Spring Meeting & Reserve Chiefs Forum
This is critical:
We must remember that at its heart, the reserve force is the “citizen-warrior” who is ready to leave all that he or she loves, leave family, leave a career, leave home, to answer the nation’s call.
More than one million reserve and guard members have been activated for the current war and more than 1,200 have paid the ultimate price since 9/11.
This high “operational tempo” is likely to accelerate as the active force, under budgetary pressure and ever-increasing use worldwide is forced to call on its Reserves.
Reserve Organization of America
The only organization dedicated to supporting Reserve Forces, their families and their critical role in national defense.
America’s Reserve Components — the National Guard and the Reserves of the armed forces — are being used as never before; they are what is called “the operational reserve,” and are being mobilized heavily to augment what is a severely under-sized active force.
More than half (53%) of the “Total” Army is comprised of the National Guard and Army Reserves – and 38% of the “Total Force” comes from the Reserve Components.
While the readiness of our reserve force is at an all-time-high, so is the stress on the men and women in its ranks, their families, and their civilian employers.
We are no longer a one-weekend-a-month, two-weeks-in-the summertime force. What we are now is an operational reserve. That means on a predictable basis you will be expected to be called up and mobilized to deploy to defend your nation.
Former Chief of the U.S. Army Reserve, Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz
In 2018, the Department of Defense published a new National Defense Strategy calling for a pivot towards great-power competition and to invest in the talent to do so.
Such a pivot will involve maximizing the use of the operational ready reserve plus the buildout of a true strategic reserve capability — one that can attract and then use the kind of citizen talent that is needed for a long-term competition with China.
American industry must have a voice in our national security strategy, specifically in the role of the reserves, who are their valued employees.
American industry must buy in. Until now, industry support has essentially been assumed by the Pentagon, the Congress, and one administration after another.
We can no longer make that assumption; we must earn the support of those who make possible the service of our Reserve and Guard.
ROA is excited at the historic opportunity to serve the nation by facilitating a conversation among these stakeholders that would lead to greater understanding of the realities underlying ustainable use of America’s Reserve Components.
We must get this right; and in return, the men and women in our Reserve and Guard will hold up their end of the bargain.
Military Response to COVID
It is important to remember that the military, specifically the National Guard and the Army Reserve, serve on numerous battlefields that are often different from what we traditionally envision.
For example, U.S. military forces are often used for domestic emergencies such as bolstering states’ abilities to fight forest fires and to provide disaster relief in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
The COVID pandemic is no different. Since the outbreak, nearly 4,400 military medical personnel have been called on to support civilian medical efforts at medical facilities throughout the U.S.
This number does not include the additional 57,000 active-duty, Reserve, and National Guard personnel who have been summoned to respond to the pandemic in a variety of other capacities.
National Security Risk
The COVID pandemic is the most recent example of how vital the Army Reserve and National Guard components of our military are to our nation’s security, especially during times of crisis.
Realizing that we do not have the manpower or resources to effectively respond to an emergency whether it be domestic, international, a force of nature, or a force of man is not something we want to discover when it is too late.
However, as the Reserve components of our military continue to shrink, we are at a much greater risk of this crisis becoming reality.
Connecting Industry and the Reserve Components in support of our Citizen-Warriors
Industry Sector Committees
Capture the issues and/or challenges
for each industry and identify solutions.
Program Structure
Organized by industry national security sectors;
Each sector will establish a “sector committee” to gather the issues, challenges and proposed solutions in the employment of Reserve forces, which include the National Guard.
Bring the right stakeholders and resources together to resolve or find compromise on these issues and challenges through quarterly forums and connect with Reserve Component Leadership.
Participate in ROA’s annual national conference – “Preserving the All-Volunteer Force (AVF)” where all the issues of maintaining the AVF are brought front and center (and solution maps defined).
Mission
To promote the partnership between the Reserve Components (Reserve and National Guard), those who serve – our “Citizen – Warriors” and the private sector.
End State
A “win – win – win ”
– A win for our nation’s “citizen – warriors” and their families
– A win for the private sector
– With the ultimate win – maintaining our All-Volunteer Force and our national security