January 2009 NRA News
by The Honorable Thomas F. Hall
The Honorable Thomas F. Hall was sworn in on 9 October 2002 and is the longest serving Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs since the position was created twenty-four years ago. Secretary Hall is a retired two-star rear admiral who served almost 34 years of continuous active duty in the U.S. Navy. He is a distinguished and decorated Naval aviator who also served a combat tour in Vietnam. Prior to returning to government service, Hall served for six years as the Executive Director of the Naval Reserve Association. As the ASD-RA, Secretary Hall serves as the principal staff assistant to the Secretary of Defense on all Reserve matters involving the 1.2 million members of the Reserve Components of the U.S. Armed Forces. He is responsible for overall supervision of Reserve Component affairs of the Department of Defense.
The Reserve Components (RC) have come a long way since the Cold War ended, especially over the last eight years. We are not
just witnessing “change,” we have been executing fundamental change. In the past, we managed the Reserve Components as a strategic force. Although the role of the Reserve Components has been slowly evolving since Operation Desert Shield/Storm in 1990, the transformation since 11 Sep. 2001, has been profound, with the National Guard and Reserves performing much more of an operational role in an era of persistent conflict. As a result of this increased operational role, the RC continues to evolve in size, structure, total force integration, and utilization.
In tandem with changes to size and structure, the Reserve Components are now more integrated with the Active force. National Guard and Reserve units operate alongside their Active Duty counterparts on a daily basis as aircrews, special operations forces, security forces, and intelligence forces, just to name a few. In support of the increased RC participation in operations, the Military Departments are making great progress towards establishing cycles of participation that provide predictability for the Services, Reserve members, their families, and their employers.
From September 2001 through this past September, 672,873 Reserve Component members have been mobilized. Of those mobilized, 653,416 (or 97%) were members of the Select Reserve (SelRes) and 19,457 (or 3%) were from the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR). Of the RC service members mobilized, 502,028 (or 75%) were subsequently deployed. By looking at these figures, one can easily appreciate the fact that the support provided by our Reserve Components has been of historic proportions (Table 1).
Managing the Reserve Components in an Ongoing, Operational Environment
I have visited extensively with service members, families, and business leaders, and what I heard most during my visits was the desire for predictability. Reservists want to know when they will be called to serve and when will they return. Families and employers also want to know this so they can plan. Secretary Gates’ January 2007 policy on force utilization has gone a long way towards promoting predictability by limiting mobilizations to 12 months, and by setting a mobilized-to-dwell ratio goal of 1:5 for the Reserve Component. We are diligently working toward meeting the 1:5 goal. Over the past nine months, nearly three quarters of those mobilized have had mobilized-to-dwell ratios above 1:4. Secretary Gates’ policy puts a reasonable limit on the time that a Reserve Component member spends away from home while giving the family a more definitive timeline to plan for the member’s military duty requirement.
We work closely with the Services to improve force generation plans and, in conjunction with this, have established a policy that provides units with a minimum 90-day notice prior to their mobilization. Our intent is to provide notification as far in advance as possible. In some cases, we’ve been able to provide up to a 24-month notification period. By increasing notification periods, we are able to provide Guardsmen and Reservists with time to ensure employer and family affairs are in order prior to deploying. This also provides time for Reservists to be fully prepared and equipped for their assigned mission.
Changes to the Legislative Underpinnings of the RC
Congress has been very supportive in changing laws to accommodate improved polices on mobilization, personnel management, training, readiness, equipping, and family and employer support.
The record shows that between 2002 and 2008, over 200 separate legislative changes were enacted which fundamentally redefined the landscape of managing the Reserve Components as an operational force and significantly enhanced the pay and benefits that have resulted from the operational employment of the Guard and Reserve. These legislative changes include increased eligibility for housing allowances, improvements for bonuses and retirement, enhancements to education assistance programs, and access to a world-class medical benefit (TRICARE) for all Selected Reservists and their families. We’ve also established a new personnel strength-accounting category, “Reservists on active duty for operational support,” which permits RC members to spend up to three years out of the previous four on active duty, without counting against Active Component end-strength. Even if a member exceeds the three year threshold, he or she is never counted against grade ceilings and is always treated as a Reservist for promotion and management purposes. All of these changes recognize and reward Guardsmen and Reservists for the additional service they are performing.
Adapting to the Future
It is clear that the Reserve Components have truly undergone fundamental change, and our management policies have evolved accordingly. The Reserve Components are an essential part of our nation’s military force, engaged on a daily basis, across the full spectrum of military operations. This represents a huge responsibility, especially during an era of persistent conflict. Into the future, we should expect one thing to be constant: the Reserve Component will need to adapt continually to remain integral to the success of the world’s premier military force.
Secretary Hall answers questions from Reserve Component service members during recent trip to Iraq.
(Photo by CAPT Cornelia E. Schultz, Task Force 134 Public Affairs)