0 - The Black Vault

THE BOM CORPORATION
While the act reduced the term of obligation to six years, it
imposed a
requirement for active participation in Reserve tr3ining oti those passing
out ot the armed services with an unexpired obligation.
The law aathorized
the President, without further Congressional action, to call up to a million
Ready Reservists to duty in an emergency proclaimed oy him. He was
allowed to also recall selected members of the Standby Reserve in event of
any national emergency declared by Congress, Notwitnstanding the new
legislation, in a period of irregular voluntary enlistments and restrictel
funds,
most Reserve units quickly fell below their authorized strengths,
The Ready Reserve Mobilization Reolacement Pool soon became clogged with
unscreened and untrained personnel,
In the late 1950s, President Eisenhower and his top advisers
zconcluded that the LIS was spending about $80 million a year to sustain a
Reserve force which had little or ro military value. He attempted to cut
the paid dri'l strength, but the Congress would not go along with such a
move. It Drc,/ed to be e.tremely difficult to persuade the Congress of the
necessity o-" desirability of thoroughly reorganizing and reducing the many
Rererve uiitf scaltered in Congressional districts throughout the US,
politica1 sign'iicvnce of the Reserve and National Guard could not be
discourtad and the Congress in 1959 voted a 700,000 man level to assure
that :.u
al)uroval
furtner reductions would be made in the Reserve forces without its
President Kennedy's Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, was
concerned over the expenditure of defense funds for Reserves that were lorg
on nu .. ner, 1 ýut short on readiness; therefore, he performed a thorough
analysis of t~ho status and functions of t.,
The
-:serve forces during the early
1960s. He concluded for example, that the maintenance of a force of
400,000 National Sua'dsmen and 310,000 Army Reserves on paid drill status
made
little sense untss those backui. forces could step in quickly in a
crisis and replace the regular active strategic reserve.
The performarce
of Reserve components called up during the Berlin Crisis in 1961 left mucil
to be desired and brouaht much criticism about the improper assignment and
use of individLals and units, respective':,. In tne year after the Berlin
r<
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