Measuring and Retaining the U.S. Army's Deployment Experience
Abstract
As previous research has shown, the U.S. Army has contributed the bulk of deployed U.S. troops since September 11, 2001. Between September 2001 and December 2012, the Army provided 1.65 million cumulative deployed troop-years more than all the other services combined. The Regular Army provided 70 percent of the Army s contribution, while the Army National Guard of the United States (ARNGUS) provided 21 percent and the U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) provided 9 percent. The yearly number of deployed troop-years reached its peak in 2009, at just over 180,000, but declined with the end of combat operations in Iraq to just over 100,000 in 2012. A continuing decline is expected as combat operations in Afghanistan come to an end. Of course, all components of the Army continually lose experience. Roughly 13 percent of soldiers left the Regular Army every year in the period covered by our data; nearly 15 percent of soldiers leave the ARNGUS and USAR each year. Thus, deployment experience is continually leaving the Army. However, the coupling of normal losses with declining deployments implies that the Army is experiencing a decrease in total accrued deploymentrelated experience. The data show that the Army had already lost a substantial portion of this experience by December 2012. However, the Regular Army and Selected Reserve (SELRES), which includes the ARNGUS and USAR, still had almost 60 percent of the total amount of experience gained since 9/11. As of December 2012, most soldiers had deployed at least once, and many had deployed multiple times. The Army values deployment experience, even assigning promotion points for experience in some cases. As Regular Army end strength declines, one option for retaining this experience is to transition soldiers from the Regular Army to the ARNGUS or USAR. However, most soldiers with deployment-related experience leaving the Regular Army are not affiliating with the SELRES.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2014
- Accession Number
- ADA611479
Entities
People
- Caolionn O'connell
- Jennie W. Wenger
- Michael L. Hansen
Organizations
- RAND Corporation