Reserve Forces and the Draft

Archive Report

Proposal to Reorganize Reserve Forces

Mcnamara Plan to Merge Reserve and Guard

Secretary of defense Robert S. McNamara has renewed his three-year-long struggle to streamline and strengthen the country's military reserve forces. At a Pentagon news conference, Dec. 12, McNamara announced plans to create a single Army reserve force, 550,000 strong, under management of the National Guard. All Army Reserve units not transferred to the Guard would be eliminated; all individuals not assigned to a specific unit would be placed in an inactive manpower pool. The proposed reorganization, McNamara said, would cut defense costs by about $150 million a year.

McNamara proposes to abolish no fewer than 21 of the existing 29 reserve divisions. The remaining eight “priority” divisions would be maintained at 80 per cent of ...

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