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| Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz, Chief, Army Reserve |
As our nation contends with an uncertain security environment, persistent conflict, and challenging fiscal realities, the need for a wide range of flexible and responsive military capabilities is paramount.
While today’s Citizen-Soldiers of the Army Reserve are performing magnificently in every environment and geographic region, we must also devote attention to tomorrow’s threats and opportunities. The coming decade requires our continued engagement around the globe, as an operational force in support of our National Security Strategy. The Army Reserve is an integral component of our expeditionary force. The strategic decisions and direction chosen at this juncture set the framework for the next decade, and the future of the Army Reserve.
It is our obligation to our nation, and to future generations of Army Reserve Soldiers, that we remain operational and continue to improve our organization—always leaning forward—as we prepare for tomorrow’s challenges today. The Army Reserve 2020 Vision and Strategy document confirms who we are, what we believe, what we do, and where we are going. It establishes the foundations for our operational concepts and strategies required for us to remain an enduring operational force; organized, modernized, postured, and resourced to provide support to the Total Army, combatant commanders, and civil authorities, as needed. Furthermore, it is grounded in cutting-edge business enterprise practices that help guide us in maintaining a well-organized, trained, equipped, and resourced operational force. The Army Reserve is America’s premier reservoir of shared military-civilian skills.
Our formations are used extensively to meet the demand for military capabilities that support domestic and expeditionary operations. Such experience and reliable performance are essential to reducing the strategic risk associated with executing the National Security Strategy and associated Combatant Command plans. We are a cost-effective means to reduce demands on the active Army by providing trained, equipped, and ready Soldiers and cohesive units to meet full spectrum operational requirements. We are no longer supplemental strategic reinforcements. As we move into the next decade and continue to adapt our capabilities, it is essential we proceed with rigorous analysis, transparency, and collaboration to further define our contribution to the future Total Force. We are a crucial element of the Army’s overall deployable strength and war fighting team.
The Army Reserve is ideally suited to provide combat support and combat service support enablers for expeditionary missions and international engagement activities, such as peace building and security cooperation. We offer medical units for humanitarian assistance and medical diplomacy efforts, supply engineer units for reconstruction and to build partner capacity, and leverage Army Reserve Training Divisions to provide battle staff, military occupational skill, and tactical training to foreign militaries. These types of missions provide the operational Army Reserve with opportunities to maintain the unparalleled experience and training levels achieved United States Army Reserve during almost a decade of war, while continuing to provide responsive, flexible, and essential enablers critical to the Army’s success. Additionally, as a community-based force resident in every state and territory, the Army Reserve, when authorized by the resident of the United States, provides an efficient, timely, and effective military response to federally-declared disasters that require Defense Support of Civil Authorities.
This document details my vision for the Army Reserve as an operational force and serves as a broad blueprint for achieving it. The Army Reserve must be an enduring operational force with refined institutional processes, adaptive leadership, and a commitment to meeting the sustained demand for deployments, contingencies, and steady-state security cooperation missions. We must be prepared organizationally, doctrinally, technically, and intellectually. We are committed to providing a trained, cost-effective, ready, and relevant source of combat support and combat service support enablers necessary to negotiate tomorrow’s uncertain security challenges. Achieving these milestones will require demanding and measurable performance standards. Army Reserve Soldiers, with strong support from Department of Army Civilians, Families, and Employers, will continue to remain a vital part of the enduring operational force, provide strength to the Total Army, and remain a positive investment for America.
JACK C. STULTZ
Lieutenant General, U.S. Army
Chief, Army Reserve/Commanding
General, U.S. Army Reserve Command
Click here to access the Army Reserve 2020 Vision and Strategy in its new, interactive format on "Issuu".
Click here to access the document in PDF format.
Click here to view a companion slide deck for the Army Reserve 2020 Vision and Strategy.
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