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| CALLING IN THE RESERVES | |
 April 27, 1999 
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President Clinton approved the deployment of up to 33,000 reservists Tuesday to assist in continuing air strikes in Yugoslavia. Phil Ponce speaks with Chief of the National Guard Bureau Lieutenant General Russell Davis.
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Welcome, General. We just heard a few minutes ago Tom Bearden report that the President has authorized the call-up of 33,000 reservist National Guard members and 2100 are going to be deployed in the immediate future. Tell us a little more about what those 2100 people will be doing. LT. GENERAL RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF), Chief, National Guard Bureau: Well, they are called up, Phil; they're from air refueling units in the Air National Guard and in the Air Force Reserve, and they come from a number of different locations -- Arizona, Alabama - you've got a list there - PHIL PONCE: Wisconsin - LT. GEN. RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF): -- and Pennsylvania. PHIL PONCE: And the kinds of jobs they do, are we talking about pilots, are we talking about maintenance people? LT. GEN. RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF): We're talking about pilots and navigators and boom operators, the men who operate the vehicle that actually passes the gas onto aircraft that they are refueling with, as well as flight engineers and ground crew to support the aircraft and maintenance personnel. PHIL PONCE: And you talk about these air refueling -- this air refueling function. Basically what is it? I mean, it's a large plane that's basically, what, a gas station in the sky, for want of a better term?
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| More refueling tankers. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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PHIL PONCE: And why do you need these -- why do you need these 2100 people?
PHIL PONCE: And you're at that point now where you don't have enough resources? LT. GEN. RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF): We're at that point now. Understand, though, that we have commitments all over the world, not just in Kosovo. We're in Northern Watch, we're in Southern Watch, we have operations out in the Pacific and all over the world.
LT. GEN. RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF): Northern Watch is an operation we run out of Turkey which patrols the no-fly zone in the northern part of Iraq. And we run the other operation out of Saudi Arabia and out of Kuwait and it protects the boundaries we don't allow the Iraqis to fly South. PHIL PONCE: And in those areas you're talking about you already have reservists and guards people there. LT. GEN. RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF): We already have reservists and guard members there, yes. We've had them there for a number of years. PHIL PONCE: But there's a specific need right now for 30 more tankers, is that correct? LT. GEN. RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF): There is. PHIL PONCE: The immediate motivation, I mean, you talk about the integration, that's the big picture. But the immediate motivation, the immediate need is for personnel to support these 30 more refueling tankers. Is that it? LT. GEN. RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF): That is correct, yes. And one of the things we're doing as part of this, though, is we have had for a number of months volunteers, a significant number of volunteers, about a thousand volunteers. These are people who volunteer and they go over anywhere from two weeks to six months at a time, guard members and air force reserve members. They have volunteered to go there and they have been over there. And what we are going to do with the first increment of about a thousand people and twenty-six tankers is replace them. They'll come back to the states and they will have an opportunity to do whatever they do in their regular jobs. Later on they could be called as part of another increment. We have authorized - the President has authorized up to 33,102 personnel to be called up; we're only calling up about 2,116 right now. |
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| Involuntary callups. | ||||||||||||||||||||
PHIL PONCE: And by definition, the people you're calling up and the people you're authorized are "involuntary callups," right? LT. GEN. RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF): It is involuntary, yes. Our people are called to come and they come and show up. We've got just an extraordinarily high rate of personnel who show up and do their jobs. These are dedicated Americans, and they joined the National Guard, and they joined the Reserve, or the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines; they understand this. They understand when they join what they're signing up for.
LT. GEN. RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF): I think so. And I think we emphasize to our recruiters it's a necessity to tell people that. During the Gulf War you heard a lot of, well, we just signed up because we thought we were going to have an educational benefit. We talk to our people about that, and we have family support programs where we talk to them about what's required, so that if they get called in a move forward, we have the ability to make certain that their dependents and their families are taken care of. So, we tell people they're going to be called up or stand a good chance of being called up. As I said, we've had a number of call-ups, some five. We called folks up for the Gulf War; we called them up again for Haiti, we called them up for Bosnia, we called them again last year for Southwest Asia and, of course, now the call-up for Kosovo. So I think our young people understand that they can and will be called up. PHIL PONCE: And how soon will be the people who are being called up know they're going to be called up? Will they get a phone call, will they get a letter? How does that work?
