Madam Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:

I'm very happy to be here today in my first appearance

before this committee as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for

Reserve Affairs.

Under the Total Force Policy, we are increasingly basing the national security interests of our nation on our ability to

rapidly mobilize, deploy, and employ combat ready Reserve

component units and members anywhere in the world.

Today, many

of our military contingency plans simply cannot be executed

effectively without committing National Guard and Reserve Forces in the same time frame as our Active Forces. This kind of

reliance on our Reserve Forces requires that units of the

Selected Reserve, especially the early deploying units, be manned and equipped at levels which make them ready for combat on short

notice.

This has been one of our primary goals and it will

continue to be one of our most difficult challenges during this

time of severe budgetary constraints.

Significant progress is being made in the training and equipping of the Reserve components and the size of our Reserve Forces has continued to increase. As we ask our National

Guardsmen and Reservists to assume greater responsibilities,

however, it becomes even more essential that we give them the

tools to do the job.

In this regard, I solicit your active

support to ensure that we have the resources that are necessary for the maintenance of highly trained and ready Reserve Forces.

FY 1989 Amended Budget Request

The specific budget estimates in the President's Amended Budget Request, exclusive of procurement funds (which are not obtainable by component), for the Reserve components are as

follows:

TABLE 1

TOA ($ In Millions)

Military construction

169

584

415

Several significant events involving our Reserve Forces have

occurred in recent months.

Perhaps the three most important

developments have been the "no-notice" exercise of the President's statutory authority to call up to 200,000 members of the Selected Reserve to active duty; the convening by the

President of the sixth Quadrennial Review of Military

Compensation, which for the first time has focused on reserve compensation issues; and the completion of the first successful screening of the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR).

In July, 1987, then Secretary Weinberger directed the design of a method of testing the availability of those members of the

Selected Reserve who could be ordered to active duty by the

President, without declaration of a national emergency, pursuant

to the provisions of 10 usc, Section 673b. We decided to conduct this test in conjunction with the October 1987 JCS exercise,

PROUD SCOUT 88.

I am very pleased to report to you that our

National Guardsmen and Reservists responded as expected.

During

the seventy-two hour time period of the test, nearly 94 percent of the members of the units selected by random sample were contacted, and over 92 percent actually reported to their Reserve

Center or Armory or were excused pursuant to standards set by

their respective Services.

The second development was the convening of the Sixth

Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation on January 1, 1987, as required by law. President Reagan, in his directions to the

Secretary, stated:

"I am particularly interested in the compensation of the Reserve