In listening to the CNN news and seeing the news of 30,00 reserve personell called up for Kosovo. I would like to know just how many Reservests the US has ? And guess what folks, those guys and gals will be in Kosovo well after the New Year.

How will they get back to the US after the fighting is over ???

Considering what Klinton is wanting concerning Kosovo it seems our troops will be reduced here and increased in a foreign countries.

Looks like everyman and woman for themselves...

Numbers please ??? Didn't the Reserves become part of the Regular Army within the last few years,??? and not by choice???

Furie...

-- Furie (furieart@dnet.net), April 28, 1999

Answers

According to Reuters, U.S. reservists number approximately 1.2 million.

-- christoph (kimbal@aol.com), April 28, 1999.

Of the 33,000, only about 2,000 are actually leaving the USA right now. The rest are "on-call". All of the 33,000 are for air-support (no ground-troops).

-- Anonymous99 (Anonymous99@Anonymous99.xxx), April 28, 1999.

Guard personnel usually rotate on 6-month deployments. According to an article in our local paper this morning (AP, I think), since the military downsizing of the early 90s, there are now more aircraft refueling personnel in the Reserves and Guard than there are in the full-time military.

It's highly likely that, by bandying about numbers in the tens of thousands, Uncle Sam is showing Milosevich that he means business--a bit of saber-rattling. According to analyses and discussions on this forum, even if the Guard and Reserves aren't in Kosovo at the rollover, there won't be sufficient military personnel to provide significant blanket enforcement of martial law.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), April 28, 1999.

Consider this,

Should there be an attempt to attack the mainland US with nukes or other ballistic rockets as the Year 2000 approaches it would be a big advantage to have troops disbursed over the continent. This way you can gather them for the counter offensive :-). The same is true for your equipment. Just plan ahead to have the needed logistic in place.

Rickjohn

-- Rickjohn (rickjohn1@yahoo.com), April 28, 1999.

Well, if they are sent to Kosovo, they won't be able to hassle us here.

OTOH, if they are mobilized and not sent, then they will be all ready to impose martial law (Sieg Heil, Klinton, Sieg Heil) here.

I.e., maybe the Kosovo adventure is a cover to camoflage preparations for a wrapping up (consolidation) of the takeover already accomplished here in the U.S. (I say "already accomplished" -- you don't think this is still a free republic, do you?)

-- A (A@AisA.com), April 28, 1999.