Changing of the Guard

Encamped in the Corral Room of the Hotel Westward Ho in Phoenix, Ariz., the National Guard Adjutants General Association heard some frilly Pentagonese. "The lightning strokes of any future war will never again permit us to linger on the soft pillow of time," said Secretary of the Army Wilber Marion Brucker. Then, explaining the need for a fast National Guard switchover from armory to atomic warfare, Brucker ticked off the proposed changes in the Guard: a paring-down of the present 27 combat divisions (21 infantry, six armored) to 21 streamlined pentomic divisions (15 infantry, six armored) and a 25% cut in the battalion and company-sized units. In all, the so-called "pay-drill" size of the Guard would be reduced from 400,000 to 360,000 men, and the budget sliced by some $52 million.

As a Guardsman (1915-19) and governor (Michigan, 1931-32), Secretary Brucker well knew that he was tossing around one of the most politically explosive bombs in the land; the Guard has powerful influence in state capitals and in Washington. Soothingly he assured the adjutants general that the trimming-down, as well as the anticipated 10% cut in U.S. Army Reserves, would require no discharging of trained men. It could be handled painlessly, he promised, through attrition.

Despite the Secretary's soft sell, the A.G.s quickly passed a whole slew of state resolutions praising the planned modernization of their forces, but condemning any cuts in troop strength. "The Department of the Army," said one, "are bent on the destruction of the National Guard simply because they do not control the organization in time of peace." On their side was the House Armed Services Subcommittee, which had already voted unanimously for no change in the size of the Guard.* The A.G.s could also count on some covering fire from the Governors' Conference when it bivouacs in Miami next month. But if the Defense Department had the stomach for a real showdown, it could still block the funds for any Guard units it considers surplus.

* The 1957 expenditures for the Army National Guard: $336,253,000; for the Air National Guard: $249,145,656.

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