United States Army Reserve

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United States Army Reserve

The United States Army Reserve is the federal reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the reserve components of the United States Army.

It was formed in 1908 to provide a reserve of medical officers. After the First World War, under the National Defense Act on 4 June 1920, Congress reorganised the U.S. land forces by authorizing a Regular Army, the National Guard, and an Organized Reserve (Officers Reserve Corps and Enlisted Reserve Corps) of unrestricted size, which later became the Army Reserve.^[1]

Reserve Service Today
Current Leadership
Importance to the Active Army
Current Formations and Units

Regional Readiness Sustainment Commands
Regional Readiness Commands
Institutional Training Divisions
Training Support Divisions
Direct Reporting Commands
Direct Reporting Units
Special Units

Other components
See also
References
External links

Reserve Service Today

Reserve soldiers perform only part-time duties as opposed to full-time ("active duty") soldiers, but may be called upon to do full-time duty. They generally perform training or service one weekend per month (inactive duty for training or Battle Assembly) and for two continuous weeks at some time during the year (annual training). Many reserve soldiers are organized into Army Reserve units (Troop Program Unit or TPU), while others serve to augment active Army units (Individual Mobilization Augmentee or IMA).

All United States Army soldiers sign an initial eight year service contract upon entry into the military. Typically, the contract specifies that some of the service will be served in the Regular Army, or "active component" (two, three, or four years), with the rest of the service to be served in the reserve component. However, some soldiers elect to sign a contract specifying that all eight years be served in the reserve component, the soldier is entering directly into the Army Reserve and is only required to be on active duty for basic training and some sort of advanced training. This is usually active army advanced individual training (AIT). Those soldiers who serve a period of years in the active component and choose not to re-enlist in the active component are automatically transferred afterwards to the reserve component to complete their initial eight year service obligation. After the expiration of the initial eight year service contract, soldiers who elect to continue their service may sign subsequent contracts of varying durations consecutively until they finally leave the service; however, officers may have the option to opt for an "indefinite" contact, in which case the soldier remains a part of the military until they retire, are removed from the service for cause, or elect to leave the service.

Officers, Warrant Officers, and Enlisted personnel in the rank of Staff Sergeant (E-6) and above are considered to be on "indefinite" status if they have more than 10 years of service. This means that the soldier remains a part of the military until they retire, are removed from service for cause, or elect to leave the service. (This no longer applies to reenlist with an "Indefinite" status as part of the Army Reserve. Memo is dated 20080110 - It is not retroactive.)

The Army Reserve was composed of 189,005 soldiers as of 2005.^[2]

Current Leadership

On May 25, 2006, Lieutenant General Jack C. Stultz became Chief, Army Reserve, and Commanding General, United States Army Reserve Command, after serving as the Command's Deputy Commanding General since October 2005. Prior to assignment to the Army Reserve Command, Lieutenant General Stultz served as the Commanding General of the 143rd Transportation Command.

On August 29, 2006, Command Sergeant Major Leon Caffie was sworn in as the Command Sergeant Major of the Army Reserve, serving as the Chief of the Army Reserve's senior advisor on all enlisted soldier matters, particularly areas affecting training, leader development, mobilization, employer support, family readiness and support, and quality of life. In his capacity as CSM of the Army Reserve, he dedicates the majority of his time traveling throughout the United States and overseas visiting, observing, and listening to soldiers and families to address their issues and concerns.

Importance to the Active Army

In the early 1980s Army Reserve soldiers constituted the following numbers in US Army units:

100% of training divisions, brigades, and railway units
97% of civil affairs units
89% of psychological operations units
85% of smoke generator companies
78% of Petrol/Oil/Lubricant (POL) supply companies
62% of Army hospitals
61% of terminal companies
59% of the supply and service capability of the Army
51% of ammunition companies
43% of airborne pathfinder units
43% of watercraft companies
42% of chemical decontamination units
38% of combat support aviation companies
26% of combat engineer battalions
25% of Special Forces Groups
smaller percentages of other units and formations such as combat brigades and tank battalions

However in the post-Cold War draw-down all combat units except the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry Regiment were disbanded, which meant the disestablishment of the three remaining Army Reserve fighting brigades (the 157th Infantry Brigade (Mech) (Sep) of Pennsylvania, the 187th Infantry Brigade (Sep) of Massachusetts, and the 205th Infantry Brigade (Sep) (Light) of Minnesota). Many of the Army Reserve training divisions were realigned as institutional training divisions.

Current Formations and Units

Direct Reporting Units

Special Units

Other components

See the Army of the United States for the conscription (US term:draft) force of the United States Army that may be raised at the discretion of the United States Congress in the event of the United States entering into a major armed conflict.