The Plight of Reservists

Anyone who has served in the armed forces knows that the sacrifices and hardships one endures are mitigated by camaraderie and a shared sense of humor about the discomforts and absurdities of military life.

Soldiers complain every day about food, weather, sergeants, routines and perils of the job. But only rarely does a complaint rise to the point of official communication with superiors, and nearly never in a fashion to produce a serious backlash.

So the near-mutiny of 19 Army Re-serve troops in Iraq in October was big news-as was the sharp questioning in December of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld by National Guard troops concerned about inadequacies in equipment they'd been given for battle. The strains that were reflected in these incidents are the subject of our cover story this month by George Cahlink.

To this veteran of the Army Reserve and National Guard, the problems voiced by today's citizen-soldiers had a familiar ring. More than 30 years ago, while I was serving, the Guard one day waved a magic wand and turned our engineers battalion into a military police unit. We didn't get much training or new equipment, but we did provide a presence-warm bodies-on the street to stave off the rioting in Washington that broke out after the assassination of Martin Luther King.

The Guard and the Reserves never have had first call on the best in training or equipment-not surprising, since they have not been first to battle and usually have served in support assignments. That was not much of a problem in my day. But certainly times have changed, what with more than 40 percent of the troops serving in Iraq now coming from the ranks of part-time soldiers.

To a question posed by Spc. Thomas Wilson of the Tennessee National Guard, Rumsfeld responded, "As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time." His answer struck some as flippant, even arrogant. Said Rep. Robin Hayes, R-N.C., "What he said was wrong, the way he said it was wrong, and the place in which he said it was wrong." Carl Hiassen, the satirist and columnist for the The Miami Herald, wrote: "Mr. Shock-and-Awe turned into Mr. Shuck-and-Jive." Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., publicly cast a vote of "no confidence" in Rumsfeld.

In the glare of media attention, the Defense Department responded to the incidents with restraint-for example, by not leveling mutiny charges against the 19 reservists who refused to drive an unarmored convoy over dangerous roads. A harsher response would have invited more media scrutiny, not only about equipment, but also about the adequacy of Pentagon planning for postwar Iraq. Indeed, McCain used the incident to repeat his view that at least 100,000 more U.S. troops were needed to secure that country.

To this issue of Government Executive, Katherine McIntire Peters brings vivid reporting on the difficulties encountered by U.S. agents who patrol the cold and lawless expanses along the Canadian border. Shawn Zeller investigates the fast-growing use of video games for education and training of military and other federal personnel. And Shane Harris hits the "reply to all" button with an amusing but cautionary tale about the perils of e-mail. Here's wishing you a good read and a prosperous New Year.