Apr 25, 2003 3 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – Thousands of National Guard and Reserve forces who left civilian lives and jobs for the war in Iraq will be heading home soon, the Pentagon said Thursday. But even as they leave, other “citizen soldiers” with skills needed for Iraq’s reconstruction will be called up.

The Pentagon has not said how many of the 223,000 backup troops on active duty were mobilized specifically for the Iraq war and how many for the global war on terror. It is estimated that roughly 100,000 Guard and Reserve forces are among the more than 250,000 Americans on duty in the Persian Gulf region.

“I think we’ll see those numbers start to come down now,” Thomas Hall, the assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs, said of the Guard and Reserve troops. “It has to. We don’t need all of those people now.” Hall did not say how soon they would be demobilized or in what numbers.

Tens of thousands are expected to come back in the next few months, including fighter pilots, special operations forces and others with combat oriented jobs.

A smaller number with skills related to stabilization and reconstruction will be sent to the region, officials said. Those include civil affairs officers, engineers, cargo pilots and military police.

“Just as our Guard and reservists are essential to fighting and winning the war, they are essential to the humanitarian and reconstruction efforts that still remain in Iraq,” said Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Dan Stoneking.

As of Wednesday, the Pentagon said there were 223,790 Reserve members on active duty, an increase of 587 from a week earlier. The number has been growing since war mobilizations began last fall.

The Army has the largest number of National Guard and Reserve troops on active duty – 149,141. Hall said that is the largest Army Guard and Reserve mobilization since World War II.

The Naval Reserve has 11,938 on active duty, the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve have 37,179, the Marine Corps Reserve has 21,115, and the Coast Guard Reserve 4,417.

Under an order signed by President Bush three days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in Washington and New York, up to 1 million Guard and Reserve troops can be called to serve for up to two years. Since then, 285,000 people have been activated, some finishing their duty and going back to civilian life.

Many never left the country. About 8,400 Army National Guard and Reserve troops provided security at 173 military bases in the states and overseas after the terror attacks.

About 30,000 of those on active duty are now in their second year of service, and of those 10,000 volunteered, Hall said.

Hall said his office is reviewing the overall mix of Reserve and active duty forces to see whether some skills and specialties now largely in the Reserve should be moved to the active duty force.

The Army already has begun moving some civil affairs units and military police units from the Reserve to active duty.

Hall also said that the Army National Guard in recent months has failed to reach its recruiting quota, but expects to get back on track by the end of the year.

He said leaders of the program don’t think it’s because of the war in Iraq or the counterterror war, but he didn’t say what the reason might be.

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On the Net:

Reservist-employer relations http://www.esgr.com

Reservist health benefits http://tricare.osd.mil/reserve/index.cfm

AP-ES-04-24-03 1637EDT