PHIL PONCE: And how long will they be deployed? LT. GEN. RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF): It's for a maximum of 270 days. The presidential selective reserve call-up is designed to bring Guard and Reserve members on active duty to serve with the active component for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, for 270 days. PHIL PONCE: So roughly nine months? LT. GEN. RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF): Roughly nine months, yes. PHIL PONCE: And where are they going? Are they going to be stationed in the Balkans, will they be in Italy, will they be in Germany? Where do they go? LT. GEN. RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF): Well, these initial 26 aircraft and about a thousand folks, they'll be going in to replace -- into Europe to replace units that are already there that are part of this volunteer program. The remaining 21 aircraft and roughly 1,100 people will be called up and they'll be going to destinations to be determined later. PHIL PONCE: So you're not saying at this point exactly where they're going to be stationed? LT. GEN. RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF): Well, one of the reasons we've don't talk about where people are going and exactly when they're going is for operational security considerations. This protects them and their families, as well as the military integrity of what we do and what our operations are all about. |
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| Combat ready. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| PHIL PONCE: And what can you tell us about the level of
training that these National Guardspeople and members of the Reserve have?
I mean, are they combat ready? Can they step in tomorrow and do what they
have to do?
PHIL PONCE: And, General, you talk about the National Guard and you talk about the reserve. But as far as -- for all intents and purposes, it's all part of the same - it's all part of the Air Force when it comes time to activate and perform, is that right? LT. GEN. RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF): That's correct. In the reserve, Air Force Reserve, they have what we call a federal mission. Their mission is to train and augment the Active Air Force whenever required. In the National Guard we have that same mission, identical mission, to train and augment the active Air Force, typically with units, rather than individual people. We also have the mission in the National Guard of what we call the state mission to be available, to be around and be capable of and responding to such things as natural disaster, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, that kind of thing. PHIL PONCE: In this instance, I mean, there's a authority of 33,000 people. When will the next call-up be, and is it likely that the Pentagon will use up the full allotment, so to speak, of 33,000?
PHIL PONCE: But is there any doubt that eventually more people will be called up under this order? LT. GEN. RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF): There's a good likelihood more people will be called. The early assessment was we needed about 33,000 at some point involved in this exercise. PHIL PONCE: And it could expand to other services, not just the Air National Guard? LT. GEN. RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF): It could expand and I think it will expand. The Air Force is only calling up the tankers because they require the tankers at this point. There are other services that could be called up and may well be called up. It's hard for me to speculate on that. PHIL PONCE: General Davis, I thank you very much. LT. GEN. RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF): Thank you. |
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PHIL
PONCE: For more on today's announcement we're joined by Lt. General
Russell Davis, chief of the National Guard Bureau. 
LT.
GEN. RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF): Yes, Phil, literally a gas station in
the sky. These aircraft can haul up to about 100,000 pounds of fuel,
and in excess of that, and what they do is the fighters or the bombers
-- there's a probe that comes down and sticks into the other aircraft
being refueled and it takes on gas. 
LT.
GEN. RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF): Well, we need these folks because what
happens in the military, we have been a very, very large military, and
we have downsized significantly since the Gulf War some 35 to 40 percent,
depending on which service you talk about, Army, Navy, Marines and Coast
Guard. As we have downsized and we have created a situation where we
have more reliance on the National Guard and on the reserve components,
all seven reserve components of the respective services. As a result
of doing that, as an example, we have 55 percent of the total refueling
capability in the United States Air Force residing in the Air National
Guard and in the United States Air Force Reserve. So when we get to
a point where we don't have sufficient resources in the active Air Force,
then we look to the Air Guard and to the Air Force reserves.
PHIL
PONCE: And what do you mean by Northern Watch and Southern Watch? What
is that?
PHIL
PONCE: General, years ago when I was in the Air Force Reserve and I
was also in the Air National Guard the expectation was that the likelihood
of one being called up was fairly remote. You're saying the culture
has changed, somebody knows now that if they sign up, they're apt to
be called up? 
LT.
GEN. RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF): Well, they've already been notified. I
think we went out to the units earlier today to notify them. We've had
some preliminary notification work and discussions with units prior
to this point. But they've been notified and very shortly we think most
of them will be deployed. 
LT.
GEN. RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF): They're combat ready. They've been tested.
We have a system in the Air Force, what we call operational readiness
inspections and all of these folks will have passed those inspections
- done very well on them as a matter of fact -- not just made the minimum
standards. We're superb at doing this mission in the Air National Guard
and the Air Force Reserves. One thing I need to emphasize to you, Phil,
is we have the same standards for the United States Air Force, be they
active, National Guard, or Air Force Reserve. Those same high standards
of excellence we have in place every day. Many of the people going over
on these missions will have already been over to Northern Watch, to
Southern Watch, they'll have been overdoing refueling operations in
the Pacific. They'll have been over to Bosnia as an example. 
LT.
GEN. RUSSELL C. DAVIS (USAF): We don't know that yet. We know right
now 2,100 people are needed and they are being called. Assessments will
be made. And what happens in these call-ups is first off the commander
in chief in the theater, General Clark in this case, will say he has
a certain requirement. The Air Force has a responsibility to fill those
requirements. When they are unable to fill them with active Air Force
personnel, then they need Reserve personnel, they go to the Secretary
of Defense, who, in part, makes the request once he's evaluated and
his staff has evaluated, makes that request to the President.