BATTLE TO KEEP GUARD LOOMING IN EARLY 1992

A renewed battle to preserve National Guard and military reserve units in Missouri in the wake of continued cutbacks in the defense budget looms this spring.

But spokesmen for U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond and U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson said both are ready to challenge any attempt by the Pentagon to make wholesale cuts in the Guard and other military reserve units in Missouri.

In 1991, a yearlong struggle to save the 1140th Combat Engineer Battalion at Cape Girardeau and other Army National Guard units in Missouri ended successfully when the Senate Appropriations Committee approved legislation maintaining the nationwide structure and level of Guard forces in the 1992 defense budget.

On Tuesday, President Bush unveiled a 1993 budget that calls for reducing defense spending by $50 billion over the next six years. It's expected Pentagon planners will again attempt to eliminate or greatly reduce the strength of National Guard and other reserve units in Missouri and other states.

"The Pentagon has not released its budget figures for the Guard yet," said David Ayres, spokesman for Bond, a Missouri Republican. "However, we fully expect them to try to cut the Guard as drastically as they tried to do last year."

Ayres said he expects the Pentagon to release its 1993 "hit list" of National Guard and reserve units slated to be eliminated or reduced sometime in March.

"Sen. Bond is already gearing up for the fight to preserve Missouri's National Guard and reserve units," Ayres said. "Nothing has changed from last year; the need for the Guard and the reserve units is still there. We managed to dodge the bullet in 1991 with no significant cuts, but this is a new year and a new budget."

Pete Jeffries, director of communications for Emerson, a Cape Girardeau Republican, said Emerson is fully aware of the renewed attempts by the Pentagon to eliminate or cut back Guard units in the state.

"Even though we were able to prevent cutbacks and elimination of units last year, it was only for 1992," said Jeffries. "We fully understand funding for the Guard and reserve units is an on-going process under the restructuring of our military forces due to the end of the Cold War, and we're going to have to go to battle again on Capitol Hill to preserve our Missouri National Guard and reserve units to keep them intact in the rural areas of southern Missouri."

Ayres said planned reductions in the number of active duty military personnel in the next five years make it even more important that the nation have a well-trained and well-equipped citizen-soldier National Guard.

"As we continue to reduce our active-duty forces, the role of the National Guard and the other reserve units will become more important," he said. "In a future crisis, they will have to step up; they will be closer to the front."

Ayres said attempts to eliminate or cut back Guard units and appropriations are the result of bias in the Pentagon toward active-duty forces.

"The Guard does not have as strong a voice inside the Pentagon," he said. "There are those who would cast a bad light on the National Guard. They tried to detract from the performance of Guard units in Operation Desert Storm when nothing could be further from the truth.

"We had many Missouri Guard units that served admirably in the Persian Gulf, such as the military police unit from West Plains that was responsible for handling and caring for the Iraqi prisoners of war."

Ayres said the 1993 defense budget contains major cuts in spending for strategic weapons such as new bombers, missile-based submarines and other weapons designed to counter the strategic nuclear threat of the former Soviet Union. He said that threat is gone, but there are now and will be in the future new threats to the security of the United States and world peace.

"Sen. Bond feels that we need to be able to respond to a threat like that we faced in the Persian Gulf," he said. "Further reductions in active, reserve and Guard forces will not allow us to respond effectively to those challenges," said Ayres.

Ayres said Bond is particularly upset with Pentagon planners because they have never come up with what he termed "a rational force structure that will equip the American military to meet the challenges of the future."

"They have not spelled out the roll of the National Guard in any future conflicts, major or minor, and how that relates to the active-duty units," Ayres said. "Instead, all they continue to say is, `Let's reduce the Guard.' In fact, our citizen-soldiers in the National Guard and reserve units are far more cost effective in this time of budget restraints than active-duty units."

Ayres said Bond believes that until there is a clearer picture of the threats on U.S. and world security through the start of the 21st century, it is not advisable to make wholesale cutbacks. "We need to know more before we start making a lot of deep cuts in our defense posture," he said.

Ayres said that as active-duty military units are eliminated or reduced, more equipment will be made available to National Guard units.

The 1140th is based at the Cape Girardeau armory along with its Headquarters Company. The battalion has four companies: Company A in Jackson and Charleston; Company B in Perryville and Fredericktown; Company C in Sikeston and Portageville; and Company D in Farmington.

According to figures released by Bond's office, the 1140th has 183 guardsmen and 11 full-time federal employees at the battalion's headquarters.

Figures obtained from Bond's office show there are 183 guardsmen and three full-time federal employees at the Cape Girardeau Armory.

There are 49 guardsmen and three full-time federal employees at the Charleston Armory; Farmington has 111 guardsmen and five full-time federal employees; and Fredericktown has 48 guardsmen and two full-time federal employees.

There are 72 guardsmen and two full-time federal employees assigned to the Jackson Armory; in Perryville there are 73 guardsmen and three full-time federal employees; Portageville has 55 guardsmen and two full-time federal employees; and Sikeston has 68 guardsmen and three full-time federal employees.

In fiscal year 1990, the Cape Girardeau Guard unit had a total economic impact of over $1.5 million. In Jackson, the annual economic impact of the National Guard was just over $600,000.