Reserves
Army
Reserve to
Celebrate
Century of
Service
American
Forces
Press
Service
|
WASHINGTON,
April
2008 –
Since
April 23
1908, the
men and
women of
the U.S.
Army
Reserve
have
answered
the
nation's
call to
service at
home and
around the
globe.
Next week,
the
reserve
will mark
its 100th
birthday
with
ceremonies
in and
around the
nation’s
capital.
The
U.S.
Army
Reserve
will
celebrate
a
century
of
service
on
April
23,
2008.
The
reserve
will
mark
the
historic
100-year
anniversary
with
a
mass
re-enlistment
and
rememrance
ceremonies
in
and
around
Washington,
DC.
(Click
photo
for
screen-resolution
image);high-resolution
image
available. |
|
To
celebrate
a century
of
service,
the Army
Reserve
will hold
a mass
re-enlistment
on the
Capitol
Hill steps
here and
remembrance
ceremonies
at
Arlington
National
Cemetery,
in
Arlington,
Va. Slated
to attend
the events
are Lt.
Gen. Jack
Stultz and
Command
Sgt. Maj.
Leon
Caffie,
respectively
the Army
Reserve
chief and
senior
enlisted
soldier.
Kicking
off the
event at
10 am, 100
Army
Reserve
soldiers
will raise
their
right
hands,
once again
pledging
their
service to
the
nation.
Their
re-enlistment
symbolizes
the Army
Reserve’s
commitment
to another
century of
service,
according
to an
information
sheet
distributed
by the
Army
Reserve.
Following
the
re-enlistment,
past Army
Reserve
soldiers
will be
honored at
2:15 p.m.
during a
wreath-laying
ceremony
at the
Tomb of
the
Unknowns
on the
grounds of
Arlington
National
Cemetery.
Later at
the
cemetery,
current
and future
reservists
will be
commemorated
with a
tree-planting
and plaque
dedication.
Unlike the
component
of the
past,
which
served
primarily
as a
strategic
reserve,
today’s
Army
Reserve is
an
operational
force that
plays an
integral
role in
the
world's
greatest
Army, the
information
sheet
states.
“Today's
Army
Reserve
soldiers
represent
the values
upon which
our
country
was
founded.
They are
citizens
who are
willing to
lay down
their
plows and
pick up
their
rifles
when
called
upon,”
according
to
information
made
available
by the
service.
“They're
proud of
their
service.
They're
proud to
say
they're
part of
the Army
Reserve.”
Since the
Sept. 11,
2001,
attacks,
the
military
has
mobilized
more than
216,000
Army
reservists.
Currently,
more than
26,000 of
these
soldiers
are
deployed
worldwide.
|
|
Related Sites:
Army
Reserve
|
DeCA,
industry partner to
extend commissary
benefit to Guard,
Reserve members
By
Cherie Huntington,
DECA
FORT
LEE
,
Va.
– “The groceries are
coming! The groceries
are coming!”
With apologies to Paul
Revere, those could be
the fighting words of
the Defense Commissary
Agency as it strives to
deliver the benefit to
geographically separated
Reserve and National
Guard members and their
families throughout
America
.
“It’s open season
for good ideas on how to
expand the benefit to
our reserve forces,”
said Rick Page, DeCA’s
acting director. “Help
us get more of the
benefit to you.”
Thinking outside the
“box” of
conventional commissary
locations, DeCA team
members have been taking
the benefit on the road
to authorized shoppers,
conducting on-site sales
out of warehouses,
aircraft hangars,
armories, tents in
parking lots, and even
the back ends of
semitrailers. Even as
the agency plans to
increase the number of
these events this year,
industry partners made
them even more inviting
by donating $95,000 in
commissary gift
certificates for
distribution to
thousands of National
Guard members during the
past holiday season.
The extent of industry
support surprised even
DeCA officials. “I was
overwhelmed by the
generosity of our
suppliers and
manufacturers,” Page
said. “Since your
commissary delivers 30
percent savings or more,
that $95,000 in your
shopping cart represents
$130,000 in a commercial
grocery store.”
The American Logistics
Association presented
industry’s gift to the
National Guard Bureau
chief at the Pentagon in
December. The
ALA
’s members represent
industries providing
products and services to
military resale systems,
including commissaries
and military exchanges.
Personnel
Chiefs Push For
Incentives, Integration
for Reserve Forces
By
Donna Miles
American Forces Press
Service
|
WASHINGTON,
June 2007 – The
reserve components are
vital to the military
and its ability to fight
the war on terror, so
it’s essential that
they’re properly
managed and compensated,
the service personnel
chiefs told the
Commission on the
National Guard and
Reserves yesterday.
