Reserve Forces: Army National Guard's Role, Organization, and Equipment Need to be Reexamined
Abstract
The significant use of Army National Guard forces for overseas and homeland missions since September 11, 2001 has resulted in declining readiness, weakening the Army National Guard's preparedness for future missions and indicating that DOD's business model for the Army National Guard is unsustainable and needs to be reassessed. The current heavy reliance on the Army National Guard for overseas operations represents a fundamental change from the Guard's planned role as a strategic reserve force whose principal role was to deploy in the later stages of a major conflict if needed. Under this model, which still governs how resources are provided to the Guard, the majority of Army National Guard combat forces are only provided with 65 to 74 percent of the people and 65 to 79 percent of the equipment needed to conduct their assigned wartime missions. Units are generally expected to receive additional personnel, training, and equipment during a mobilization period before deploying to support military operations. However, for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, combatant commanders have required the Army National Guard to provide large numbers fully manned and equipped units to conduct stability operations on an ongoing basis. To meet these demands, the Army National Guard has transferred thousands of personnel and equipment from nondeployed units to support deploying units. As a result, the preparedness of nondeployed units for future missions is declining, and DOD's strategy of transferring large numbers of equipment and personnel among units is showing signs of increased stress. The declining readiness of nondeployed units could also make it more difficult for the Guard to respond to homeland security and disaster response missions. Importantly, DOD has not developed a system for measuring the Guard's preparedness for such missions.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 20, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA439245
Entities
People
- David M. Walker
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office