American Military History, Volume 2 by Richard W. Stewart

Concerned over the expenditure of defense funds for Reserves that were long on numbers but short on readiness, in 1962 Secretary Mc- Namara announced a plan to reorganize the Army National Guard and to lower the paid drill strength of the Army Reserve. Opposition from Congress and many state officials led him to delay the move until the following year. When he finally acted, however, he not only realigned reserve forces, he also eliminated four National Guard divisions, four Army Reserve divisions, and hundreds of smaller units.

At the end of 1964 McNamara proposed a far more drastic reor- ganization to bring the Reserves into balance with the nation's con- tingency war planning. Contending that the National Guard–Army Reserve management system was redundant, he suggested that the Army could trim paid drill strength from 700,000 to 550,000 by con- solidating units. He proposed to eliminate fifteen National Guard and six Army Reserve divisions for which there was no military require- ment. All remaining units would come under the National Guard. The Army Reserve would carry only individuals.