February / March 2012 - Navy
By Mark T. Weber
History
While Congressional legislation began the
official history of the Navy Reserve on March
3, 1915 (after lobbying by SecNav Daniels &
his Assistant SecNav FDR), its actual history
far predates that and stretches back to the
days before the Revolution.
In 1775, citizens of a small town in Maine,
after hearing of the battles at Lexington and
Concord, commandeered a schooner and
actually defeated a British warship after a
pitched battle. Throughout the war, seafaring
residents of all the colonies were pressed into
service as crew for the many privateers to
harass British merchantmen. While the Navy
all but ceased to exist after the war, a small
Navy was constituted to meet the threat of
the Barbary pirates. The War of 1812 brought
back the privateers who again harassed
British merchant ships.
The Civil War brought new challenges that
saw the Navy experience an almost six-fold
increase (from less than 10,00 to more than
58,00 personnel) which enabled the Navy to mount a
mostly effective blockade of Southern ports and wage
successful engagements on inland waterways.
Subsequent to the Civil War, the Navy again experienced
a decline that didn’t turn around until the late
1800s. The Spanish-American War showed the need
for an organized Navy Reserve. More advanced ships
and tactics called for a better trained seaman; and this
shortfall was filled, to a great extent, by the state naval
militias from Maryland, New York, Massachusetts,
and, believe it or not, Michigan. These state militias
provided more than 4,000 personnel, manning ships
that participated in the naval battles around Cuba.
The legislation referenced above enabled the Navy
to provide a group of trained personnel during the
initial stages of the US’s involvement in WWI through
the establishment of the Naval Reserve Force.
Following the war, another decline was experienced
though it also saw the establishment of the Naval
Aviation Cadet (NAVCAD) program and the Naval
Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC). As war clouds
gathered in Europe and hostilities on the continent
began in 1939, both NAVCAD and NROTC were turning
out the nucleus of what would become the largest and
most powerful Navy ever seen. By the end of the war,
almost 90% of naval personnel were Reservists.
The Korean conflict saw a recall of thousands of
Reservists to active duty and the activation of many of
the ships mothballed after WWII, some manned close to
100% by Reservists; and some carrier air groups were
all Reserve. As an aside, 20th Century Fox released a
movie in 1951 based on the Navy’s real life
experiment with a steam engine in a WWII
sub chaser manned by an all-Reserve crew
titled, “You’re in the Navy Now” and starring
Gary Cooper. It’s a great film showcasing
the perseverance and resourcefulness of
the recalled Navy Reservists.
The Korean conflict showed the
importance of a well trained Reserve and
the Naval Reserve Force was expanded
accordingly. Vietnam brought new
challenges and more recalls, many of a
volunteer nature. More than 50% of the
Navy’s “Brown Water” were Reservists
and all were volunteers. The value of the
Reserve proven, more and more equipment
became standard between the active and
reserve forces (in all services, not just
the Navy) and the shift between the
view of the Reserves as a “force in reserve”
began to change to the Reserve as an
“operational support” entity. Fully
integrated into operations from Desert
Shield through the current Afghanistan operations,
is now an integral component in carrying out the
mission of the U.S. Navy and represents 20% of the
total force.
Reserve Retirement
As I mentioned in an earlier column, Reserve
retirement goes back to the Roman Legions. The
British had a system that dated back to 1757; the
Prussians, back to 1807. Today, more than 30 countries
that maintain reserves have one form or another of a
retirement system for their reservists (some better than
ours; some not so good). The best systems are similar
to ours and are those of countries that have the most
active forces in relation to deployments and conflict
involvement, though none surpass the US.
Unfortunately, our current representatives, most
not veterans, have proposed a radical change in the
current retirement system to make it more in line
with standard civilian retirement systems. In years
past, ships deployed for six months or less. Combat
and operational units deployed once every five years
or more. Lately, some ship deployments have been
extended to ten months or more and units have seen
multiple deployments in less than four years, hardly,
the same work experience of that of the employees of
Xerox, Bank of America, or Ford Motor Company. Go
to our Web page at http://www.ausn.org/Advocacy/LegislativeActionCenter/tabid/2187/Default.aspx
and tell your representative that this isn’t fair to those
who have sacrificed so much for our freedom.