The Illinois National Guard has a tradition of service in the U.S. armed forces since the Revolutionary War. This tradition could be threatened in the dispute over U.S. foreign policy in Central America.

Peace activists in Illinois and around the country are protesting the use of National Guardsmen from Illinois and other states in Honduras, a small Central American country north of Nicaragua. They argue that the National Guard training exercises there help the Reagan administration intimidate the leftist Sandinista government of Nicaragua. Officials of state National Guards and the U.S. military argue that the Guard units need the training exercises Honduras provides.

Members of the Illinois National Guard in Honduras, as part of a training exercise, help build a road connecting isolated mountain villages to Tegucigalpa, the capital, on the coast. Photo Courtesy Illinois National Guard

The specific training exercise that drew protests was Blazing Trails '87: Illinois Army Guardsmen traveled to Honduras to provide support for the road-building project. The Guardsmen served in ten 17-day rotations of 100 members each, according to Illinois Guard spokesman Bud Roberts, who served on one of the rotations. In all, approximately 1,000 Illinois Guardsmen participated with about 3,500 Army Reserve personnel from December 26 to May 30. They were based at a site called Oso Grande (Spanish for "Big Bear") in the rugged north central highlands area of Yoro province, about 100 miles from the Nicaraguan border. The Reserve personnel, an engineering unit, carved out a 5.5 kilometer (three mile) gravel road from an old logging trail. The Guardsmen, meanwhile, tended the camp's supplies and maintenance, did its laundry and provided transport and first aid to the Reservists. The Guardsmen also carried out humanitarian projects such as providing used clothes, school supplies and free medical and dental care to people in the area.

The Illinois Guardsmen trained in Honduras this year because it was "our turn in the barrel," Roberts says. Last year the Missouri National Guard worked on the road, and the West Virginia National Guard will continue the work next year. According to Roberts the National Guard Bureau, part of the Department of Defense, deployed the Illinois Guard in consultation with the 4th Army headquarters at Fort Sheridan near Chicago. The 4th Army comprises the Army National Guard contingents of several midwestern states, including Illinois. When the road project is completed, according to Guard officials, it will be a "farm-to-market" road connecting the isolated mountain villages of the area to the Caribbean coast and the country's capital, Tegucigalpa.

Illinois Guardsmen, like every other state's National Guard units, undergo continuous training to carry out what Roberts calls a "dual mission" — to the nation and the state. The president can have them "federalized," or placed on active duty, in case of a threatening international conflict or for overseas training. National Guardsmen serve their home state when their governor calls them up to assist local or state authorities in floods, snowstorms and other emergencies. For example, Gov. James R. Thompson called up the Guard last September to help state and local authorities with floods in northeastern Illinois.

The U.S. military's four main branches — the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines — each have Reserve components. Unlike Guard units, Reserve units are under the exclusive control and responsibility of the president and the Pentagon. After the Vietnam War, however, a new U.S. defense policy, the "Total Force" concept, was established; it makes the National Guard units and the federal Reserve units equal partners with the regular armed forces. As military expert David C. Morrison puts it, "What sets American [defense] policy apart is that, by design, the United States cannot meet its military commitments without calling up the reserves."

The U.S. armed services have come to depend heavily on National Guard forces and the regular Reserves in planning their wartime scenarios. Morrison cites one congressional estimate that "42 percent of all Army forces required in the European theater during the first 30 days of a major war would come from the reserves." Thus, National Guard units in Illinois and other states must maintain an equal level of readiness with the regular armed forces.

Indeed, Guard and Reserve units represent about half of the Army's combat capability, says Maj. Gen. Harold Holesinger, head of the Illinois Military and Naval Department (an agency under the governor). In 1985 the "total force" of the U.S. was 3,717,000; 1,565,000 of the total were in "reserve"; those reserves included 451,000 in Army National Guard units and 109,000 in the Air National Guard. Currently Illinois has approximately 10,000 Army Guardsmen with headquarters at Camp Lincoln in Springfield, and 3,000 Air Guardsmen with three bases, at O'Hare, Peoria and Springfield airports, according to Roberts.

The U.S. armed forces rely increasingly on the National Guard and other reserves because of their lower personnel, training and operating costs. In the face of congressional demands to cut the growth of military spending, the Pentagon can save money. According to Guard authorities, the same amount of money needed to sustain one regular soldier can be used for five or six Guard personnel.

To support the Illinois Army and Air Guard for fiscal year 1988, Gov. James R. Thompson projected that the federal government will provide $155 million, an increase of $36 million over fiscal 1987. He also budgeted $8,756,700 in general revenue funds to the Military and Naval Department, an increase of nearly $300,000 over fiscal year 1987. That increase was vetoed this summer in the wake of the governor not getting his proposed tax increases. The substantial federal funding is provided, Roberts explains, because the Illinois Army and Air Guard members are federalized for up to 17 days every year to train overseas. From July 1984 to June 1986, for example, the Army Guard trained in 21 countries, including Norway, the Philippines, West Germany and Honduras.

Thus the Total Force policy brings a big chunk of federal money to Illinois to support the Guard. But it also brought controversy over the Guard's role in Central America. Last year Congress strengthened the Total Force policy when it passed the Montgomery Amendment, sponsored by Rep. G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery (D-Miss.). It bars governors from withholding their states' National Guard contingents from foreign training assignments except when local emergencies occur.

