Citizen soldiers need more help, panel told

0 Comments | USA TODAY, July, 2006 | by John Bacon

The nation's laws and policies aren't changing fast enough to reflect demands on citizen soldiers, top commanders of the National Guard and Reserves told an independent commission at a hearing Wednesday in San Antonio. Vice Adm. John Cotton, chief of the Navy Reserve, said the Guard and Reserves must focus on recruitment and retention. Commission Chairman Arnold Punaro said pay systems and pay categories need more flexibility as the Guard and Reserves are asked to perform the same tasks as active-duty troops.

About 69,000 members of the Air and Army National Guards are deployed overseas in the war on terrorism, the National Guard Bureau says. More are posted within the USA, and President Bush wants as many as 6,000 Guard troops assisting along the Mexican border to help...