Twice the Citizen

The challenges faced by the reserves are tremendous, but in their wake they have created some excellent opportunities for revolutionizing the reserve components system.    There are opportunities to tailor force structure to meet the future needs of both the National Command Authority and the communities that they serve.   The changes that occurred from this evolution could result on greater satisfaction for the individual reservist and produce a larger, more experienced pool of manpower for use in times of crisis. 

The current state of affairs is the beginning of a process that will self-destruct in the not-to-distant future.  The cycle of increasing operational tempo and long-term training commitments is having a spiraling effect and the centripetal force is threatening to send the system off of the tracks.  Controls must be implemented and the system brought back to a manageable speed if disaster is to be averted.  So much of the Army’s force projection and troop support capability is in the reserve components now that a meltdown of the reserve system would render the Army combat ineffective.

The terrorist attacks on America changed the status quo forever.  Americans are faced with the stark reality that in order to really enjoy their freedom they must remain vigilant both here and abroad.  Before the September 11 attacks it was unfathomable to most Americans that they could be vulnerable to an attack by an unnoticed passerby or unnamed enemy as they went about their daily business.    That has changed and the American people want protection.  They now understand what the rest of the world has known for a long-time.  They have turned to their military for protection and homeland defense and for a response to these cowardly attacks in the war on terrorism. 

Unfortunately, the Army was not capable of accomplishing both missions without massive mobilization of the reserve components.  As of 24 October 2001, only six weeks after the attacks, over 32,000 reserve soldiers had been mobilized¹ for Federal missions and approximately another 6,000 had been mobilized for state missions, and thousands more have been notified for repeat mobilizations .² The impacts of these mobilizations are, for the first time since the creation of the All-Volunteer Force in 1973, being realized by the communities all across the country.  This realization is highlighting the need for change in the reserve system to enable this country to conduct homeland defense and military operations abroad.  The opportunity for our reserve system to change and evolve into a tool that is more functionally aligned with the missions has never been greater.  It will take some dynamic leadership and forward thinking to make changes to an organization as large and embedded as the Army, but based on the changed world after September 11, the momentum is there to make changes enabling the Army provide the right force to protect our communities and the strength to project decisive power on our enemy’s own turf.