United States Army Reserve

Coordinates	38°53′51.61″N77°2′11.58″N
Unit name	United States Army Reserve
Caption	Seal of the US Army Reserve
Dates	23 April 1908 - present
Country	United States
Branch	Army
Size	205,000
Command structure	Department of the Army
Current commander	LTG Jack C. Stultz
Garrison	Fort McPherson

The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is the federal reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the reserve components (RC) of the United States Army.

The Army Reserve was formed in 1908 to provide a reserve of medical officers to the Army. After the First World War, under the National Defense Act on 4 June 1920, Congress reorganized the U.S. land forces by authorizing a Regular Army, a National Guard, and an Organized Reserve (Officers Reserve Corps and Enlisted Reserve Corps) of unrestricted size, which later became the Army Reserve.

Reserve service today

Reserve soldiers perform only part-time duties as opposed to full-time (active duty) soldiers, but rotate through mobilizations to full-time duty. When not on active duty, reserve soldiers typically perform training/service one weekend per month, known as inactive duty for training (IADT) and currently referred to as Battle Assembly, and for two continuous weeks at some time during the year referred to as Annual Training (AT). Many reserve soldiers are organized into Army Reserve troop program units (TPU), while others serve in active Army units as Individual Mobilization Augmentees (IMA), or are in non-drilling control groups of the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR). Reserve Soldiers may also serve on active duty in support of the US Army Reserve (USAR) in an Active Guard/Reserve (AGR) status.

All United States Army soldiers sign an initial eight year service contract upon entry into the military. Typically, the contract specifies that some of the service will be in the Regular Army (also called Active Component/AC) for two, three, or four years; with the remaining obligation served in the Reserve Component (RC). Some Soldiers elect to sign contracts specifying that all eight years be served in the RC.

Soldiers entering directly into the Army Reserve nevertheless spend a period of initial active duty (approximately five months depending upon Military Occupational Specialty (MOS)) for basic training and Advanced Individual Training (AIT). All Army Reserve soldiers, are subject to mobilization throughout the term of their enlistment. Soldiers who, after completing the AC portion of their enlistment contract choose not to re-enlist on active duty, are automatically transferred to the RC to complete the remainder of their Statutory Obligation (eight year service total) and may be served as drilling TPU, IMA, or IRR status.

After the expiration of the initial twenty year service contract, soldiers who elect to continue their service may sign subsequent contracts of varying durations consecutively until they finally leave the service; however, officers may have the option to opt for an indefinite contract, in which case the soldier remains a part of the military until they retire, are removed from the service for cause, or are granted authority to resign their commissions.

Officers, Warrant Officers, and Enlisted personnel in the rank of Staff Sergeant (E-6) and above are considered to be on indefinite status if they have more than 10 years of service. (This no longer applies to reenlist with an "Indefinite" status as part of the Army Reserve. Memo is dated 20080110 – It is not retroactive.)

The Army Reserve was composed of 205,000 soldiers as of 2009.

Current leadership

On 25 May 2006, Lieutenant General Jack C. Stultz became Chief, Army Reserve, and Commanding General, United States Army Reserve Command (USARC), after serving as the Command's Deputy Commanding General since October 2005. Prior to assignment to the Army Reserve Command, Lieutenant General Stultz served as the Commanding General of the 143rd Transportation Command.

On 16 March 2010, Command Sergeant Major Michael D. Schultz was sworn in as the 11th Command Sergeant Major of the Army Reserve, serving as the Chief of the Army Reserve's senior advisor on all enlisted soldier matters, particularly areas affecting training, leader development, mobilization, employer support, family readiness and support, and quality of life. In his capacity as CSM of the Army Reserve, he dedicates the majority of his time traveling throughout the United States and overseas visiting, observing, and listening to soldiers and families to address their issues and concerns.

Importance to the active army

In the early 1980s Army Reserve soldiers constituted the following numbers in US Army units:

100% of training divisions, brigades, and railway units

97% of civil affairs units

89% of psychological operations units

85% of smoke generator companies

78% of Petrol/Oil/Lubricant (POL) supply companies

62% of Army hospitals

61% of terminal companies

59% of the supply and service capability of the Army

51% of ammunition companies

43% of airborne pathfinder units

43% of watercraft companies

42% of chemical decontamination units

38% of combat support aviation companies

26% of combat engineer battalions

25% of Special Forces Groups

smaller percentages of other units and formations such as combat brigades and tank battalions

In 1980, the peacetime USAR chain of command was overlaid with a wartime trace. In an expansion of the roundout and affiliation programs begun ten years earlier, CAPSTONE purported to align every Army Reserve unit with the active and reserve component units with which they were anticipated to deploy. Units maintained lines of communication with the units—often hundreds or thousands of miles away in peacetime—who would presumably serve above or below them in the event of mobilization. This communication, in some cases, extended to coordinated annual training opportunities.

Despite the commonly held belief that CAPSTONE traces were set in stone, the process of selecting units to mobilize and deploy in 1990 and 1991 in support of Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm largely ignored CAPSTONE.

