GUARD CUTS SPARE SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

A National Guard engineer battalion in Southeast Missouri that had been targeted for elimination has been spared under a Pentagon proposal announced Thursday.

The Pentagon's National Guard Bureau recommended keeping the 1140th Engineer Battalion headquartered in Cape Girardeau, and instead eliminating the 110th Engineer Battalion based in Kansas City.

"It is great news for us," said Capt. Dwight Lusk, administrative officer for the 1140th battalion. "We think it is justifiable to make those changes."

But he cautioned that the ultimate decision rests with Congress, which must decide on the overall size of the armed forces.

The Pentagon proposed Thursday to eliminate about one of every five National Guard and reserve positions in Missouri to save money and adjust to changing military needs.

According to Defense Department documents, Missouri would lose 1,334 Army Reserve, 1,941 Army National Guard and 104 Navy Reserve positions in the 1993 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

At least 19 communities in Missouri would be affected by the proposed two-year reductions, including Cape Girardeau, where 26 Navy Reserve positions would be cut. That Navy Reserve unit is the only Guard or reserve unit in Southeast Missouri that would be affected under the Pentagon plan.

Maj. Ken MacNevin, a spokesman for the Missouri National Guard in Jefferson City, said the Pentagon's decision to spare the Southeast Missouri Guard battalion came on the recommendation of Maj. Gen. Charles M. Kiefner, the state's adjutant general.

The decision was actually made about two weeks ago and publicly disclosed Thursday, MacNevin said.

He said Kiefner's recommendation to deactivate the 110th instead of the 1140th battalion was based on two factors: impact on local communities and the need for the Guard to be able to respond in the event of a major earthquake in Southeast Missouri.

The two battalions are of similar size, each having about 700 to 750 guardsmen.

But the 1140th has units in eight communities. Besides Cape Girardeau, there are units in Jackson, Sikeston, Portageville, Charleston, Perryville, Fredericktown and Farmington.

"Only Cape Girardeau has another National Guard presence," said MacNevin. The 135th Engineer Group is headquartered at the Cape Girardeau Armory.

"If we take down the 1140th, we leave seven communities with no National Guard presence," he pointed out.

In contrast, the 110th has units in Kansas City, Lexington and Clinton. But both Kansas City and Lexington have more than one Guard unit. "If we take down the 110th, only one community is left with no National Guard unit," said MacNevin.

Although the 1140th has apparently been spared, Missouri still stands to lose more than 2,500 Army guardsmen by fiscal year 1995 as part of a nationwide reduction in the size of the military forces, MacNevin said.

As a result, he said, some Missouri Guard units might eventually be relocated "to better balance our forces around the state."

U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., and U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, had strongly opposed plans to eliminate the Guard units in Southeast Missouri.

They also voiced opposition Thursday to the Pentagon's latest proposal to reduce Guard and reserve units in Missouri.

"The Pentagon is once again proposing a short-sighted plan of wholesale cuts in the National Guard without a thorough examination of the entire U.S. force structure," said Bond.

Emerson said, "This is great news for the men and women associated with this unit and their communities." Emerson vowed to "carry the torch to keep our Missouri National Guard and reserve units in place."

Emerson said that Guard units are cost effective. "Ground forces in the Guard and reserve are approximately 25 percent of the recurring costs of active forces with everything else being equal," he said. "I think this is an extremely important factor in these times of tight budgets and defense restructuring."

David Ayres, a spokesman for Bond's office in Washington, said Thursday that Bond would continue to fight against proposed Pentagon reductions in Missouri.

"There is broad community support in Missouri for our Guard units," said Ayres. "They are fully integrated into the communities. People understand their importance. They have seen them respond in times of emergency.

"When bureaucrats in the Pentagon propose wholesale cuts, it just doesn't make a lot of sense," said Ayres.