Mortgaging National Security

<p>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.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p><br>