Citizens and Heroes
Four members of the Naval Reserve were working in the Navy Command Center at the Pentagon when American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the building on 11 September. Three were on training duty; the fourth was a civilian contractor. All four were killed.
Ironically, the pilot of AA Flight 77 was a Naval Reserve captain, Charles F. Burlingame. He also died--while trying to keep the terrorist hijackers from seizing control of the plane, according to the FBI--and later received a hero's funeral in Arlington National Cemetery.
In New York City, three Coast Guard reservists lost their lives during the collapse of the World Trade Center towers; one of them was working in the building, one was a New York City policeman, one was a New York City firefighter. Other members of the Coast Guard Reserve were also on the scene almost immediately--in their Coast Guard uniforms--maintaining port security in New York Harbor and helping to ensure against additional attacks.
Another New York City firefighter killed in the World Trade Center attacks was Cpl. Sean Patrick Fallon, a Marine Corps reservist, a college graduate, and a member of the anti-armor platoon, 2nd Battalion, 25th Marines.
Winston Churchill coined the phrase "Twice the Citizen" to describe anyone who serves in a reserve component of the nation's armed forces. On 11 September 2001 the reservists of all of this nation's armed forces--not only those serving on active duty at the time but also those who immediately reported in during an hour of maximum peril--earned the title "Twice the Hero." Naval Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve pilots started flying combat air patrols on homeland-defense missions the very day of the attack. Reserve chaplains and medical personnel rushed to the Pentagon to minister to the survivors. Coast Guard port-security units went to work immediately in all of the nation's major ports and harbors.
These are this nation's reserve forces today. Superbly trained men and women ready to serve on the front lines of freedom on short or no notice. Members of the Information Age, highly skilled in numerous state-of-the-art technologies essential to combat success on the electronic battlefields of the 21st century. Dedicated, patriotic American citizens willing to leave their homes and families and go into Harm's Way on behalf of their country. Citizen patriots, like the Minutemen at Lexington and Concord--and very much like the millions of reservists of the greatest generation of Americans who fought and won World War II.
They are very unlike their predecessors, though, in several important respects. Under the Total Force concept they are completely integrated into today's national-defense infrastructure. They train with, and routinely fill in for, members of the active-duty forces, providing essential relief from the overstressed operating tempo that has been the norm in recent years. One Marine Reserve unit is guarding the Taliban/al Qaeda compound in Guantanamo Bay.
Sea-service reservists also now serve overseas on a regular basis--on force-protection missions in the Middle East, on Operation Unitas in South America, on multinational, joint-service operations and exercises in Australia and in the Western Pacific. As members of the Navy's SEAL teams, and as EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) specialists.
The Total-Force integration starts at the flag level and continues down to the newest recruit. For the first time in this nation's history, both the chief of the Naval Reserve (Vice Adm. John B. Totushek) and the commander of Marine Forces Reserve (Lt. Gen. Dennis M. McCarthy) are three-star officers, and Selected Reservists recalled to active duty. Numerous other Reserve officers are serving in full-time flag and general officer billets--Rear Adm. Larry L. Poe, for example, U.S. defense attaché to France. Brig. Gen. Andrew B. Davis, the Marine Corps' director of public affairs, and Rear Adm. Pierce J. Johnson, chief of staff, Allied Command Atlantic, are other prominent examples.
All of the Navy and Marine Corps' newly commissioned officers now receive Reserve commissions--and all have equal opportunity for augmentation into the Regular Navy or Marine Corps. At the flag level, only two Reserve officers had attended the flag-officer Capstone course before 1995; since then, 20 others have completed the course.
All of which is not to say that the Reserve forces are totally without problems. There are several, including insufficient and obsolete equipment. Here the most obvious example is the aging C-9 transport, which is in urgent need of replacement--but no additional funding for the much more capable C-40 will be available until FY 2006. Legislation to upgrade and expand the financial protection available for mobilized reservists, and to continue their healthcare coverage, is another high priority, particularly in the context of the open-ended war against international terrorism--which could precipitate numerous additional call-ups of indefinite duration.
As has been evident since the 11 September attacks, that war has generated a new sense of unity in the American people, a higher level of patriotism, and a much greater appreciation for the men and women of the nation's armed forces--specifically including those serving in the Reserve components.
Timothy O. Fanning
National President
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