On January 28, Minnesota Gov. Rudy Perpich, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit in the federal district court in St. Paul against the Montgomery Amendment, contending that it's unconstitutional. Governors or attorneys general of 10 other states, including Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont, filed "friend-of-the court" briefs in support of the suit, according to David Ackerberg of the Minnesota attorney general's office. They claimed the amendment violates Article I, section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, which gives states authority in training their militias. In fact, in the last year, governors in Arizona, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico and Vermont have refused to allow their state's National Guard units to train in Central America. On August 4 in St. Paul, U.S. District Judge Donald Alsop ruled against Minnesota. He said that Congress has authority over the training of the National Guard while the Guard is on active federal duty in war or peace. Gov. Perpich said Minnesota will appeal, and an expedited hearing was being sought before the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Other states are expected to join in the appeal.

Peace activists in Illinois, such as Citizens for Peace in Central America, criticize the use of Guardsmen and Reservists as a way for the Reagan administration to bypass congressional limits on spending and troop deployments. They maintain that the National Guard deployments in Honduras, which have taken place since 1983, help the administration's efforts to secretly aid the "contras," or Nicaraguan rebels. They oppose "the attitude that we can use military power to achieve what we want," says Sister Elizabeth Carpentier, a teacher at Springfield College and a member of Citizens for Peace.

But Reagan backers say Honduras needs the U.S. military presence to counteract the threat of a Nicaraguan invasion. The Honduran armed forces total 18,000. Since its 1979 revolution, Nicaragua has built up an army of 150,000 (including reserves and militiamen), the largest in Central America.

Carpentier and Suzanne Brown, who is also a member of Citizens for Peace, said the "farm to market" roads built in Blazing Trails and other projects benefit the U.S. and Honduran military, not the country's agriculture or economy. Brown says the roads will eventually connect Honduran seaports with military bases. And since the roads are gravel, she adds, most Hondurans find them useless, since few own private vehicles or even shoes. However, one Guardsman who served at Oso Grande, Daryl Briganti of Springfield, said Hondurans in the area were using the road even while the Army Reservists were working on it. "If you don't have any shoes, and you need to get somewhere, you'll use that road," he said.

The goals of Citizens for Peace, according to Brown, include convincing the U.S. government to seek a political, not military, settlement of the conflicts in Central America. This would involve negotiating with the Sandinistas, she says. The group also wants to ensure that the people of other Central American countries like El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have a right to democratic governments, and it calls for aid drives to help those who have been harmed by the region's wars and violence. Citizens for Peace held a "Wall of Witness" demonstration on February 21 at the Air National Guard base at Springfield's Capital Airport. About 165 people participated in the rally, and Brown says a simultaneous event took place in Chicago. She adds that the group plans to hold a protest in Arlington Heights, Army Reserve Headquarters for the 12th Special Forces Group. Citizens for Peace and similar groups found support this spring from state Rep. Ellis Levin (D-5, Chicago) and others in the General Assembly. Levin sponsored a bill to bar Illinois National Guard units from training in Central America during fiscal year 1988. He said his bill would keep Illinois Guardsmen from becoming "part of a policy of pursuing an undeclared war against the government of Nicaragua."

Levin's bill prohibited all Guard personnel from training in any Central American country through July 1, 1988, and it cut off any state funds to be used for such purpose. The bill also called for an advisory referendum on the March 1988 primary ballot, asking voters whether they would continue the ban after July 1 of next year.

Sen. Miguel Del Valle (D-5, Chicago) sponsored a parallel bill in the Illinois Senate. He and Levin are concerned over the high percentage of minority Guard members sent to Honduras. Del Valle criticized the Guards' "heavy reliance and over-utilization" of Spanish-speaking members from his district which includes Hispanic neighborhoods in Chicago.

Levin put the referendum provision in his bill because the Central America question is "such a difficult issue for the legislature to be considering," he said. "The ultimate decision, in terms of perspective, ought to be made by the citizens of the state."

But House Republicans opposed the bill, saying such decisions should be left to the governor. "It's wrong in concept, a serious mistake," said Rep. David Harris (R-53, Arlington Heights). "We send Guard troops throughout the world .... [I]t's a normal part of [their] mission."

Thompson also opposed Levin's bill; Jim Williams, one of his legislative aides, says the governor "is very comfortable" with the current federal-state arrangement in sending Guard personnel to foreign countries. According to Williams, Thompson feels that disputes over Guard training missions to Honduras and other foreign countries must be worked out between the state and the federal government, not just by the state. And if Levin's bill had passed, Thompson said it could have violated the Montgomery Amendment and endangered federal funding for the Illinois Guard.

Maj. Gen. Holesinger, adjutant general of the Illinois Military and Naval Department, testified on April 29 against Levin's bill before the House State Government Administration Committee. He warned that the bill could cause the Guard to lose active duty training missions to units in other states. The resulting loss in part-time jobs and federal funding would hurt the Illinois economy, he said.

Although the committee passed the bill to the House floor, it died there, failing to come to a vote on third reading before the May 22 deadline. Levin remains undeterred; he will attempt to get his National Guard referendum on local ballots around the state, especially in Chicago.

Chris Gaudet, an Illinois Issues' intern this spring under the Public Affairs Reporting program of Sangamon State University, is the new editor of the Hoopeston Chronicle.