Rebalancing the Force: Weighing the Roles of the Components

Conduct of the Global War on Terrorism has raised the involuntary mobilization of Army Reserve and National Guard forces to their highest levels since World War II. This increased reliance on the Reserve Components (RC) prompted the Secretary of Defense to direct the Services the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Under Secretaries of Defense to examine whether and how to "rebalance forces' in order to reduce the need to involuntarily mobilize the Guard and Reserve. The Army's mission analysis is well underway, and the resulting AC/RC force structure will impact how the components provide appropriate and ready forces in support of the entire spectrum of missions overseas and for Homeland Security. The Reserve Components have long been essential elements of total U.S. military po%ver. However current and projected requiren%ents in Afghanistan Iraq and the Global War on Terror have stressed U.S. total military capabilities in new ways. Thus Rebalancing the Force is critical to executing the National Security Strategy. Any "rebalanced" Army must be capable of rapid strategic deployment and must be capable of achieving victory in both decisive combat and sustained stability operations overseas. At the same time it must become equally prepared to defend the homeland directly and through civil support operations. Successful management of change will demand that the Army's leadership weigh carefully the desired and designed contribution of each component to achieve these vital ends and the provision of sufficient resources to those components to ensure the required high levels of readiness.