The
chiefs shared insights
into better ways to
integrate Guard and
reserve members into the
total force and to
ensure the reserve
components get the
resources and manpower
they need.
“The current
environment, and I
predict, the future,
requires the seamless
integration of the
active and reserve
military, civilian
employees and support
contractors into a
cohesive and rapidly
tailorable force,” Lt.
Gen. Michael Rochelle,
the Army’s deputy
chief of staff for
personnel, said in his
prepared statement.
He noted that almost
382,000
reserve-component
soldiers have mobilized
since Sept. 11, 2001, to
fight the terror war,
and that more will be
called as the war
progresses.
“Never before in the
history of the United
States have members of
the Air Force reserve
components played such a
pivotal role in the
defense of our homeland
and our national
security objectives
around the globe,”
agreed Lt. Gen. Roger A.
Brady, Air Force deputy
chief of staff for
manpower and personnel.
More than 10,000 Air
National Guard and Air
Force Reserve members
are currently on duty at
home or abroad, he
reported.
Just as the military
depends on these troops
to carry out its
mission, the services’
personnel chiefs agreed
that it needs to ensure
that they and their
families receive the
compensation and support
they deserve.
That’s particularly
important for the Army
and Marine Corps as they
increase the size of
their forces, but no
less critical for their
sister services as they
reshape for the future,
they said.
Rear Adm. Edward Masso,
commander of Navy
Personnel Command, said
that as the Navy
continues reducing the
size of its force, it
needs to do so in the
smartest way possible.
“We need to apply both
small adjustments and
major course corrections
in order to shape our
force into a smaller,
more effective and
cost-efficient total
force,” he said in his
prepared remarks.
These changes will have
far-reaching
implications for the
force, he told the
commission. “What we
do today – the
decisions we make –
will dictate our
situation tomorrow and
determine what we are
capable of in the
future,” the admiral
said.
Lt. Gen. Ronald S.
Coleman, the Marine
Corps’ deputy
commandant for manpower
and reserve affairs,
called individual
Marines the most
effective weapon in the
Corps’ arsenal.
“Accordingly, our
manpower and personnel
plans must support the
accession and retention
of this vital
resource,” he said.
Ultimately, the
long-term success of the
reserve components
depends on managing them
in a way that meets
troops’ and their
families’ expectations
and needs, as well as
operational
requirements, he said.
The personnel chiefs’
testimony reflected
comments offered the
previous day by Michael
Dominguez, principal
deputy undersecretary of
defense for personnel
and readiness.
During his June 20
appearance before the
commission, Dominguez
urged more flexibility
for reserve-component
members that enables
them to better balance
their military and
civilian obligations and
encourages them to
serve.
Dominguez joined the
service chiefs in
endorsing a “continuum
of service” that
enables military members
to shift between the
active and reserve
components, more
full-time support for
Guard and reserve units,
expanded opportunities
for joint training and
qualifications and a
more competitive
compensation package.
The independent
Commission on the
National Guard and
Reserves was established
under the National
Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 2005
to recommend any needed
changes in law and
policy to ensure that
the Guard and Reserves
are organized, trained,
equipped, compensated
and supported to meet
U.S. national security
requirements.
|
|
Biographies:
Lt.
Gen. Michael Rochelle, USA
Lt.
Gen. Roger A. Brady, USAF
Rear
Adm. Edward Masso, USN
Lt.
Gen. Ronald S. Coleman, USMC
Related Sites:
Commission
on the National Guard and
Reserves
Related Articles:
Flexibility
Encouraged to Promote
Reserve-Component Service
|
VA
Completes Cabinet's Push for Employer
Support of Guard, Reserve
By
Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service
|
WASHINGTON,
April 2006
–
With a stroke of Veterans Affairs
Secretary R. James Nicholson's pen
here today, all 15 U.S. Cabinet
secretaries have now signed a joint
statement in support of the Defense
Department's Employer Support for the
Guard and Reserve organization.
Veterans Affairs
Secretary R. James
Nicholson (right)
became the last of the
15 U.S. Cabinet
secretaries to sign a
joint Employer Support
for the Guard and
Reserve statement of
support. Thomas F.
Hall (left), assistant
secretary of defense
for reserve affairs,
delivered remarks
during the April 14
ceremony. Photo by
Samantha L. Quigley
(Click photo for
screen-resolution
image);high-resolution
image available.
|
|
Nicholson
became the last Cabinet secretary to
sign the document during a ceremony at
VA headquarters.
