses from normal attrition.

Training and Readiness

The attained Reserve Component strength supports the basic structure created by the organization that was completed in May 1968. That structure is outlined on the chart below.

RESERVE COMPONENT UNIT STRUCTURE

¹ Includes the following units mobilized May 13, 1968:
ARNG-83 companies and detachments
USAR-45 companies and detachments
Total-128 companies and detachments
² Does not include ARNG companies and detachments organized for the sole purpose of satisfying state needs, and for which equipment procurement is not authorized.

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Eight more ARNG units were authorized for fiscal year 1969 than in the previous year. Although some NIKE-HERCULES units were deleted from the structure, they were replaced, and over-all strength was maintained by the addition of some transportation, military police, and engineer units.

Reserve component readiness improved during the year. Since certain units were deleted from the Reserve structure in the reorganization for which no contingency requirements were foreseen, there was no further need for the selected reserve force (SRF) as a separate entity in the force structure. The SRF designation will be terminated on September 30, 1969.

A revised Army regulation (AR 135-8), entitled "The Reserve Component Unit Readiness Report," was published on March 10, 1969. It establishes uniform readiness standards and reporting procedures, and the readiness report—the first since 1966—will be prepared semiannually as of April 30 and October 31, and will incorporate data to identify general constraints to the attainment of readiness posture.

Army National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve training attendance and participation remained at high levels during the year, as indicated below.

PERCENT OF PARTICIPATION

While Reserve Component forces continued to meet minimum training standards, there were shortages of certain kinds of equipment that inhibited progress. Efforts to insure that available resources are used to the maximum produced improvements.

The general training objective for Reserve Component units in the 1968-69 training year was to complete platoon-level schedules and conduct platoon tests during annual field training in the summer of 1969. Artillery units will complete battery-level testing in the same period. The objective had been generally achieved by year-end, with some units conducting training successfully at one or two levels above the established minimum standards.

During fiscal year 1969, the director for civil disturbance planning and operations conducted a detailed analysis of the over-all force requirements for the control of possible simultaneous civil disorders. As a result of this analysis, the number of USAR brigades assigned civil disturbance missions was reduced from 69 to 18 (3 TOE and 15 provisional). These organizations received specialized training to increase their state of preparedness to perform this mission.

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All Army National Guard combat, combat support, and combat service support units whose missions include support of civil authorities were authorized to participate in up to four unit training assemblies in civil disturbance operations in the year. This refresher training, undertaken at the expense of the primary mission, improved the Army's and the state's capability to cope with civil disturbances.

National Guard personnel continued to attend Army service and area schools—9,115 officers and enlisted personnel in the year. Five hundred and seventy-five senior Guard commanders and 244 USAR members attended the senior officers civil disturbance orientation course at the Military Police School, Fort Gordon, Georgia, and about 300 ARNG technicians attended special training courses on new types of equipment such as the M-715 truck. Enrollment in the state Officer Candidate School program was curtailed to insure that all graduates would be commissioned; the states restricted input to about 3,000, including almost 300 USAR candidates, and about 1,800 were to graduate during the summer of 1969.

Enrollment in U.S. Army Reserve schools for school year 1968-69 increased by 29.3 percent over that of May 1968, including both officer and enlisted categories. Over 12,200 were enrolled in branch officer advanced courses and command and general staff courses, an increase of about 17.8 percent over enrollments in May 1968. This figure will increase beginning in the fall of 1969 when the branch officer course enters the formal U.S. Army Reserve school curriculum. Over-all, a total of 11,584 Army Reserve officers and enlisted men attended Army service and area schools in the year.

Materiel and Supply

The reorganization of the Reserve Component force structure in fiscal year 1968 required a redistribution of equipment, and this was substantially completed in fiscal year 1969. Over 16,000 items had to be redistributed. In general, the equipment status of the Reserve Components improved during the year, the result of higher priorities for repair parts to maintain equipment. Additional funds were available for depot maintenance on certain tanks, guns, and trucks. In fiscal year 1969 the Reserve Components received about $1.2 million in depot maintenance support from the Army Materiel Command.

The Reserve Components both received and lost some major equipment items. Received were M-109 self-propelled howitzers, M-151A1 ¼-ton trucks, 12-ton semitrailer vans, 5,000-gallon semitrailer tank trucks, 5-ton dump trucks, and industrial tractors with scrapers. Certain other items were withdrawn for active Army use.

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Facilities

The suspension on Reserve Component military construction was lifted in February 1968. Although some individual projects were approved in fiscal year 1968, the fiscal year 1969 military construction programs for Reserve Components represented the initial program package submitted and approved subsequent to the lifting of the suspension and the reorganization.

The Army National Guard carried over $16.4 million in prior-year construction funds (MCARNG). Coupled with a new obligation authority of $2.7 million for fiscal year 1969, funding in the amount of $19.1 million was available to support the fiscal year 1969 MCARNG program. The Army Reserve carried over $11.5 million from prior-year construction funds (MCAR) which, coupled with $3 million in new obligation authority, provided $14.5 million to support the fiscal year 1969 MCAR program.

The fiscal year 1969 budget plan provided $9.5 million for Army National Guard military construction and $9 million for the Army Reserve. The MCARNG project approvals included 20 armory and 15 nonarmory projects. The MCAR approvals provided 11 USAR centers and 1 center expansion. Two of these centers are to he jointly constructed with the U.S. Navy.

