KIEFNER: KEEP UP GUARD; ADJUTANT GENERAL URGES PROTESTS OF ARMORY CLOSINGS

PERRYVILLE - Communities in Missouri need to strike up a grass roots protest to keep the Army from closing National Guard units in their towns, says state Adjutant General Charles M. Kiefner.

"I think that Missouri needs to make noise," Kiefner, a Perryville resident, said Saturday at the 99th annual meeting of the Southeast Missouri Press Association. The day-long meeting was held at Perryville High School.

Kiefner discussed the Army's plan to close some Guard units to help reduce the defense budget by 25 percent. Afterwards, he fielded several questions from the audience.

As adjutant general, Kiefner serves as administrative head of the Missouri Army and Air National Guard.

History has shown that a reduction in force follows every conflict, said Kiefner, and the Persian Gulf War is no exception. The Army has ordered the Guard to reduce its numbers over the next three years, from 457,000 to 326,000, Kiefner said.

Another "initiative," he said, would reduce those numbers to below 300,000.

Statewide, Kiefner said, the cuts would reduce the Guard's force by 20 percent and would affect 21 communities. Currently, there are 60 or 70 Guard armories in Missouri.

Potentially, he said, the cuts could even go as high as 39 percent.

"But just with the 20 percent that's a $20 million impact on the state of Missouri."

Each community where the Guard is located, he said, gets about $500,000 in income from the Guard. In Perryville, the Guard would have to be considered a substantial industry, he said.

Kiefner said all the units of the 1140th Engineering Battalion, which extends from Portageville to Farmington, would be eliminated. The battalion is based in Cape Girardeau.

Under a worst-case scenario, this would mean the Guard would have "no presence in your communities," Kiefner told the gathering. "Even if we keep a presence, it's not going to be like it is today."

Noting that the New Madrid Fault includes Southeast Missouri and that the Guard would be one of the first called to respond to any earthquake emergency, he said: "The (plan) of taking out all of our units from New Madrid to St. Louis just doesn't make sense to me."

Kiefner stressed he doesn't oppose reductions in the defense budget, but he said he feels the Guard is having more cuts imposed on it than it should.

"So I'm confident that we can win this battle, but it's going to take the initiative of the communities. I know if the people talk, the Army will listen. They've listened before."

Congress can fix the situation, Kiefner said, adding that the Missouri congressional delegation is siding with the Guard.

Kiefner encouraged people to tell Defense Secretary Dick Cheney how they feel about the planned closures. "He may never have heard of your community, but he should be told in a way that he'll remember it."