In the post-Cold War draw-down, all of the Army Reserve's combat units were disbanded, except the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry Regiment. This meant the disestablishment of the three remaining Army Reserve fighting brigades: the 157th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized) (Separate) of Pennsylvania, the 187th Infantry Brigade (Separate) of Massachusetts, and the 205th Infantry Brigade (Separate) (Light) of Minnesota. Many of the Army Reserve training divisions were realigned as institutional training divisions.

With the Army National Guard providing reserve component combat formations and related combat support units, the Army Reserve is configured to provide combat support, combat service support, peacekeeping, nation-building and civil support capability. With roughly twenty percent of the Army's organized units and 5.3 percent of the Army's budget, the Army Reserve provides about half of the Army's combat support and a quarter of the Army's mobilization base expansion capability.

In 2008, the Army Reserve contains the following percentages of the Army's units of each category:

100% of chemical brigades, internment brigades, judge advocate units, medical groups, railway units, training & exercise divisions, and water supply battalions.

more than 67% of civil affairs units, psychological operations units, transportation groups, motor battalions, chemical battalions, hospitals, medical brigades, and theater signal commands.

nearly 50% of petroleum battalions, Adjutant General units, petroleum groups, transportation commands, terminal battalions, and public affairs units.

In fiscal years 2007–2009, the Army Reserve was realigned into a functional command structure. The majority of Army Reserve units are now assigned to operational and functional commands. Operational commands are deployable elements which command deployable units of the same or similar capabilities regardless of peacetime geographic location. For instance, the 377th Sustainment Command (Theater) commands all Army Reserve sustainment units, while the 11th Aviation Command commands all Army Reserve aviation assets. Likewise, functional commands are responsible for command of units of the same or similar capabilities regardless of peacetime geographic location, but are not, as a headquarters, deployable.

The training structure has been transformed in order to streamline command and control. Instead of multiple training divisions, each with its own geographic area of responsibility, the new structure features four training commands responsible for specific categories of training throughout the United States. Each command is configured for either initial entry training, advanced individual training schools, leader development or battle command training. These commands train soldiers of the Army Reserve, Army National Guard and the active component, through formal classroom and “hands on” training. Two training support commands under the First United States Army, designated First Army East and First Army West, provide customized, realistic unit-specific and operation-specific training. TSCs plan, conduct and evaluate training exercises for Army, Army Reserve and Army National Guard units. Training Support Commands are organized under the United States First Army into two subordinate units.

As a part of this realignment, most of the regional readiness commands were eliminated, leaving only seven globally. These were redesignated "[regional, civil or mission] support commands"; the four in the Continental United States being "regional"; the geography for which each regional support command increased significantly, but all of the support commands were stripped of their former command and control authority over units in their respective territories. Instead, the support commands provide base operations and administrative support to Army Reserve units within their geographic region.

Current formations and units

Headquarters Commands

  Office of the Chief, Army Reserve (OCAR) at The Pentagon, Washington, DC

OCAR provides the Chief, Army Reserve (CAR) with a staff of functional advisors who develop and execute Army Reserve plans, policies and programs, plus administer Army Reserve personnel, operations and funding. The CAR is responsible for plans, policies and programs affecting all Army Reserve Soldiers, including those who report directly to the Army. OCAR is composed of specialized groups that advise and support the CAR on a wide variety of issues.

  United States Army Reserve Command (USARC) at Fort McPherson,Georgia

Through USARC, the CAR commands all Army Reserve units. USARC is responsible for the staffing, training, management and deployment of its units to ensure their readiness for Army missions. The Army Reserve which consists of three main categories of units: operational and functional, support, and training.

Operational and Functional Commands

Support Commands

1st Mission Support Command at Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico

  63rd Regional Support Command "Blood and Fire" at Moffett Field, California   81st Regional Support Command "Wildcat Division" at Fort Jackson, South Carolina   85th Support Command "Custer Division" at Arlington Heights, Illinois   87th Support Command "The Golden Acorn Division" at Birmingham, Alabama   88th Regional Support Command at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin   99th Regional Support Command "Checkerboard" at Fort Dix, New Jersey

78th Army Reserve Band

  Army Reserve Careers Division at Fort McPherson, Georgia

Training Commands, Institutional

  75th Training Command (Battle Command Training Division) at Houston, Texas   80th Training Command (TASS) "Blue Ridge Division" at Richmond, Virginia   84th Training Command "Lincoln County Division" at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin   108th Training Command (Individual Entry Training) "Golden Griffins" at Charlotte, North Carolina   166th Aviation Brigade at Fort Hood, Texas

Training Support Commands

First United States Army East at Fort Meade, Maryland

First United States Army West at Fort Carson, Colorado

Special Units

100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry

Historic Organizations (Retired)

70th Infantry Division

85th Infantry Division

89th Infantry Division

90th Infantry Division

94th Infantry Division

Other components

The Army of the United States is the official name for the conscripted force of the Army that may be raised at the discretion of the United States Congress, often at time of war or mobilization for war. The last use of the Army of the United States was in 1974.

See also

United States Military

Reserve Component of the Armed Forces of the United States

Reserve Officers' Training Corps

Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act

References

External links

U.S. Army Reserve

*Full listings of Reserve units

Army Reserve

Category:United States Army Direct Reporting Units