The Associated Press August 4, 2005
Experts differ on reservist training in wake of Marine deaths
This week's deaths of 14 Ohio-based Marine reservists has military experts disagreeing over whether reservists and Guardsmen are as well trained and prepared as active-duty soldiers when it comes to fighting in Iraq.
"It's just common sense that part-time warriors will not be as well-trained as full-time soldiers are," Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute think tank, said Thursday. The reservists from the 3rd Ballalion, 25th Marines based in suburban Cleveland were killed in two attacks this week. Larry Korb, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress research institute and former assistant secretary of defense for manpower during the Reagan administration, said reservists usually come from civilian backgrounds that have little to do with the military. "There's no way that somebody in the reserves is going to be as good as somebody in the active duty in terms of warfighting," Korb said. Korb questioned whether reservists are getting enough pre-deployment training time. Thompson said reservists can be especially vulnerable the first few months in Iraq. "Iraq, like every battlefield, is a unique place. The more you're exposed to it, the more you're prepared for it," Thompson said. "No amount of training in Ohio is really going to prepare you for a place like Iraq. And if you're training on a part-time basis _ even if you were active five years ago _ you're not going to be as current as a full-time soldier." Others disagree. Daniel Goure, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute, said many reservists were once active-duty soldiers. He said their training is updated before they deploy and designed to make them as prepared as the actives. "They're getting the benefits of the latest tactics and techniques," Goure said. "These guys are going in as well prepared as the regulars." Goure's view was echoed by Pentagon and reserve officials. Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Venable said actives and reservists go through the same basic training courses. "The services don't deploy soldiers, sailors, airmen or Marines who are not fully trained and prepared to execute the missions assigned to their units," Venable said. He said about 35 percent of U.S. forces in Iraq are reservists. And most are combat units, not support units, as many were in the past, he said. Steve Stromvall, a spokesman for the Army Reserve, said the reservists have been trained specifically to deal with roadside bombs and the environment in Iraq. John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a private defense policy group based in Alexandria, Va., said there is no suggestion that reservists haven't been trained well based on casualty figures and even though they don't train as frequently as active-duty soldiers, that doesn't mean they are not as well-trained. "It doesn't take that long to learn this stuff," he said. "The reserve component knew how to do it to begin with and have practiced recently."
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