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."