Army Reserve retention impacts from increased deployment mobilizations

Army Reserve/National Guard Retention Impact Due to Deployments

The United States Army Reserve (USAR) can be traced back to April 23, 1908, since Congress passed a Senate Bill 1424. This authorized the Army to establish a reserve corps of medical officers. The USAR is a key element of The Department of the Army's multi-component force. The Army Reserve's primary mission is to provide trained and ready personnel with the skills necessary to support and defend the nation during peacetime, emergencies, and war. Reserve soldiers perform only part-time duties as opposed to full-time (active duty) soldiers, but rotate through mobilizations to full-time duty.

The Army Reserves / National Guard have increased the mobilizations, which has negatively impacted retention. Many things can cause retention impacts. Some of them are: Family, Morale and Health, Financial Burdens, Loss of income during deployment, Civilian Employment, and Social Aspects. The goal of this research is to determine a solution on how to decrease the negative impacts on retention in the Army Reserves and increase the reenlistment ratio.

In this research that has led to my hypothesis, one will determine that it is in the military's best interest to view the soldier as an investment rather than a body filling a position. Happy content soldiers will better perform and want to do the jobs assigned to them rather than worrying about family and civilian life at home. Therefore, the implementation of this hypothesis will create a better standard of life and environment for experienced and qualified soldiers to protect our country and interests. Although one hundred and eleven Soldiers responded to the Army Reserve / National Guard Retention Impact Due to Deployments questionnaire, the data related to the research hypothesis of this Thesis paper is not enough to prove any theory.

CHAPTER FIVE

Conclusions and Recommendations

Introduction

The purposes of this chapter are to present conclusions and make recommendations based on the research performed on the Army Reserve / National Guard Retention Impact Due to Deployments. First, conclusions will be presented that were derived from the literature reviewed. Second, there will be conclusions based on the primary data collected from the Army Reserve / National Guard Retention Impact Due to Deployments questionnaire that was distributed for the purpose of this research project. The next section of this chapter will then make recommendations based on the conclusions.

Conclusions Derived from the Literature Review

Perhaps the most telling fact contained within the literature review is the reason for the creation of the Army Reserve unit. As the name implies, the need to facilitate a backup force, ostensibly a secondary armed guard with the skill set to assist the Army during battle operations. The creation of the reserves arose via the ratification of the Army Appropriations Act and additionally the Medical Reserve Corps commenced via the passing of Senate Bill 1424. (Hisey, 2009).

The first role of the Army Reserve unit came in 1916 with the assignment to the U.S.-Mexico border as a means of protection. The reserves are often associated with containment of domestic squabbles on the homeland, border protection, and in conducting relief missions abroad. However, major wars including World War I & II, and the Vietnam & Korean Wars included Army Reserve forces.

The ongoing use of the Army Reserve has been to enforce the global "war with terrorism," with increases to the assignment of Army Reserve personnel approaching WWII levels with additional troops being assigned as they enroll into the reserves. As the role of U.S. operations abroad expand into "prolonged humanitarian missions" (Jensen, n.d., p.1), the role of the Army Reserve and risk in occupational hazards to the troops and related personnel will increase accordingly & proportionately.

The "war on terrorism" is a function of defending national security at the borders and when specifically called upon to act. Army Reserve soldiers are deployed into Afghanistan with the mission of protecting and defending national security. A statistic that is often not cited is that approximately 1/4th of U.S. military soldiers deceased from serving active duty as a reservist in Afghanistan have been killed in action. (Lomsky-Feder, Gazit, & Ben-Ari, 2010).

Although the current statistics show that reservist enlistment is dropping precipitously, the number of reservists that apply and replace the personnel lost to high attrition is adequate. 26 of 100 reservists anticipate discharging from service after their first deployment in comparison to 18 of 100 whom choose to reenlist. (Lakhani, 1995). Nota Bene, a large ratio of Army Reserve forces whom decide not to reenlist are also possess professional designations and backgrounds, including education and experience that can provide tremendous benefits to the service. (Lakhani, 1995)

The literature review also reveals that Army Reserve personnel comprise a large portion of active military engagements. Approximately 47 out of 100 actively deployed troops are Army Reservists aggregating approximately 1.3mm. (Lomsky-Feder, Gazit, & Ben-Ari, 2010), and thus encompass almost 50% of the U.S.'s military power. Currently, the reservists represent approximately 40% of the active military stationed in Iraq. (Ibid)

The Army Reserves provide the servicemen necessary for various operations throughout the Army (Bressler). The level of attrition of enlisted servicemen should be of concern to the government and military leaders. U.S. Army ostensibly spends copious amounts of tax payer money to train, clothe, house, and feed these soldiers to only lose them after one or two deployments. For continued success with National security, protection, and defense, it is imperative the Army Reserve reduce its current rate of attrition.

Of the factors that impact retention, it seems as though the family factor may rank foremost on the list. Rand (1987) found that family separation was one of the top five reasons given for leaving the Army, while, in another study, Marines offered that as their sole reason for refusing to re-enlist (Wisecarver, Cracraft, & Heffner, 2006).

The effects of deployment on Army Reserve military and the impact on family members are different when considering military operations and stresses from wartime to peacetime. Family adjustment to the reserve soldier's Army life includes preparation for constant remobilization to different bases. Training exercises with lengthy durations create additional stresses on what are often young military couples. The absence of the soldier forces a sense of isolationism on spouses whom are unprepared for the demands of partnering with a military soldier. Ultimately, the soldier's health could be negatively impacted (La Bash et al., 2009), and cause consequences to military operations.

Morale & Health issues, Finance & Employment, Social Aspects, and deployment to hostile environments are all contributing factors to the effects of deployment on the reserve soldier. Specifically, the effect on junior and mid-grade officers were more severe than the effect on junior officers. This is likely attributed to the level of responsibility charged to the former rather the latter and the stress that comes with being assigned such responsibility.

Conclusion

The introduction within Chapter One of this thesis speaks to the importance of emotional and financial support from the nuclear family unit. Additionally, the level of responsibility many actively enlisted Army Reservists and reserves in other branches have in our civilian careers can cause considerable financial loss to these interests should a deployment arise. Losing these earnings will have a considerable impact on the financial support of the family unit and also determine the morale of the family going forward.

Again, the ramifications of not rendering a positive solution to these issues will be the continuing negative impact on retention in the Army Reserves and the continued decrease in the reenlistment ratio. The attrition of new recruits to the reserve branches increases the role of the more seasoned members and is likely to increase the frequency of deployment for these soldiers.

My hypothesis to improve soldier retention via the guarantee of a five-year reprieve from future deployments is likely to meet with a positive response given the conclusion from the literature review and from the survey results. The need to reduce the pressure on families regarding whether to leave the army will be reduced since there will be a number of years for civilian earnings after deployment, thereby reducing the financial, emotional, and economic burdens on soldiers and families. To reduce the level of attrition, the military can make a few relatively low cost (if any) adjustments to policy. I hypothesize the military's best interest is to view the soldier as a soldier of fortune, an investment rather than a grunt filling a core functional position within the operational chain-of-command. Increasing the morale and integration of support to the soldier and family unit will facilitate happier soldiers whom will perform more successfully at their task.