SENATE GUARDS GUARD; BOND LEADS EFFORT TO KEEP UNIT HERE

WASHINGTON -- A year-long struggle in the U.S. Senate to save from elimination the 1140th Combat Engineer Battalion at Cape Girardeau and other Missouri Army National Guard units ended in success on Friday.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a measure that maintains the nationwide structure and level of the Guard forces in the 1992 defense budget.

Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Missouri, a member of the appropriations committee, led the effort to protect Guard units that were facing termination in next year's Pentagon budget.

"We won the fight to preserve Missouri's Guard because Americans understand the importance of the Guard to their communities and our country," said Bond from his office in Washington Friday.

"In Missouri, we rely on the Guard to protect Missourians, our families, and our property in times of emergency.

"I led the fight in the Senate because I believe the Guard is our most efficient and cost-effective military force. The Guard has always served our nation at a moment's notice with distinction and honor."

The Pentagon had proposed eliminating the 1140th Engineer Battalion and 30 other Guard units in the state by 1996 as part of its defense reductions.

But Missouri Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. John M. Kiefner, said the cuts were made without reason, adding that he was never consulted about units that would be eliminated in the state.

Kiefner said the Pentagon cuts would have wiped out the National Guard's presence in Southeast Missouri, which faces a growing risk of a major earthquake in the next 10-15 years.

"In proposing these cuts, the Pentagon failed to recognize the cost-effectiveness and citizen soldier mission of the Guard," said Bond. "We must cut our defense budget, but eliminating our most cost-effective force would be shortsighted. The Pentagon's ill-conceived plan also did not fully consider the implications for local units and their communities. In short, this plan was dreamed up in Washington without enough thought about its full impact."

Kiefner said the proposed cutbacks would mean the loss of 3,100 Guard and 207 federal positions in the state. The annual economic loss to Missouri communities would exceed $28 million in combined federal and state funds.

The provision pushed by Bond and a caucus of other senators who opposed the cuts would maintain the existing Guard units at their present level for 1992. Bond said he expects the measure to be fully adopted by Congress, preventing any elimination of any Missouri National Guard units next year.

The House of Representatives' 1992 defense spending bill restores cuts in the Guard but fails to protect the current Guard structure, including the Missouri units. Bond said he believes the House will accept the Senate's changes when the two conference committees meet to resolve the difference.

The 1140th is equipped with heavy construction equipment, including bulldozers, front end loaders, road graders, dump trucks, gasoline tanker trucks and other support equipment.

Emergency service officials in Southeast Missouri have said in the past that in the event of a major earthquake, or other type of major disaster in this area, this equipment would be needed to help preserve life and restore damaged roads and bridges.

Elimination of the 1140th would include its Headquarters Company at the Cape Girardeau armory and the battalion's subordinate units located at armories in Charleston, Farmington, Fredericktown, Jackson, Perryville, Portageville and Sikeston.

According to statistics released by Bond's office in Washington, the 1140th has 183 guardsmen and 11 fulltime federal employees stationed at the Cape Girardeau armory.

There are 49 guardsmen and three fulltime federal employees based at Charleston. Farmington has 111 guardsmen and five fulltime federal employees. Fredericktown has 48 guardsmen and two fulltime federal employees.

There are 72 guardsmen and two fulltime federal employees assigned to the armory at Jackson. In Perryville, there are 73 guardsmen and three fulltime federal employees are assigned to the armory. Portageville has 55 guardsmen and two fulltime federal employees, and Sikeston has 68 guardsmen and three fulltime federal employees.