NEWS

**COMMISSION ON THE NATIONAL GUARD AND RESERVES**

**2521 S. Clark Street, Suite 650, Arlington, VA 22202 · (703) 699-2800
· fax (703) 699-2846 · www.cngr.gov**

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**February 28, 2006**

**OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF COMMISSION ON NATIONAL GUARD AND RESERVES TO BE
ANNOUNCED MARCH 6 IN NATIONAL PRESS CLUB "NEWSMAKER"**

> **[Commission Chairman to Brief Reporters on Issues Being Examined,
> Report Being Prepared for Congress, Defense Secretary]{.underline}**

The Chairman of the 13-member Commission created by Congress to conduct
a comprehensive, independent assessment of the National Guard and
Reserves will brief reporters in Washington March 6 on the Commission's
approach to its year-long charge. The National Press Club "Newsmaker"
briefing will be led by Arnold L. Punaro, a former Commanding General of
the 4^th^ Marine Division and Director of Reserve Affairs for the Marine
Corps, who is pledging to identify "the changes needed to ensure that
the National Guard and Reserves are tasked, organized, trained,
equipped, compensated, and supported to best meet the security
requirements of the United States." The Commission's work is officially
underway March 1; it culminates in the submission next year of a final
report to the Senate and House Armed Services Committees and the
Secretary of Defense.

In the Newsmaker, Chairman Punaro will be accompanied by two other
members of the Commission: John M. Keane, who served as the 29^th^ Vice
Chief of Staff of the Army and commanded the 101^st^ Airborne Division
and 18^th^ Airborne Corps, and Rhett Dawson, a former Assistant to the
President for Operations and staff director of the Senate Armed Services
Committee.

The fact that the National Guard and Reserves are changing from a
strategic reserve to more of an operational reserve in support of
day-to-day missions around the world -- in addition to their
unprecedented homeland security commitments and continuing disaster
response roles -- is driving the need for the sweeping, in-depth
assessment the Commission is charged to carry out. The work of the
Commission is underway at a time when the operational tempo of the
National Guard and Reserves has increased significantly: As of the end
of October 2005, well over 46 percent of the 826,500 servicemen and
women currently in the nation's Selected Reserve had been mobilized to
active duty -- their highest mobilization rate since the Korean War. The
Reserve component's contribution to the nation's total military force
shot up from 12.7 million duty days in 2001 to 64.5 million duty days in
2004.

The Commission was established by the Fiscal Year 2005 National Defense
Authorization Act. Its members, appointed by the chairs and ranking
members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees and by the
Secretary of Defense, have military command experience that covers
active, Reserve, and National Guard forces, and government experience
that includes the White House, the Congress, and federal and state
agencies. Serving with Chairman Punaro and Commissioners Keane and
Dawson are William L. Ball, III; Les Brownlee; Larry K. Eckles; Patricia
L. Lewis; Dan McKinnon; Wade D. Rowley; James E. Sherrard, III; Donald
L. Stockton; E. Gordon Stump; and J. Stanton Thompson.

-more-

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The Commissioners' press briefing, which will begin at [1:00 p.m. in the
Zenger Room of the National Press Club]{.underline}, will also preview
the Commission's first public hearing, which is set for March 8 and 9 on
Capitol Hill. This hearing -- the Commission's first major event -- will
focus on the current and future roles and missions of the National Guard
and Reserves; witnesses scheduled over the two days include leaders of
Congressional committees and caucuses that oversee military issues,
senior Department of Defense and service leaders, and non-governmental
subject matter experts.

**Contact:**

Mike Brown, (703) 699-2854, (703) 901-7835 (cell), or
<Michael.Brown@wso.whs.mil>

Laura Waxman, (703) 699-2875, (202) 489-7534 (cell), or
<Laura.Waxman@wso.whs.mil>

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