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The Transformation of the RCs During the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars Provides Several Valuable Lessons

• The RCs became an operational force before they were labeled as such.
• Two types of policies emerged to support RC use as an operational force — protecting from overuse and increasing readiness.
• The Iraq and Afghanistan wars reshaped the way the RCs were trained and equipped and also promoted an expeditionary mind set within the RCs.
• The increased reliance on the RCs was largely due to demand rather than their improved readiness.
• The RCs' readiness improved during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
• The RCs' readiness benefited from forewarning, fewer logistical constraints, and relatively less complex missions.
• Sustaining readiness post–Iraq and Afghanistan wars is only partially a policy question: it is also largely a resource issue.

This report identifies emerging policy lessons regarding the use of, and reforms to, the U.S. Army's Reserve Components (RCs) as an operational reserve derived from analyses of their contributions to Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, New Dawn, and other recent contingency operations. These lessons can be applied to sustain the readiness of the U.S. Army Reserve and Army National Guard in future contingencies.

Using historical and quantitative analyses, combined with in-depth interviews, this report documents the evolution of the policies involved in the development and employment of the operational reserve. It assesses the impact of operational reserve policies on sourcing decisions, examines how these policies affected the readiness of the RCs, and provides recommendations regarding future missions and force generation policy for the Army's RCs.

This report concludes that the Army's current operational reserve concept evolved in response to the demands of overseas contingency operations, resulting in a force that is significantly more ready and capable than the pre–September 11 RCs. The ability to sustain this level of capability is at least as much a matter of the resources the Army can devote as it is a matter of policy.

• Chapter One

  The Reserve Components Today

• Chapter Two

  How the RCs Became an Operational Force: Supply or Demand?

• Chapter Three

  Understanding RCs' Readiness

• Chapter Four

  How Iraq and Afghanistan Affected the RCs' Readiness

• Chapter Five

  Sustaining the RCs as an Operational Force

• Appendix A

  Summary of 1993 National Defense Authorization Act, Title XI

• Appendix B

  Selected Policies Related to RCs' Operational Capabilities