Wednesday, March 14, 2001

Army's hurting, general says here By CAROLYN CARY ccary@TheCitizenNews.com The U.S. Army needs help, a commanding general said in Fayetteville Monday. The Rotary Club of Fayetteville hosted Lt. Gen. John M. Riggs, commander of First United States Army at its weekly luncheon. He is stationed at Fort Gillem, Forest Park. He is responsible for the training and combat readiness of 340,000 soldiers in five Army National Guard divisions, eight enhanced brigades and eight United States Army Reserve commands. Though he was reared on a cotton farm in Missouri, he joined the Army in 1965 with the view of not staying long. Since that time he has served in tours in Vietnam, Belgium, and two tours each in Korea and Germany. In the past 30 days alone, he has traveled to Kuwait, Honduras and Guatemala. "My father was drafted into World War II and went from a cotton farm to a war with very little preparation. I try to make sure that doesn't happen in the present time," he said. "I will not send any man into battle without the proper training. "Unfortunately, since the Berlin Wall came down, the United States has downsized its combat forces, perhaps too far. The Army does not set national policy, yet its commitments around the world have increased ten fold since the downsizing," said Riggs. "In the last 10 years we have run the tires and rotors off every piece of Army equipment we have, but little has been done to upgrade, much less modernize," he added. He pointed out that the nature of war has not changed but the manner of fighting has changed. Armies today must be lighter and be able to move faster. "Citizen soldiers today must really be committed. We ask a lot from them. Many employers do not mind an employee being gone six months, such as those being deployed to Europe at this time. But many employers do mind, and the citizen soldiers must make up their minds as to continuing to serve in the Army or holding down a job." "The best insurance policy America has," he concluded, "is the United States Army." What do you think of this story? Click here to send a message to the editor. Back to News Home Page | Back to the top of the page