Filling the Ranks

Since President Johnson authorized 45,000 more servicemen for Viet Nam --to bring total troop strength there to 525,000 by next July--Congressmen have questioned whether the men can be supplied without jeopardizing U.S. commitments elsewhere or mobilizing the reserves. The answer, says the Pentagon, is that indeed they can.

The additional troops will come mainly from Stateside training units. Under current planning, the Army will supply 34,000, the Air Force 7,000, the Marines 2,000, the Navy 1,000, and the Army and Navy 1,000 military construction workers. The reinforcements will provide General William C. Westmoreland with nine new infantry maneuver battalions, three air squadrons, a doubling of the Navy's river-patrol force in the Delta, some 20,000 combat-support forces for helicopter tasks, communications and artillery.

About 14,000 Army men will be lifted from the nation's combat-ready strategic reserve force of 41 divisions, which are located in the continental U.S. The Defense Department meanwhile is expected to authorize creation of a new division that, in effect, would actually strengthen the strategic reserve by bringing its force up to five full divisions. The U.S. will continue to main tain five divisions in West Germany and two in Korea.

The Pentagon claims that despite its need for additional manpower, the draft will not be drastically increased. Since 49,200 youths were inducted last October, a record high for the war, the monthly total has averaged less than half that number. For the foreseeable future, quotas are expected to go no higher than 30,000 a month.

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