"The
Department of Veterans Affairs stands
foursquare in support of our Guard and
Reserve troops and the ESGR
mission," Nicholson said. ESGR
has been a very important advocate for
the job rights of returning deployed
reservists and National Guardsmen, he
said.
The
Defense Department established ESGR in
1972 to promote cooperation and
understanding between reserve
component members and their civilian
employers.
The
joint ESGR statement might be the only
document signed by all Cabinet
members, said Thomas F. Hall,
assistant secretary of defense for
reserve affairs.
"This
is a very historic day, because today
we complete the signing of the
statement of support by the entire
cabinet," Hall said. "I
think it is very fitting, and we
planned it this way, to have VA as the
last signer of this, because it's the
bookends. The first signer was DoD,
the last is VA."
Employer
Support of the Guard and Reserve has
more than 5,200 volunteers across the
country, Hall said. "They ...
make sure that when our young men and
women answer the call to the colors
and come back, they're able to start
their education over (and) go right
back to their jobs," he said.
Craig
W. Duehring, principal deputy
assistant secretary of defense for
reserve affairs, presented Nicholson
with a plaque reflecting VA's support
for reserve components.
|
|
|
Craig
W. Duehring, principal deputy assistant
secretary of defense for reserve affairs
(left), presents Veterans Affairs R. James
Nicholson with a plaque reflecting VA's
support for reserve components. Nicholson
became the last of the 15 U.S. Cabinet
secretaries to sign a joint Employer Support
for the Guard and Reserve support statement at
an April 14 ceremony. Photo by Samantha L.
Quigley
|
|
Thomas
F. Hall, assistant secretary of defense for
reserve affairs (left), and Craig W. Duehring,
his principal deputy, flank Veterans Affairs
Secretary R. James Nicholson as he becomes the
last of the 15 U.S. Cabinet secretaries to
sign a joint Employer Support for the Guard
and Reserve support statement. Photo by
Samantha L. Quigley
|
Army
Reserve Undergoing "Deep, Profound Change"
By Kathleen T. Rhem
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON,
Dec. 2004 – Army Lt. Gen. James R. Helmly doesn't
like the word "reservists." Members of the
Army Reserve are "soldiers" plain and
simple, he said.
"I
have put out a policy statement which says we don't
have 'reservists.' We have Army Reserve
soldiers," Helmly said during a recent interview
with the Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press
Service. "The intent there is to induce across
the length and breadth of our force an identification
with the simple title of American soldier."
The
changes the Army Reserve is undergoing are much deeper
than what the service's members are called, the
general said. Leaders are working to overhaul how
Reserve soldiers train and mobilize, the regulations
governing these things, even how soldiers think of
themselves.
"Transformation"
is another word Helmly prefers not to use. He said he
prefers to call what his service is going through as
"deep, profound, enduring change."
"Our
intent, frankly, is that our force will be ready for a
call to active duty as if they knew the hour and the
day that it would come," he said. "That
requires that each and every soldier take their
individual responsibility for personal fitness,
wellness, healthcare, personal affairs, the affairs of
their family, etc."
Helmly
likened changing a military service during wartime to
refitting an airplane during flight. "There's no
time out here for remodeling. We cannot hang a shingle
out that says, 'Closed for remodeling,'" he said.
"We've got to do it while we're still
mobilized."
Part
of that remodeling is cutting "23,000 spaces
worth of structure" over the next three years to
have those spaces available to better fill deployable
units. Also to ensure the most soldiers deployable,
the service has changed how it manages soldiers'
physicals and updated training guidance to units.
Until
recently, Army Reserve units have spent considerable
time training after mobilization but before
deployment. This led to units being mobilized for 18
months for a 12-month deployment to Iraq or
Afghanistan. It also resulted in insufficient time to
prepare soldiers to go to war.
Today
the Army Reserve expects units to be fully trained and
ready to go to war before an alert order is even
issued. "We are requiring commanders to train
warriors prior to mobilization and changing the model
from 'alert, train, mobilize, deploy' to 'train,
mobilize, deploy.'
"Waiting
until mobilization to undergo training is simply too
late. You cannot respond and you cannot have the kind
of soldiers ready to fight, accomplish their mission
and survive if you wait until the unit's
mobilized," he added.
Such
fundamental changes require a deep commitment on the
part of service and defense leaders, Helmly said.
