AC-RC in the 21st Century (From an AC Perspective)

Abstract

Many in the armor and engineer communities and the Army community in general perceive Active Component (AC)-Reserve Component (RC) assignments to be the kiss of death for their careers. Others see them as a sign that they have done something wrong and are no longer worthy of the more prestigious assignments, such as small group instructor (SGI) at a branch school or observer-controller (OC) at a combat training center. To dispel this perception, the Armor and Engineer Branches even state on their respective home pages, The general rule is not if you will serve, it's more like when will you serve in an AC-RC assignment and Most officers will be assigned to a 3R (recruiting, Reserve Officer Training Corps, Reserve Component) assignment. The 3R assignment itself has no negative bearing on promotion, schooling, and battalion command. While there are some disadvantages to an AC-RC assignment, we submit that these assignments are not career-enders and that the rewards far outweigh the challenges. The intent of this article is to address some of these challenges, highlight some of the rewards, and perhaps change the perception of AC-RC assignments across the force. Within the AC-RC community, there are two different paths: First, there is the resident training support battalion. These units cover down with only one RC unit. Second, there is the observer-controller/trainer (OC/T) battalion. These units evaluate and assist in training several RC units within a specified region. This article focuses on the training support battalion. Despite the negative connotations and personal feelings regarding AC-RC assignments, they remain a necessary, important, and rewarding aspect of the total Army assignments process. First and foremost, the AC-RC program is congressionally mandated and requires the Army to provide Active Component advisors to Army RC units to improve readiness. As a result, AC-RC assignments are placed first or second on the priority list of fill.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2003
Accession Number
ADA596609

Entities

People

  • Jason Meharg
  • Michael Konczey

Organizations

  • United States Army Engineer School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Army
  • Combat Operations
  • Combat Support
  • Communities
  • Education
  • Engineers
  • Health Care
  • Homeland Defense
  • Iraqi-War
  • Military Medicine
  • Military Science
  • National Guard
  • Personnel Management
  • Physical Fitness
  • Professional Development
  • Training
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Military Mobilization and Reserve Forces Studies.
  • Military Training and Readiness Simulation