ARLINGTON, Va. - The Department of Defense is taking steps to improve equipment levels in the Army National Guard and also deal with the implications of the Guard's new role as an operational reserve, Robert M. Gates told students at the Army War College today.
Gates made the comments during a question-and-answer session with the audience following a speech he gave about his recommended fiscal 2010 Defense Budget, his third such speech at a military college this week.
He added that between fiscal year 2009 and fiscal year 2013, $39 billion is in the budget for equipment for the National Guard.
"And what is different about this buy for the National Guard is that, instead of getting equipment that the active force no longer uses, the Guard will be getting the same equipment that the active component is using," Gates said. "So, there will be a level of capability in the reserve component that we have not had before."
In the past, the Army Guard's equipment level has been about 70 percent, "and based on what I'm being told, we should be back at that level by about FY 2011."
Responding to an audience member's question, Gates said when he became the defense secretary 29 months ago, one of his concerns was whether DoD has pulled a "bait and switch" on the reserve component.
"For a long time, the reserve component had been a strategic reserve, and we had, I think by inches, turned it into an operational reserve," he said. "And I think a lot of people who had spent some years in the Guard and the Reserve and were accustomed to summer training and to monthly meetings and helping in national disasters or in local and regional disasters suddenly found themselves deployed for 15 months to Iraq and Afghanistan.
"And I think that that still is a concern for me, for people who have been in for a while. I think the youngsters that have joined since 9/11, and particularly since 2003, have known full well what they were getting into."
Along with improving the equipment levels in the Army Guard, Gates cited the appointment of a four-star general as the head of the National Guard Bureau as a significant step.
"So, there's a lot of attention being paid to the Guard," he said.
Gates also cited the importance of the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program, which will help prepare servicemembers and their families for mobilization, sustain families during mobilization, and reintegrate Soldiers with their families, communities, and employers upon redeployment.
He said the program is important, because active-duty members have unit members to watch out for them when they return from a deployment.
However, "when the Guard returns, it disperses. And so I think one of the benefits of this Yellow Ribbon program is for us to be able to reach – have the resources and the capability to reach out – and make sure that we're staying in touch with those young men and women as well," he said.
Gates concluded by saying that he believes the DoD is on the right path with the Guard and Reserve. "One of the questions that I have asked the Quadrennial Defense Review to look at is this balance, or this role for the Guard and Reserve between a strategic reserve and an operational reserve, and what should that balance be going forward. So that's a fundamental question I think that we have to look at."