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Included are the cost of "expense items" of equipment,

consumables, vehicle and airlift support, transportation of

Marines and materiel. Unit maintenance of equipment is supported with 1.9 million. The Fiscal Year 1990 request also provides 38.7 million for the operation and maintenance of training facilities, and administrative support of individual reservists, recruiting activities, and headquarters support.

Funding levels described for Fiscal Year 1990 are essential to ensure our continued growth and increased capability to fully contribute to the Total Force. The modest increase in funds for manpower training, equipment, and facilities will maintain our war fighting capabilities and is considered cost-effective under our current fiscal constraints. The next few pages graphically illustrate the Marine Corps Reserve budget.

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CONCLUSION

It

The Marine Corps Reserve has continued to improve its combat readiness. The training and quality of our personnel and equipment is at an all time high as a result of your support. is anticipated that the role of the Reserve in our Total Force will expand over the next 10 years as Congress and the Department of Defense tackle the tough decisions associated with budgetary austerity and manpower losses. Modernization efforts, force structure changes, and modest manpower growth require continued support in the form of equipment, training, and facilities to upgrade our warfighting capability.

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Madam Chairwoman, I appreciate this opportunity to address your committee. The Congress has been quite supportive of our needs in the past, and we are thankful. The readiness of your Marine Corps Reserve will be further enhanced with your continued support.

Mr. HUTTO. All right, we thank both of you. In recent months the General Accounting Office, and others, have raised questions about the state of Guard and Reserve readiness. At the same time, most of the testimony that we are receiving for the last few weeks from the Reserve components indicates that unit and individual readiness had never been higher. In trying to reconcile these different assessments it would be useful to know who is performing the readiness evaluations and what kind of quality assurance mechanisms are in place?

For example, GAO found that Air Force units have a high state of readiness and one of the reasons for this is the fact that the Air Force uses active duty inspector general personnel to rate the Reserves. Conversely, I understand that the Naval Reserve used primarily Reserve personnel to evaluate Reserve readiness.

Why doesn't the Navy use active duty personnel to evaluate Naval Reserve unit readiness and how can we have confidence in efforts of Naval Reserve readiness when you seem to be grading yourselves? Admiral?

Admiral SMITH. Well, we take a look at our Air Reserve. We have operational control of the 52 squadrons that we have in our Air Reserve. The readiness of those squadrons is comparable to or better than anything on active duty. The readiness reporting is the same system that is used on active duty. I think the fact that our Naval Air Reserve last year went 16 months without a Class Alpha Accident-no other group in the Navy has ever done that beforeis an indication of the quality that we have in the Naval Air Reserve and I don't think Navy IG is going to find anything better. Another thing, the Navy IG does not do inspections of ships and aircraft. They are the responsibility of the next senior person in command. You do not find a Navy IG in the active fleet going aboard a ship and inspecting that ship. The squadron commander has that responsibility. The commander has the responsibility to see that it is carried out.

We follow that same procedure.

Mr. HUTTO. General Looney, who evaluates Marine Corps Reserve unit readiness and why are you confident that such assessments are valid indicators of Reserve unit readiness?

General LOONEY. Sir, we have three methods of measuring readiness, sir. Our Marine Corps Combat Readiness Evaluation System is the same system that our active forces uses. It is conducted by our 4th Division and Wing staffs and sometimes assisted by other active duty personnel, in particular areas where certain expertise is needed.

We used the Mobilization Operational Readiness Development Test, which is a mobilization-type readiness exercise to see if the unit is ready for mobilizing, moving to station of initial assignment, that is done again, by the 4th Division staff or the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing in New Orleans, assisted by regulars for certain expertise. The SORTS, as the Admiral mentioned, is the normal readiness reporting system.

Mr. HUTTO. Senator Symms' article on the better integration of reserve and active forces, he wrote the article in Defense News about how we should better integrate the Reserve forces with the

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