BOND REJECTS CALLS FOR CUTS IN GUARD UNITS

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- U.S. Sen. Christopher S. Bond admits that efforts to reduce the force structure of the National Guard could be a tough battle, and has blasted Department of Defense for even suggesting a reduction.

"The National Guard is vital to our military strength," said Bond Saturday in a meeting with Missouri National Guard members and other concerned citizens who gathered at the Cape Girardeau National Guard Armory.

"The Pentagon's plan to cut the guard is a serious mistake."

Bond, who is co-chairman of the Senate National Guard Caucus, is leading efforts in the Senate to block any proposed cut.

"There are other ways in which the defense budget can be cut," said Bond. "It just doesn't make sense to weaken the Guard, especially following the recent situation in the Persian Gulf."

Included in the Pentagon plan to cut the National Guard budget is the proposal to deactivate more than 2,300 Missouri National Guard members, including more than 575 in Southeast Missouri, from Farmington and Fredericktown to Cape Girardeau and Jackson, and through the Bootheel to Sikeston and Portageville.

"What we'd be looking at is the elimination of about 2,300 Missouri Guardsmen, and more than 150 full-time personnel jobs," said Bond. "That would add up to annual losses in Missouri communities, exceeding $20 million."

Bond is mustering support in the Senate.

"I've met with Maj. Gen. Robert Ensslin, president of the National Guard Association, and we have started mobilizing the 55 senators who are members of the National Guard Caucus to prevent the reductions," he said.

"We'd like to cut this proposal off in the Appropriations Committee," Bond told those present Saturday. "But, there are people out there that favor the cut."

He explained what happened when he voted to use force in the Persian Gulf war.

"This vote didn't come easy," he said. "But, we were at a critical moment in history. I felt that if we let Iraq succeed in its aggression, that Saddam Hussein and other aggressors would launch other warlike acts in the future.

"I couldn't help but feel that Hussein has no respect for human life or the rule of the law, and had to be stopped before he grew stronger."

After voting to send troops into battle, Bond's offices both at Washington, D.C., and at Cape Girardeau were deluged with calls.

"In the course of two weeks, we had received 8,500 letters and/or calls," he said. "Only 692 of those supported my vote. That means that 92 percent opposed what we did. Ninety-two percent of the people wanted us to continue negotiations."

When other legislators start lining up on the National Guard issue, they are going to receive calls and letters supporting the cuts in the National Guard, noted Bond.

"Nineteen Missouri communities could lose all, or most, of their units," added Bond. "A lot of those units are in Southeast Missouri, eliminating units that would respond to an earthquake, a flood disaster, or a tornado.

"This is the worst idea I've heard since I first called on the Guard to assist in civil disasters in 1973," said Bond, who is a former governor in Missouri. "Missourians count on their guard for help in times of emergency."

Bond said that over the past 58 years, the Missouri National Guard had been called out about twice a year.

"The Guard has been called up 118 times during the past 58 years," he said. "As governor of Missouri, I called on the guard to sandbag the Mississippi River, to direct air search and rescue operation, to help eradicate drugs, and search through tornado debris and provide first aid to flood victims."

He added: "The nation relies on the guard for trained units to serve alongside the active duty military at a moment's notice. We need to trim the defense budget, but the guard is our most cost-effective force. To slash them now would be short-sighted and wrong-headed."

Bond said he could see closing some of the nation's bases, and could see cutting down on some of the older weaponry still being produced through pork-barrel moves. He said if the cuts were made, he and his group would go back to the drawing board to look at some compromises.

"We'll have to look at the overall National Guard scene," he said. "We'll be working to keep the guard units in Southeast Missouri while attempting to shift some of the cuts to other state units which don't seem to appreciate the guard like we do.

The 1140th was not called out during the Persian Gulf crisis.

"We were in Panama," said Maj. Tom Brandtner, executive officer of the 1140th. "Most of our equipment was down there building roads."

"Right now, there are about 400 Guardsmen from Missouri in the Panama area," said David R. Moll, commander of the 135th Engineering Group, which has been constructing roads and bridges in Panama. "We took a `cowpath' down there and are making a road out of it."

Moll, who recently returned form Panama, said Guardsmen were being rotated.

"We rotate about 300 people every two weeks," he said.