R.V. 2. 14 Jy 60 UA42 1960 [No. 72] REVIEW OF THE RESERVE PROGRAM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES, SUBCOMMITTEE No. 3, Washington, D.C. Wednesday, May 11, 1960. The subcommittee met at 10:05 a.m., Hon. L. Mendel Rivers, chairman of the subcommittee, presiding. Mr. RIVERS. I am going to ask the committee to come to order. In that I am fighting a little sore throat, I am going to ask Mr. Slatinshek to read my statement before we begin with the first witness. Mr. Slatinshek, do you want the original? Mr. SLATINSHEK. I have a copy, sir. Mr. RIVERS. All right. Mr. SLATINSHEK. Before beginning these hearings today, I would like to briefly review the purpose for which they have been scheduled. As you know, our subcommittee has traditionally conducted a summary review of the progress of the Reserve programs in the armed services each year. Unfortunately, due to the press of business during the last session, we departed from this tradition and postposed these hearings until the present time. I am sure all the members of this subcommittee, as am I, are sympathetic and desirous of continuing this heretofore annual review of the Reserve forces. It is my intention that they will be conducted on an annual basis in the future. These hearings are particularly important to us since they provide us with an opportunity to review objectively the current mission of the Reserve forces, their objectives, and their degree of attainment of these objectives. It is particularly appropriate that we review the missions of the Reserve forces at this particular time since it is my understanding that the Joint Chiefs of Staff have recently concluded a similar review and presumably have made certain specific recommendations in this area. This committee, as yet, has not been appraised of these recommendations. Inasmuch as the Department of Defense has seen fit to recommend a reduction in our Ready Reserve strength for the coming fiscal year, I think it particularly important that we attempt to ascertain during these hearings, the specific recommendations of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the manner in which they are reflected in the proposed reduction of our Ready Reserve strengths. In the course of these hearings we propose to receive testimony from representatives of the Department of Defense, the individual service departments, including the Army, Navy, Air Force, and, of course, the Coast Guard. We also plan on receiving testimony from various Reserve organizations which have been extremely helpful to the committee in the past. These include the National Guard Asso(6347) 49066-60-No. 72- --1 |