America s Army Reserve Ready Now; Shaping Tomorrow Lieutenant General Charles D. Luckey Chief of Army Reserve and Commanding General, United States Army Reserve Command The only thing more expensive than deterring a war is fighting one. The only thing more expensive than winning a war is losing one. Gen. Mark Milley, chief of staff of the Army America s Army Reserve and the Emerging Threat As the Army s dedicated federal reserve force, America s Army Reserve must be able to move fast, engage quickly, and support the Army and the Joint Warfighter in order to win decisively on the battlefields of today and tomorrow. We have covered much ground over the past year significantly increasing the readiness of our forces, closing interoperability gaps with the Joint Force, and posturing our team to respond quickly in a new and complex threat environment. Today, over thirty percent of your Army Reserve units are pressing hard to attain and sustain higher levels of peacetime readiness in order to reduce post-mobilization training time when called upon to meet contingency surge requirements and to Fight Fast. In a significant departure from the last sixteen years, in which our deployment rotations were characterized by stability, predictability and, most of all, the time to train-up for missions, America s Army Reserve has now embarked upon a radically different approach. Our fundamental construct is simple and straightforward: shape, prioritize and prepare units of action to meet Combatant Command requirements by synchronizing all aspects of manning, training and equipping to outpace CONPLAN deployment timelines. It is a nonrotational readiness construct and a whole new game. Vision: America s Army Reserve; the most capable, combat-ready, and lethal federal reserve force in the history of the Nation. Mission: America s Army Reserve generates and deploys units of action and, as required, individual Soldiers that are trained and equipped to meet the operational needs of the Army and the Joint Today the United States faces a new threat paradigm that includes extraordinarily capable strategic competitors with the potential to contest and disrupt U.S. military operations across all domains Land, Air, Sea, Space and Cyberspace. These threat capabilities dramatically expand the future battlefield beyond anything we have witnessed in the past half-century in terms of tempo, lethality, and reach.
There is no rear area in this battlespace. Even the Homeland is no longer sanctuary, and every Soldier in the force is subject to the same devastating effects be they operational fires, the loss of precision navigation and timing, or massive cyber disruption across the battlefield. This drives the need for a massive shift in the culture of America's Army Reserve. At its heart, this team must be led to understand that the world has changed; it must now be infused with a relentless sense of urgency as it prepares to do battle with potential adversaries who are determined, cunning, agile and extraordinarily capable across the entire threat continuum. Achieving Readiness on the Modern Battlefield In this environment, our ability to match and outpace potential adversaries is essential to ensuring freedom of maneuver, while also strengthening our deterrence posture and assuring allies. In addition to sustaining the counter-insurgency and counterterrorism capabilities we have developed over the past decade and a half, America s Army Reserve must now anticipate and be able to respond quickly to evolving threats in multiple theaters, as well as the warfighting demands of large-scale, nearly simultaneous contingencies in more than one of them. Such contingencies, should they materialize, will require significant and rapid mobilization of your Army Reserve s lead formations to provide the critical enabling capabilities the Army needs to open theaters, and synchronize and sustain major, full-spectrum, combat operations. READY FORCE X FORT McCOY, Wis. - U.S. Army Reserve Pfc. Jenea Gavin, 596th Movement Control Team, 377th Theater Sustainment Command, conducts crew-served weapons simulation training using an Unstabilized Gunnery Trainer - Crew system during Operation Cold Steel II, hosted by the 416th Theater Engineer Command at Fort McCoy, Wis., March 5, 2018. Operation Cold Steel is the U.S. Army Reserve s crew-served weapons qualification and validation exercise to ensure America s Army Reserve units and Soldiers are trained and ready to deploy on short-notice as part of Ready Force X and bring combat-ready and lethal firepower in support of the Army and our joint partners anywhere in the world. (U.S. Army Reserve photo by Spc. Noel Williams/U.S. Army Reserve Command) Ready Force X is the driving force for all aspects of manning, training, equipping, and deploying key capabilities on compressed timelines; it ensures that a significant portion of the team is able to move fast in some cases, days or weeks to complement and augment the Army and Joint Force with critical capabilities.
