The Future of the Army's Reserve Components

Two separate components fulfill the Army's reserve requirements: the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard. Each of these components has very strong constituent support, making any changes to their organization and structure politically challenging. However, the current confluence of budgetary and operational stresses creates a perfect storm of political pressure that provides the Army and the nation with an opportunity to revisit the structure of the Army's Reserve Components. This paper considers proposals for reducing inefficiencies between the Reserve Components, and recommends that the most politically expedient, operationally focused, and fiscally efficient way to streamline the Reserve Components is to maintain each with clearly distinct missions and priorities. In reaching this conclusion, three proposals for reducing inefficiencies between the Reserve Components are considered: (1) merging the Army Reserve into the Army National Guard, (2) merging the Army National Guard into the Army Reserve, and (3) retaining both while realigning the Army National Guard and Army Reserve. After tracing the development of our current National Guard, a thorough analysis of each scenario will demonstrate the superiority of the recommended third option. USAWC Strategy Research Project.