U.S. Reserves Dangerously Overtaxed by Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Panel Says

WASHINGTON — Overworked, underpaid and wearing out fast.

That's the status of the country's 800,000 military reserve troops according to a congressional commission that spent two years reviewing the results of extended deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Among the commission's key findings released Thursday:

— Only one Army reserve unit in 10 is ready for combat.

— Grinding warfare has ravaged critical equipment.

— There is "an appalling gap" between the threat of a chemical, nuclear or biological terrorist attack on U.S. soil and the ability of reserve forces to respond. "That places the nation and its citizens at greater risk," the commission concluded.

The commission said "the current pattern of using the reserves is endangering this valuable national asset." It recommended 95 changes in the way reserve forces are funded, equipped, trained and managed "to reverse the damage done."

The report is the product of a two-year review by the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, assigned by Congress to review the forces the active military relies on for vital support.

At the peak of their use in 2004, reservists and guardsmen made up a third of all U.S. military forces in Iraq. Without them, the country would have had to draft young Americans to maintain the force levels in Iraq, commission chairman Arnold Punaro told reporters.

"It's the current fire-break to having to go back to the draft," he said.

From Georgia, 5,141 Army National Guard troops have served in Iraq, more than half the state's total of 10,017.

In contrast, during the Cold War reserve forces were seldom if ever deployed. Reserve troops showed up for two weeks of training each summer and so-called "weekend warrior" duty once monthly.

"It was a supplemental force, in case of total war," said Col. Les Carroll, director of operations for U.S. Army Reserve command headquarters at Atlanta's Fort McPherson.

"Since we went into Afghanistan, since we went into Iraq, the Army Reserve has been an operational force, just like the active component," Carroll said. "As we got into this persistent conflict, we've been continuously used."

After the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the use of the Army Reserve and six other Reserve or Guard components has risen fivefold. Out of a total Army National Guard contingent of 352,000, about half have served in Iraq, where more than 400 of them have died.

Sharp cuts in active forces following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 mean U.S. combat units can't serve long overseas without the help of Reserves, which provide civil services, military police, transportation, logistics, intelligence and an array of other capabilities.

At war for five years in Iraq and six years in Afghanistan, the United States is stretching both active and reserve forces thin.

"This is the longest period of sustained mobilizations of this high tempo since the Army Reserves was founded one hundred years ago," said Thomas Welke, deputy director of operations with the command headquarters at Fort McPherson.

The deployments — some reservists are now serving their third tour in Iraq — have taken a heavy toll on the troops, their families and the employers bound by law to hold a job open for a worker who leaves home to fight for a year at a time.

In most cases, reservists spend four years at home before being redeployed, though some troops have volunteered to return to Iraq or Afghanistan sooner, Carroll said.

The wars have slashed inventories of the vehicles, weapons and communications gear reserve forces need to carry out their domestic mission — being available to assist in the case of natural disaster or attack.

As of October, the Army National Guard had on hand only 56 percent of such equipment required to meet its mission. The figure in Georgia was even lower, just 39 percent.

"The equipment issue is a gaping chest wound," said Christine Wormuth, an expert on guard and reserve operations with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

"There's basically a $48 billion shortfall in reserve component equipment across the board."

The Department of Defense has plans to make up that shortfall over time. It will take another decade to do so, however, even if Congress follows through on the Pentagon request.

"It's been a tremendous strain," said Carroll.

"We can work all the rest of this stuff out," he said of the equipment shortages. "But without a soldier standing there with a rifle in his hand, you can't do much else."