Comparing Army Reserve Forces: A Tale of Multiple Ironies, Conflicting Realities, and More Certain Prospects

Abstract

In spite of the "total force" policy, Army reserve forces are fraught with ironies, contradictions, and paradoxes and continue to be at odds with the regular Army. And yet, reserve forces perform a variety of essential military roles both nationally and locally, the most important of which is serving as the popular face of the Army. It seems clear that the reserves will play a more significant role in the post-cold war era. Over the next decade military reformers will force the Army to rely more heavily on reservists in a newly redesigned total force. Thus the question is not whether changes in the Army's reliance on reserve forces will be imposed by outsiders, but whether these changes will occur with or without the Army's active support. In the 1990s the Congress is also likely to increase the relative status of Army reserve components. Indeed, reserve forces may become the great pork barrel in American politics during the 1990s.