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October 19, 2002

The Army plans to convert five National Guard brigades that still use M1A0 (105mm gun) tanks and M113 armored personnel carriers into lighter formations. This will reduce the number of armored vehicles in the Guard by about 3,000 (more than a quarter of the current inventory). These units will be converted into "mobile" units, with infantry carried in trucks and tank battalions replaced by cavalry squadrons with Humvees. Such units would be more useful in Homeland Defense and might find employment overseas as peacekeeping or occupation forces. The five brigades are part of the 42nd Infantry Division from New York (which is a tank division in everything but name) and the 38th Infantry Division in Indiana.--Stephen V Cole