What Became of Those Reservists?

Remember the Pueblo? Six months after North Korea seized the U.S. Navy intelligence vessel, Pueblo is still a fresh topic for 38,037 Army, Navy and Air Force reservists and National Guardsmen called to the colors since last January's crisis. Although tempers have cooled and negotiations for the release of the captive ship and its crew are dry-docked amid lengthy diplomatic wrangling, the reservists could be kept on active duty for as long as two years.

Mindful of the confusion that followed the 1961 call-up of reservists during the Berlin crisis, the armed forces were better prepared this time. As a result, there have been far fewer complaints about inadequate facilities, shortages of equipment and weapons or lack of something useful to do. Nonetheless, the men find plenty to gripe about: after all, they were moved abruptly from what sociologists call a goal-oriented society into the tell-'em-nothing, keep-'em-busy world of the military.

Real Pros. Almost invariably, the morale of activated reservists and Guardsmen depends on whether they believe their duty really helps national security. Already, 3,375 have been sent overseas; it would be hard to find more gung-ho outfits anywhere than four Air Guard squadrons mobilized straight into combat in Viet Nam. "Nobody's got a bitch about being here," claims Captain Thomas Risan, an airline pilot now bombing and strafing Viet Cong fortifications with the 120th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Phan Rang. Calling themselves the "Raggedy-Ass Militia of Happy Valley," the 25 pilots and 350 maintenance crewmen of the 120th TFS have racked up more than 1,000 missions since reaching Viet Nam early in May. "What we got was real pros," says a regular chicken colonel at Phan Rang. "I thought we were going to get a bunch of weekend warriors forever bellyaching about hardships."

Two Air Guard squadrons were dispatched to Korea, and another is in Japan; last week 300 Air Force reservists began moving to Mildenhall, England. In the U.S., some other reservists are working too hard at their new military jobs to have time for much complaining. "Nobody goes around here wondering what he is doing and why," notes Master Sergeant Eugene Bostock, a member of the 941st Air Force Reserve Group at McChord Air Force Base south of Tacoma, Wash. "It's a good group," says Bostock, a grey-haired veteran of World War II and Korea. "But I'm not naive enough to believe that McChord would fall apart if we weren't here."

No Moonlighting on Patrol. Another reasonably satisfied-if weary-outfit is the 151st Long Range Patrol Group of Indiana Naional Guard paratrooper volunteers. Called up in May, they have since been hiking through the Georgia pinewoods around Fort Benning's ranger school. "We start with physical training at 5;30 in the morning, and we patrol most of the day," details Captain Kenneth Himsel, 30, an insurance executive. "We're not in the army to moonlight."

Outside jobs are, however, permitted. Although it can mean 16-hour work- days, moonlighting reservists are commonplace, as civilians struggle to adjust their incomes to military pay scales. "I took a pay cut of $300 per month," says Specialist Four David Waters, a steel-company billing clerk now with the 151st. "Did it hurt? You better believe it." For some reservists, call-up has knocked up to $10,000 off their annual earnings. Weekdays at 5 p.m., Airman First Class Mike Fields quits the 445th Military Airlift Wing's administrative offices at Dobbins Air Force Base outside Marietta, Ga., and drives to his old job as a producer at WAGA-TV in Atlanta. Boeing, which employed 120 of the reservists at nearby Mc-Chord, has arranged for them to work in the plant up to four hours daily.

Goldbrick Boredom. Motiveless "busywork," the lowly chores of military housekeeping, and menial jobs that fall short of the challenges of civilian life are principal causes for low morale where it is found among reservists. "Our daily routine," fumed Sergeant Robert A. Levy, a District of Columbia Air Guardsman at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, "consists of reading magazines and newspapers, listening to the radio, playing cards, organizing and participating in chess tournaments, visiting the base gymnasium, pitching horseshoes and taking coffee breaks." Levy, who was president of a Maryland computer consulting firm until he was called up, was so angry that he wrote an open letter to the President and Congress. "Never have I seen human resources so tragically misallocated," he declared. "Never have I experienced conditions so calculated to destroy the human spirit."

Boredom prompts men to take pride in goldbricking, inducing added ennui. Even the crack 120th TFS at Phan Rang has an accountant and a graduate in English slinging hash, a school principal pulling security guard, and a Denver assistant district attorney slaving as a clerk in the base legal office.

Now that Pueblo's fate is dimming in public memory and Viet Nam troop levels have been stabilized, many reservists feel there is no longer an overriding need for them to stay. "We don't have any idea when it will end," complains Airman First Class Eugene Potter, 21, who left his salesman's job to shuffle papers as a clerk with the 445th Wing. "If we had some kind of idea what we will be doing, we could make plans."

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