Whether the mission is opening ports, setting the theater, constituting and operating mobilization-support platforms for the Joint Force, or supporting maneuver forces in contact with the enemy, RFX units comprised of hundreds of units and thousands of Soldiers will have the mobility, survivability, connectivity and lethality needed to win on the battlefield. Quickly generating and deploying RFX units will require additional training days, capable equipment, and improved command and control structure to ensure they are ready to deploy rapidly without extended post mobilization train-up. To achieve the required level of readiness in shorter periods of time, America s Army Reserve has significantly upped its game on training; aspects include large scale crew-served gunnery exercises, Emergency Deployment Readiness Exercise (EDREs) and Deployment Readiness Exercise (DREs), manning Ready Force X units through innovative policies and incentives; and prioritizing RFX units for equipment upgrades, closing interoperability gaps in areas such as battlefield communications and mission command systems. Cold Steel The first RFX-focused exercise of its kind was Operation Cold Steel. Conducted in 2017, it was the largest live fire exercise in Army Reserve history. Cold Steel trained and certified more than 400 crews over a seven-week period on weapons systems including the M2, M19, and M240B. An estimated 1,800 Soldiers qualified to standard at this large-scale live-fire training and crew-served weapons qualification and validation exercise. Ground crews assigned to Ready Force X units and RFX convoy protection platform teams are currently training to certify at Operation Cold Steel II. Crews and teams began rotating through multiple CSII locations in October 2017 and will continue through September 2018. Building the Army Reserve of the Future Sidebar: A hard look at Cold Steel II: Cold Steel is a collective live fire exercise that combines MET proficiency with platform gunnery. In each unit that requires a collective live fire, this will include up to five gun trucks accompanied by non-gun trucks, engaging targets during convoy operations. U.S. Army Reserve Command is committed to adapting its training with numerous similar exercises focused on ensuring RFX units are able to maintain higher levels of peacetime readiness to offset risk to the nation. 11 MONTH time-span to accommodate rotations 5 LOCATIONS to meet space and training requirements 3,000 CREWS 6,000 INDIVIDUAL SOLDIERS 1,000 THREE-PERSON CONVOY PROTECTION PLATFORM CREWS will rotate through CSII at Fort McCoy from 15 February to 20 May, 2018. 11,000+ SOLDIERS and 128 UNITS will participate in a bridging CSTX that integrates 12 functional exercises. Maintaining and positioning force structure is a crucial component of readiness. Under our dual-hatted authority as Chief of Army
Reserve and Commanding General, U.S. Army Reserve Command, we have the flexibility to place force structure where it needs to be to best leverage America s cutting-edge technology and augment the many Army Reserve Soldiers currently serving with years of civilian experience and industry-specific knowledge, expertise and skills in cyber, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and other advanced technology fields. We will continue to explore and exploit opportunities to draw upon our civilian-acquired or civilian-retained skills and leverage our relationships with industry and academia to capitalize on evolving demographic shifts in the population. Defense Support to Civil Authorities 2017 s record-breaking hurricane season left thousands without shelter, water, food or electricity. Army Reserve Soldiers were among more than 33,000 Federal civilian personnel and military service members activated at the height of the response. America s Army Reserve provided critical response capabilities to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts, including search and rescue, aviation, engineer, transportation, medical and communications support. Within five days of their mission, Army Reserve Soldiers executed more than 28 vehicle and aviation missions, rescuing more than 4,900 civilians including women, children and elderly and more than 390 pets. By the time Hurricane Irma the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded hit Florida, daily registrations for individual assistance had eclipsed Hurricane Katrina 18 times over. Army Reserve Soldiers provided equipment and vehicles including several M1078 light medium tactical vehicles capable of traversing rugged terrain that forded through high waters to distribute water to local residents who had lost access to safe, clean water sources. In Puerto Rico, more than 2,000 Army Reserve Soldiers from the Puerto Rico-based 1st Mission Support Command, and other Reserve units on Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands responded to local and federal requests for assistance directly following Hurricane Maria s devastating blow. Placed under the unified command of an Army Reserve Brigadier General immediately after Hurricane Irma struck, these units set the stage for access to critical capabilities. It positioned them to support the Coast Guard and maritime authorities in opening the Port of San Juan, move commodities, conduct mortuary affairs, restore power, open roadways, and enable additional support to the Commonwealth, Territory and other federal agencies. America s Army Reserve: As it has since its founding, America s Army Reserve remains a highly effective and responsive force, evolving, in every era, to meet the needs of the Nation. Today, Army Reserve Soldiers provide mission-critical forces and capabilities to the Army and the Joint Force, wherever and whenever needed, anywhere around the world. With nearly 200,000 Soldiers spread across 20 Time Zones, America s Army Reserve is poised, positioned and ready to defend freedom around
the globe; the sun never sets on this team. The world is rapidly changing, but your Army Reserve remains committed, as always, to outpacing the threat. We take the future head on, shaping as we go; we are always on the move keep, forging and sustaining the most capable, combat-ready and lethal federal reserve force in the history of the Nation. America s Army Reserve comprises nearly 20 percent of the Army s organized units, almost half its total maneuver support, and a quarter of its mobilization base-expansion capacity. Its unique status as both a component of the Army and a singular Command under a single command authority, the Chief of Army Reserve, imbues it with the flexibility, agility and unity of effort needed to respond to any mission at home or abroad, with little notice. Lieutenant General Charles D. Luckey Chief of Army Reserve and Commanding General, United States Army Reserve Command Lieutenant General Charles D. Luckey assumed duty as the Chief of Army Reserve and Commanding General, United States Army Reserve Command on 30 June 2016. As the Chief of Army Reserve and Commanding General, United States Army Reserve Command, he leads a community-based force of more than 200,000 Soldiers and Civilians with a "footprint" that includes 50 states, five territories, and more than 30 countries. The Army Reserve is a critical force provider of trained and ready units and Soldiers providing full spectrum capabilities essential for the Army to fight and win wars and respond to homeland emergencies on behalf of the American people. FULL BIO >