Mr. HUTTO. The subcommittee stands adjourned until 1:30 tomorrow afternoon. [Whereupon, at 12 noon, the subcommittee adjourned, to reconvene tomorrow afternoon, Thursday, March 9, 1989, at 1:30 p.m.] AIR FORCE GUARD AND RESERVE AND NAVY/MARINE CORPS GUARD AND RESERVE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, READINESS SUBCOMMITTEE, Washington, DC, Thursday, March 9, 1989. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 1:34 p.m., in room 2212, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Earl Hutto (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. STATEMENT OF HON. EARL HUTTO, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM FLORIDA, CHAIRMAN, READINESS SUBCOMMITTEE Mr. HUTTO. The Subcommittee on Readiness will come to order. This afternoon the subcommittee will continue its consideration of the fiscal years 1990-1991 Department of Defense Operation and Maintenance budget request. Testimony will be received from guard and reserve officials of the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. As we all know, the guard and reserve forces have been assigned a greater and increased role in national defense. These organizations are vital components of our national military capability. The term "total force" has never been more meaningful nor apply to more of our citizen soldiers than it does today. There are proposals currently being considered that would further increase the responsibilities of the guard and reserve. The primary purpose of today's hearing is to determine as best we can that the reserves and guard have the personnel, equipment and training to perform existing missions and to obtain their views as to what new missions might be appropriate. At this time I would ask that a statement by Mr. Kasich, our ranking member of this subcommittee be entered into the record. Without objection that will be done. PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN R. KASICH, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM OHIO, RANKING MINORITY MEMBER, READINESS SUBCOMMITTEE Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to welcome our panel of witnesses from the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps Guard and Reserve Components. We will continue our series of hearings on the readiness of these forces, and the adequacy of the fiscal year 1990 budget request. Mr. Chairman, 2 weeks ago we heard testimony concerning Army guard and reserve readiness from the General Accounting Office that painted a rather grim picture. DOD and Army representatives, on the other hand, were far more optimistic about the capability of those forces. The problem for the subcommittee was in balancing these conflicting opinions. I hope today's witnesses will tell us in all candor whether they have the capability to perform the existing mission, and what they think of proposals to increase guard and reserve missions. As we all know, projected budget difficulties have given rise to suggestions to move more missions into the guard and reserve. We need to know whether that is realistic. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We're privileged to have two Air Force witnesses with us this afternoon. First we will hear from Maj. Gen. Roger P. Scheer, who is the Chief of Air Force Reserve. Second we will hear from Brig. Gen. Philip G. Killey who is the Director of the Air National Guard. A warm welcome to both of you. General Scheer, you may proceed as you desire. STATEMENT OF MAJ. GEN. ROGER P. SCHEER, CHIEF, AIR FORCE RESERVE General SCHEER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to begin by thanking you for the opportunity to appear before your subcommittee and talk about our readiness issues. Particularly I'd like to congratulate you, sir, on your acceptance as Chairman of this distinguished subcommittee and I know that you will get all the help from the reserve forces that you can ask for. Mr. HUTTO. Thank you sir, I appreciate it. Gen. SCHEER. We can begin by stating this year, the same as we did last year, that our readiness is again at an all time high. A brief recap would show that all flying units except those in conversion status are combat ready and over 90 percent of our non-flying units. In the non-flying unit category, readiness is up from 71 percent combat ready only 4 years ago. I think another key area-not only are these units ready, but they're ready with very, very modern equipment. This modernization has continued, will continue and we are rapidly approaching the point where all our units are equipped with like, modern weapons systems like those of the active. This readiness has been a team effort, particularly between the Congress, the Air Force, the reservist himself and the employers. Congress and the Air Force provided modern equipment, substantive missions and realistic training. The employer has helped in this by allowing our reservists to participate in rates far in excess of the minimum requirements. Retention, too, is at an all time high, and this is perhaps more important than the recruiting aspect. Retention, again, increased approximately 4 percent this year over last year. A big portion of that has got to be not only the modernization but the realistic missions, the realistic training and the degree of responsibility that has been placed on the reservist by Congress and the Air Force. I would say that looking down the road there are some negatives, obviously, to future readiness. We are experiencing some difficultly in our full-time pilot technician force, similar to the active experience in pilot retention, not to the same extent yet, but certainly it's significant. Civil service compensation has not kept pace with any pay, not even the military pay, and that has drastically reduced our recruiting efforts with our full-time pilots.madi asmen We are looking at every way possible that we can enhance not only the recruiting, but the retention of this valuable force. We have seen a decrease in our real O&M budget for 1990, real de crease of about 71⁄2 percent in 1990 over 1989. That certainly will impact readiness and is not compatible with the ever increasing requirements that are being placed upon us. But all in all I would like to report that you do have a ready Air Force Reserve. Ready by the same standards as the active force. Again we want to thank Congress, and in particular your committee, Mr. Chairman, for the support that has directly provided us this degree of readiness, and I can guarantee you that we will extend every effort possible to effectively employ those assets. Thank you. PREPARED STATEMENT OF MAJ. GEN. ROGER P. SCHEER INTRODUCTION Thank you for the opportunity to appear before this Subcommittee on Readiness and share with you the current status of the Air Force Reserve, the challenges we face, and the accomplishments we have made during the past year. Our Reserve units are combat ready. They can be mobilized in 24 hours and deployed within 72 hours. In Fiscal Year (FY) 1988 we made significant improvements to the quality of our training and today are at the highest level of readiness in our history, with 97% of our units (excluding those in conversion) designated combat ready. This is up from 71% just 4 short years ago. These readiness levels are a result of a team effort: The Congress, the Air Force, and the Reservist. By providing modern equipment, substantive missions and realistic training opportunities, the Congress and the Air Force have given the 1 |