Thompson Calls For Bulking Up Military

Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson called for a million-member military ground force and more funding to equip and care for service members and veterans in a speech Tuesday at a military college in this early presidential primary state.

The former Tennessee senator and actor also told a crowd The Citadel that he wants more modern battle equipment on the ground, in the air and on the water to help revitalize the nation's security.

"With 20th century equipment in a 21st century war, our material support for our troops has not matched the demands we have placed on them," Thompson said to applause from hundreds of cadets, staff and visitors at the school's basketball arena. "We've been asking too few troops to do too much for too long."

"Some would say this plan is too much and too big," Thompson said. "I don't believe that's the case, not at all."

Thompson is in a close three-way race here with former New York Mayor Rudy Giulianiand former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Also Tuesday, the National Right to Life Committee endorsed Thompson, saying he is in the most likely to beat Giuliani, an abortion-rights supporter.

The Citadel has become a frequent backdrop on the presidential trail. Giuliani spoke at the college's graduation in May, and Arizona Sen. John McCain was there in September. South Carolina Democrats held their second televised presidential primary debate at The Citadel in July.

When Giuliani was there, he called for adding 100,000 soldiers to the Army - 35,000 more than the 547,000 the Pentagon said it wanted.

Thompson said Tuesday he wants a military ground force that includes 775,000 in the Army and 225,000 Marines. That would be 23,000 more Marines than the Pentagon currently is seeking.

"We must begin by rebuilding our military with the full recognition that national security comes at a price," Thompson said. "Half measures and small increases will no longer do. We need the best all-volunteer force that can meet the security needs of this country. And they must be organized, trained and equipped to deal with tomorrow's threats as well as today,"

Thompson didn't say how he would pay for or recruit those forces. He did say that military spending should be set at 4.5 percent of the value of the goods and services the nation creates, or gross domestic product. His campaign later said that would be the equivalent of increasing current military spending, excluding money spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, by up to $150 billion a year, but that increases would be phased in and depend on economic growth.

Last month, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Army's goal could be reached by 2010, two years earlier than projected when announced in January, at a cost of $2.6 billion.

But the Army started its recruiting year Oct. 1, with fewer signed up for basic training than in any year since it became an all-volunteer service in 1973. The Army barely reached its goals the previous year, doing so as it pushed recruiters to work harder, offered fatter bonuses and issued more waivers, including for past minor crimes or drug use.

Retired Col. John Lackey, a Citadel professor, said after the speech that the Pentagon is struggling to make recruiting goals now and that Thompson's plan may be impractical because of costs and the competing need for equipment.

"That's going to take a lot of money," Lackey said.

Thompson, who began airing his first television ads in South Carolina on Monday, said the key is to protect the nation from terrorists and weapons of mass destruction, and that diplomacy and economic tools need to be backed up with force.

"To overcome this danger, we need a clear and consistent strategy and the means with which to achieve it," Thompson said.

He said the nations needs to beef up its missile and space defense systems, as well as do more to protect computer systems and tighten the nation's borders.

Thompson also said he advocates implementing many of the recommendations of a presidential commission on improving the treatment of wounded veterans. He also said service members need better pay and benefits, including a modern GI Bill that will help recruit and retain the best people.

He played to his Southern audience with a mention one of his most recent screen roles: as a president in the movie "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee."

"Some people say I've got a little making up to do. The last role I played when I was in the movies - I played Ulysses S. Grant. But, uh, I want to tell you, I drew the line at playing General Sherman," Thompson said.

The Citadel's history includes cadets firing on Fort Sumter at the start of the Civil War.

Even though the speech was clearly aimed at the military audience, two service members who listened to Thompson said they needed to hear more from him before they made a decision on supporting him, CBS News' John Bentley reports.

"I'm undecided," said Sgt. Daniel Franzen, who has served two tours in Iraq with the Marines. "I'm going to give him a lot more consideration now than I would have, but I'll have to decide between him and Huckabee."

Another Marine, Sgt. Randell Stone, said he wanted to hear more from the senator about his ideas on domestic policy. "He did a good job pinpointing the root of the challenges we face with national security…he really seems to understand peace through strength," he said. "But it will probably come down to social issues."

Thompson's speech came on the same day that the anti-abortion National Right to Life Committee announced it was endorsing Thompson, saying he was the Republican most likely to beat abortion-rights supporter Giuliani.

"While there are various polls, and some are up-and-down, the overwhelming consensus has been that he is best-positioned to top pro-abortion candidate Rudy Giuliani for the Republican nomination," the group's executive director, David N. O'Steen, said at a Washington news conference.

By emphasizing Thompson's political potential - he ranks second behind former New York Mayor Giuliani in national Republican polls - the anti-abortion group played down its own differences with Thompson.

Thompson has been at odds with the group because he doesn't support a federal constitutional amendment outlawing abortion, a long-standing party platform plank; because he has called the Terri Schiavo right-to-die case a family matter, and because he backed campaign finance regulations that the group considers a restriction of free speech.

The group also considered candidates' voting records and their stances on various issues, O'Steen said. Giuliani has promised to appoint Supreme Court justices who take a conservative view of abortion, but O'Steen said the group could not overlook Giuliani's support for a woman's right to choose.