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WASHINGTON - The Army Reserve, a force of 200,000 part-time soldiers that provides key support in Iraq and Afghanistan with medics, engineers and truck drivers, "is rapidly degenerating into a 'broken' force," its top general told senior Army leaders. In a blunt memo, Lt. Gen. James R. "Ron" Helmly, chief of the Army Reserve, noted the demands of overseas commitments and the unwillingness of Army and Pentagon officials to change "dysfunctional" policies that hamper the Reserve on issues such as training, extension of service and the mobilization of his soldiers. The Dec. 20 memo, which was obtained by The Sun,...

Army Sends Weaponless Reserve Unit To Iraq About 800 members of the 98th Army Reserve Division from Rochester, New York will begin a year-long mission in Iraq next month. The unit, which normally trains reserve and active-duty soldiers in the U.S., will find itself training Iraq’s new army. The 98th is a non-combat unit that doesn*t even have its own weapons or vehicles. "This is a hard war and we, frankly, inside the Army Reserve have been not properly prepared for it,” said Lt. Gen. James Helmly, chief of the U.S. Army Reserve.  Find this article at: http://www.kwtx.com/news/headlines/1029996.html

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 - The chief of the Army Reserve warned on Thursday that at the current pace of operations in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, the Army faced a risk of running out of crucial specialists in the Reserves who can be involuntarily called up for active duty. The remarks by the officer, Lt. Gen. James R. Helmly, throw a spotlight on the military's existing mobilization authority, under which Reserve and National Guard personnel can be summoned to active duty for no more than a total of 24 months, unless they volunteer to extend their tours. As military operations...