The future of reserve forces

Joint Force Quarterly,  Dec, 2004  

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General Richard Myers was inducted into the Reserve Officers Association Minuteman Hall of Fame in 2004. At the banquet, he spoke at length about the future of the Total Force. He also recalled a telling question that he repeatedly poses to our troops across the globe:

I usually ask them a couple of questions and I try to send a couple of messages with the questions. The first one is, "Are there any Guard or Reservists in this crowd before you?" About a third or two-fifths of the hands go up.

I try to make a couple of points. One is you can't tell [active duty from Reserve component] by looking at who's serving. That's important. There's not much distinction today between active, Guard, and Reserve. And in many ways that's a very good thing .... The second thing is to make sure everybody else in the room knows that Guard and Reservists are there, part of the organization. Because you might not think about it if somebody doesn't ask the question.

The Total Force is part of today's paradigm of integrated operations, where we work in an increasingly joint, combined, and interagency environment with a diverse set of new partners. Past stovepipes between the active and Reserve components are being removed, and the all-volunteer Total Force has a healthy future. But, as always, issues remain that require debate and continual reassessment. This forum offers a broad spectrum of viewpoints that should stimulate dialogue about timely Reserve component considerations.

COPYRIGHT 2004 National Defense University
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