WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon announced yesterday that 33,102 reservists will be called to active duty to take part in the Yugoslav bombing campaign and immediately summoned more than 2,000 -- all of them Air Force Guard and Reserve -- to bolster NATO's campaign as it enters its second month.
The initial increment of 2,106 pilots and crew members, along with 47 KC-135 Stratotanker refueling planes, comes from eight states and will be heading to European bases as soon as today, Pentagon officials said.
Maryland units are not among the first wave, and it is uncertain whether they will be part of any future call-up for Kosovo.
The remaining 31,000 reservists are expected to be called in the coming weeks and months as they are needed by U.S. Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark, NATO's supreme allied commander.
Like those called yesterday, most of the future pilots and crews will fly refueling and cargo planes. But there were no details yesterday on which units will be called later.
"These reserves are essential to America's military strength," President Clinton said in a statement. "They are part of the total force we bring to bear whenever our men and women in uniform are called to action."
Yesterday's was the first call-up of reserves in the NATO campaign against Yugoslavia and the largest call-up since the 1991 Persian Gulf war, when a far larger number of reservists -- 240,000 -- were activated. Those called yesterday were from units based in Alabama, Arizona, California, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Defense Department officials said they were uncertain how long the reservists would remain on active duty. The maximum period is nine months. Of the 33,000 reservists, about 25,000 will come from the Air Force Guard and Reserve. The rest will include about 6,000 from the Army and smaller numbers from the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.
There are now some 700 U.S. and allied aircraft taking part in the bombing campaign that began March 24. Clark has asked for an additional 300 U.S. aircraft, which includes the 47 refueling planes announced yesterday.
About 1,000 reservists have been serving as volunteers for NATO; the call-up means they will be relieved. "We must go beyond the limits of volunteerism," Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael Kudlacz told reporters.
Also yesterday, the Air Force was given authority for "stop loss" -- barring any active-duty members in certain job specialties from leaving the service before the end of the Yugoslav conflict. Air Force Maj. Gen. Susan Pamerleau said the specific jobs and the number of service members to be affected has not been determined. It is the first "stop loss" authority used since the gulf war.
Air attacks 'very effective'
Clark also said yesterday that the air campaign has been "very effective" in damaging Yugoslav military forces and the industrial and transportation infrastructure of President Slobodan Milosevic.
"But it has been only a fraction of what is to come," Clark said. "We're winning. Milosevic is losing. And he knows it."
In Surdulica, Yugoslavia, 200 miles south of Belgrade, at least 17 people were killed and 11 wounded when NATO missiles struck the agricultural community yesterday afternoon, local officials said. An Associated Press reporter, taken to the scene by Serb police, saw 50 destroyed homes and 600 damaged.
Rescue workers said the nearest military installation, 500 yards away, was evacuated after an attack April 6. Another military installation is four miles away.
In Moscow, Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott concluded talks with Foreign Minister Igor S. Ivanov and Viktor S. Chernomyrdin, Moscow's envoy to the Balkans.
"On behalf of the United States, he laid out very clearly the objectives NATO has set forth in its communiques and the importance we attach to achieving those objectives," said James P. Rubin, the State Department spokesman.
Russia objects to NATO's bombing campaign and to a NATO-led armed peacekeeping force being sent to Kosovo to ensure safe return of refugees.
"The Russians did not indicate any major changes in their position," Rubin said.
Administration officials continued to insist that NATO would have to be at the core -- and management -- of any peacekeeping or international force in Kosovo.
Visits to prisoners
Pentagon and administration officials said they were encouraged that representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross had held a second, longer visit with the three U.S. soldiers who are being held as prisoners of war in Belgrade. The three were examined by a doctor, but the results were not made public.
Despite discouragement from the White House, a delegation of U.S. religious leaders led by the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson said it would travel to Yugoslavia today to meet with the three captive Americans and to try to secure their freedom. The delegation plans to give Bibles to the soldiers, deliver letters and tapes from their families and take back messages from them.
Oil embargo plans
Meanwhile, Clark said military planners have finalized their plans for an oil embargo against Yugoslavia and are awaiting approval by NATO political leaders for what NATO has termed a naval "visit and search activity."
NATO last week approved a selective search of ships in the Adriatic Sea that are carrying refined oil destined for Yugoslavia through the port of Bar in Montenegro. Since the allied bombing started, 45,000 to 50,000 metric tons of refined oil have come through Bar, according to Pentagon intelligence estimates.
But whether NATO can or will use force in stopping those tankers -- principally from Russia, Ukraine and Greece -- remains to be seen. On Monday, Gen. Klaus Naumann of Germany, the outgoing head of NATO's military committee, told reporters that the allies "cannot stop a merchant vessel by the use of force."
Yesterday, however, Clark said that any visit-and-search effort "has to have the appropriate rules of engagement to be able to use the threat of force. It has to be an enforcement regime. And this will be, if it's approved by the North Atlantic Council."
The search mission in the Adriatic will likely fall to NATO's Standing Naval Force Mediterranean, Pentagon officials said, referring to the estimated eight alliance ships that include the destroyer USS Peterson. Also taking part will be the U.S. Navy's P-3 Orion aircraft, a long-range plane with sophisticated search equipment.
Pentagon officials said the oil embargo would likely be similar to Operation "Sharp Guard," which carried out a 4 1/2-year naval blockade of Yugoslavia during hostilities in Bosnia. Operation Sharp Guard ended in 1996 after NATO sailors had boarded and inspected 6,000 vessels and diverted 1,500 to ports for inspection. Only six vessels were found to be carrying arms in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Clark said that after destroying Yugoslavia's ability to refine oil and severely damaging its air defense system, NATO airstrikes will now focus on the country's military production, particularly ammunition.
But the general also said the Serbs are continuing their "ethnic cleansing" in Kosovo and are reinforcing their troops there with an influx of reservists and elements of the Yugoslav Second Army based in Montenegro, which is part of the Yugoslav federation.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this article.
Units called to report
The following units are among the first called to active duty under President Clinton's order yesterday:
Unit Location Type Aircraft People
117th Air Refueling Wing Birmingham, Ala. ANG 6 210
128th Air Refueling Wing Milwaukee, Wis. ANG 6 281
161st Air Refueling Wing Phoenix ANG 6 284
171st Air Refueling Wing Pittsburgh ANG 14 470
434th Air Refueling Wing Kokomo, Ind. AFR 7 498
927th Air Refueling Wing Detroit AFR 0 59
931st Air Refueling Wing Wichita, Kan. AFR 0 64
940th Air Refueling Wing Marysville, Calif. AFR 8 250
ANG = Air National Guard
AFR = Air Force Reserve
SOURCE: U. S. Department of Defense