In July 1968, subsequent to the reorganization, the Reserve Components began a comprehensive evaluation of current facilities and known requirements from which to develop a long-range facilities plan. The current Reserve Components real property inventory is valued at $870.6 million (ARNG $632.4 million; USAR $238.2). The Reserve Components occupied 3,793 Army-type facilities (2,774 ARNG; 1,019 USAR), of which 2,003 were constructed with federal funds or federal contributions to the states, 492 are leased or licensed, and 1,298 donated or permitted.

Based upon the results of the study, requirements were determined and program change requests submitted for a 10-year long-range plan with fiscal year 1970 as the initial construction year. Subsequent program change decisions for fiscal year 1970 and the Five Year Defense Plan led to a proposed 15-year program costing $25 million annually in fiscal years 1970 and 1971 and $30 million annually in the remaining years.

In March 1969, the Secretary of Defense requested a revalidation of long-range construction requirements and establishment of a balanced 10-year construction program.

Program change requests have been submitted for the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve. Based upon current costs, $627.3 million

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is required for needed construction. Of this amount, $299.3 million is for MCARNG and $328 million for the MCAR.

Air Defense

At the beginning of fiscal year 1969, the Army National Guard air defense program consisted of 1 group headquarters, 17 battalion headquarters, and 54 fire units located in 17 states. During the year, the Defense Department announced the closeout of three headquarters and headquarters batteries and seven firing batteries. The remaining units represent all of the NIKE-HERCULES missile defense for Hawaii and a significant percentage of the NIKE-HERCULES units of the U.S. Army Air Defense Command. These units, manned by approximately 4,800 ARNG technicians, are located to protect selected population and industrial centers against air attack and are operational around the clock. In fiscal year 1969, these ARNG units enjoyed the best operational performance record since entering the air defense program in 1952.

Management

During fiscal year 1969 a special board met to consider ways of managing the Army's Reserve Component officer corps more effectively. The board recommended the development of a career management and personnel management system for Reserve Component officers; development of a record monitoring system to improve personnel management control; a comprehensive officer acquisition and distribution system; development of standards for promotion and federal recognition; clear and equitable general officer promotion criteria; and development of the most effective system possible for guiding and monitoring training in the Reserve Components. As the year closed some of the recommendations had been implemented and others were being worked on.

Most of the Reserve Components units were converted to the new Army Authorization Documents System during 1969. Generally, like units will have common tables of organization and equipment and tables of allowances. Standardization will promote uniformity in units and facilitate personnel assignment and management.

Automatic data processing support for the Reserve Components was transferred from the U.S. Army Data Support Command and the U.S. Army Management Systems Support Command to the U.S. Army Administration Center at St. Louis, Missouri, on February 1, 1969.

There were two other personnel management developments in the year that deserve mention. A new Army National Guard automated personnel reporting system was implemented with the collection of an individual officer master tape record at the bureau level and an individual enlisted card deck at the state level. The command sergeant major pro-

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gram, already in operation in the active Army, was extended to the Reserve Components in 1969, a move to improve the caliber and effectiveness of the enlisted men who hold the most responsible position in the Reserve Components.

Support to Civil Authorities

During the year 52,524 National Guardsmen were called by their governors to state active duty in civil disturbance emergencies. They were committed 56 times in 21 states to assist local authorities to quell disturbances in cities and on college campuses. In no instance was it necessary for a governor to request federal assistance. The Guard had conducted refresher riot control training, and additional special riot control equipment had been issued. Most states also had conducted civil disturbance command post exercises in conjunction with local and state civil authorities. Senior Guard commanders and planners, as noted earlier, attended a civil disturbance orientation course at the Military Police School, and civilian law enforcement officers also attended the same course, in many instances at the same time as their local National Guard commander. Thus the Guard's ability to cope with civil disturbances was considerably improved, as demonstrated in its utilization in this regard.

In addition to civil disturbance assignment, National Guard elements were called to state active duty by 19 governors to assist civil authorities in natural disasters and other public emergencies. There were blizzards, floods, fires, train and aircraft accidents, tornadoes, and power failures that required Guard assistance in snow removal, dike patrol, traffic control, evacuation of refugees, protection of property, searches for missing persons and aircraft, and prison security during guard strikes, among other tasks.

States have been issued special civil disturbance control equipment. They are also completing their procurement of single sideband transceiver radios; these radios, both fixed station and mobile, have been a tremendous asset to states not only during emergencies but in day-to-day communications.

Technicians

At the beginning of the year, 4,467 technicians supplied administrative and maintenance support for USAR units. This dropped to 4,357 by year-end as the U.S. Army Reserve complied with the provisions of Public Law 90-364, which required personnel reductions to the levels of June 30, 1966 (see ch. 4), when technician program strength was 4,028. Attrition was to be accomplished by filling only 70 percent of losses. The Army reduced this to 35 percent for the months of March

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through May 1969. Thus the USAR lost 578 spaces out of a budgetary authorization of 5,045, and an additional 110 spaces through attrition.

Prior to enactment of the National Guard Technicians Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-486, 82 stat. 755), which became effective on January 1, 1969, National Guard technicians were considered to be state employees (Maryland for the use of Levin et. al. v. U.S. 381, U.S. 41 [1965]). Technicians covered by state retirement systems on the date of enactment of the cited act were permitted to elect between continuation of that coverage or the retirement legislation applying to federal employees. Under the latter, however, National Guard technician service before January 1969 is reduced by 45 percent in computing retirement annuity.

ARNG technician strength was 23,740 as the fiscal year opened and 24,211 as it closed.

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