"Our
soldiers on the battlefield are performing with
magnificent courage. And they are really out there --
stout of heart and doing a very dangerous job
immensely well," he said. "And I think here
in the Pentagon, we in senior leadership positions owe
those soldiers the same amount of courage, commitment
and sense of urgency and energy to make changes in the
institutional processes that govern how those soldiers
are treated."
Biography:
Army
Lt. Gen. James R. Helmly
Guardsmen,
reservists essential to war effort
by Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
September
2003 - WASHINGTON
(AFPN) -- National Guard and Reserve
forces "have been absolutely essential" to
the war on terrorism, the commander of U.S. Central
Command told the Senate Appropriations Committee. His
comments came during a Sept. 24 hearing about the
fiscal 2004 supplemental funding request for Iraq and
Afghanistan.
"We couldn't get the job done without them,"
Army Gen. John Abizaid said. "It isn't a matter
of 'nice to have,' it's a matter of 'must have.'"
But Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, told the committee that such heavy
reliance on the reserve components -- which has a
large percentage of the military's combat service
support capabilities -- "doesn't posture us very
well for the 21st-century security environment we're
going into."
Myers said Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld has
ordered a rebalancing of the force to provide a better
mix of capabilities between the active and reserve
components.
"Because it's inevitable (that) if we're going to
send an active ground component … into a situation,
there's going to be a reserve piece that goes with
it," Myers said. "And that may be fine for
some situations, but probably not all."
The Defense Department's goal is to accomplish the
rebalancing within the next two years.
About 170,000 Guard and Reserve members are currently
on active duty, down from a high of 223,000 during
major combat operations in Iraq, Myers said. The
number could drop more if a third multinational
division joins Operation Iraqi Freedom.
However, if no additional multinational division
materializes, Myers said, planners might have to use
other options to keep manning on track in Iraq,
including the possibility of more reserve component
call-ups. Other options, he said, involve increasing
the number of active-duty troops committed to the
operation or, ideally, getting enough Iraqis trained
so they can assume a larger role in their defense.
Meanwhile, U.S. troops serving in or being deployed to
Iraq "should expect to spend one year in
Iraq," Myers said, whether they are on active
duty or in the reserve components.
"There is an issue of fairness here, and I think
the (guardsmen) will be the first to tell you that
they are willing to pull their fair share," he
said. "They always have, and they're very proud
of that."
Defense Department policy has been to issue one-year
mobilization orders to the reserve components,
although service secretaries have the authority to
extend that period. Current Army policy, for example,
is that mobilized reserve component troops will spend
up to 12 months in theater, in addition to active duty
time spent to train up, ship out and demobilize at the
end of their tours.
And when reserve-component troops are called to active
duty, Myers and Rumsfeld agree they need more notice
than many have been getting.
"The system that is in place is designed for an
industrial age, and as a result, a number of people
were only given five, six, eight (or) 10 days’
notification of their call-up," Rumsfeld told the
committee. "And that's just not respectful of
them and their employers and their family. And we're
fixing that system. We cannot do that to the Guard and
Reserve in terms of activation."
"We can do a better job in providing
predictability," Myers said. "We can do a
better job in communicating when people will come on
active duty and when they will be leaving active
duty."
Myers said reserve-component units to be called to
active duty for the next rotation already have been
alerted and are preparing for their missions.
Reserve-component troops have “been doing great work
all the way from combat operations to support
operations. They're all over the theater,"
Abizaid said.
Myers said the war on terror demands that the military
make maximum use of all its assets. "We are
relying heavily on the reserve component," he
said. "And you would expect to do that if you're
a nation at war and the stakes are high."
Myers said his meetings with reserve-component troops,
as well as with troops he met during his recent trip
to Bosnia and Kosovo, confirm that they "couldn't
be prouder of what they're doing," and that
despite the sacrifices, they are committed to the
cause.
Sen. Lloyd Bennett, an Appropriations Committee member
from Utah, agreed, relaying a story about a guardsman
from his state who had returned home on leave from his
deployment in Iraq while his wife delivered twins.
"They were sitting there in the crowd with these
two babies less than a week old, the wife holding one,
the G.I. holding the other," Bennett said.
"And in that meeting was a gentleman who wanted
to make the point that everything (in Iraq) is
disaster … that nothing's going well.
"This G.I holding this baby spoke up and said, 'I
believe in the mission. I'm glad to be there. I'm
leaving tomorrow, and I'm glad to be going back,'”
Bennett said.
Breaking
Military News
Federal
Times
Government
News
|