Roles for National Guard Components: Current Thoughts and Future Possibilities
Abstract
The Reserve Forces are increasingly being used as augmentation to the Active Duty forces, which in turn, have become increasingly reliant on the capabilities and cost savings inherent with Reserve Forces use. The Reserve Components have made great strides in becoming integrated within the national defense structure over the past 40 years; yet, world security dynamics, downsizing of the military force, and declining budgets will force the United States to become more innovative and efficient in using the full spectrum of limited military resources. Do we risk inappropriate or overuse of the National Guard? Current thoughts on future use of the National Guard, and in particular, what roles they might best be used in are the topics for this paper. It reviews some of the findings contained within the Reserve Component Employment Study 2005, which focuses on the three main themes of homeland defense, small-scale contingency operations, and major theater wars. Nontraditional military use of the National Guard forces, that is the ways in which the forces are being used within the social and domestic environment, are also presented and examined. (12 refs.)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA425377
Entities
People
- David J. Beaulieu
Organizations
- Air University