Manning the Future Army
Abstract
It is sometimes easy to overlook that manning-the-force is an integral part of the United States' National Security plan. Increasing worldwide demands for US military presence have put pressure on all of the military Services (Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines) Active, Reserve, and National Guard components to maintain their respective Congressionally mandated personnel strengths. Recruiting success for all of the Services is largely dependent on both economic conditions and amount of available resources with success occurring when economic conditions are deteriorating and/or the services recruiting means are in a satisfactory state. Simplistically speaking, when unemployment is high and the recruiting elements have an adequate level of resources-the ends, ways, and means-all of the Services usually meet annual recruiting objectives and endstrengths. If the Army's objective is to maintain a volunteer force in accordance with the national All-Volunteer Force (AVF) policy, the ends can be defined as successfully meeting annual recruiting objectives for both the enlisted soldiers and officers. Given the ends, the national strategic concepts, i.e., the ways, are the approaches and concepts used by the Department of Army (DA) to successfully recruit the annual AVF goals. The means, or the national resources, to achieve the ends are the funding and infrastructure provided to the Army for AVF recruiting. After reviewing the future force and potential knowledge, skills, and attributes of the 21st century soldier, this paper examines the AVF policy and past calls for reinstating the draft before outlining four means that support future AVF recruiting. The means discussed include providing additional recruiting resources (monetary and manpower), using contractors, increasing annual percentage of 2-year term-of-service contracts, and doing more with the resources currently in place.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 09, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA400975
Entities
People
- James A. Knowles
Organizations
- United States Army War College