An Institution in Crisis: The Army Reserve Officer Corps
Abstract
The officer shortage in the United States Army Reserve has reached critical levels and the overall impact threatens the long-term health of the organization. Insufficient recruiting, low accessions, and increased officer attrition driven by a multitude of internal and external factors have all contributed to these shortages. Significantly, the shortage of junior and mid-grade officers can derail current efforts to transform the US Army Reserve (USAR) from its traditional role as a strategic reserve into its current use as an operational reserve. Unfortunately, corrective measures have done little to mitigate this problem. These short-term expedient measures have satisfied deploying unit requirements but failed to address the underlying management issues causing these shortages. This paper briefly examines the background leading to current shortage of junior and mid-grade officers in the USAR; it then evaluates the officer manning challenges and highlights the related contributing factors in recruiting, accessions, and retention. The paper proposes several long-term policies and process changes to help resolve officer shortages and concludes with an assessment of the ability of the USAR to meet continued GWOT readiness requirements.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 16, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA498034
Entities
People
- Ernest Erlandson
Organizations
- United States Army War College