Mortgaging National Security: Will the Increased Use of the Reserve Components Impact the Ability to Mobilize for War in the Near Future?

Publisher Marketing: The operations tempo of the Army has increased over 300 percent since the Gulf war. In that same period the size of the Army has decreased by one-third. Many of the capabilities from the active Army have been shifted to the reserve components. This has led to an increased utilization of the Army's reserve components to meet the needs of the Army. Today, soldiers from the active Army, US Army Reserve, and the Army National Guard are fully integrated across the full spectrum of operations to accomplish the Army's missions. However, this increase in workload for a part-time force structure must come at a cost. This thesis attempts to define the impacts of the increased utilization of the reserves and to determine how they might affect the ability to mobilize for a major war. It demonstrates that the increase has positive effects at the macro (or Army) level, as training and experience increase while aggregate operations tempo decreases; and negative effects at the micro (or soldier) level as increased reserve obligations put stress on soldiers, families, and employers. This project also examines the role that the reserve components play in the execution of the national military strategy.