Military Update: Commission endorses ‘operational reserve’

[unhappycamper]

Military Update: Commission endorses ‘operational reserve’
By Tom Philpott, Special to Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, February 2, 2008

To address the strain on U.S. forces, Congress and the Department of Defense formally should endorse the concept of an “operational reserve” that would be trained and supported to fight, on a rotational basis, alongside active forces in the global war on terrorism and any future conflict.

But for an operational reserve to succeed, there must be sweeping reforms made to Cold War-era pay, retirement and promotion laws and policies for both active forces and reserve components.

Those are two key conclusions made by the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, which delivered its 368-page final report Thursday after more than two years of study.

In an interview, commission chairman Arnold L. Punaro, a retired Marine Corps Reserve major general, said he and other commissioners were skeptical when the concept of an operational reserve was raised as the panel began its work. “Because I knew what a profound change this was,” he said.

But Punaro said the commission soon recognized that the Reserve and National Guard were being tasked like an operational reserve without Congress or Defense officials ever having discussed the concept or making the bold and systemic changes needed to make the concept work.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52114



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