ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

Maj. Gen. Jody Daniels, commander of the Army Reserve’s 88th Regional Readiness Division and a former chief of staff for Army Forces Command, has been nominated to be the next chief of the Army Reserve.

If confirmed by the Senate, Daniels will receive her third star and become the first woman to lead a major Army component. She would succeed Lt. Gen. Charles Luckey, who has led the Army Reserve since June 2016.

The Army and the other services should explore new and different ways for troops to serve in the reserve component, which is struggling to recruit and compete for talent with the civilian sector, according to a recent RAND Corporation report.

This could include working from home, job-sharing options, flexible work schedules and even allowing some troops, especially those in highly specialized career fields, to be nondeployable, according to the report, titled “Manpower Alternatives to Enhance Total Force Capabilities.”

The Army should focus on deploying smaller National Guard and Army Reserve units, which are quicker and easier to train, alongside active-duty troops if the service is called upon to quickly mobilize for a major conflict overseas.

A recent RAND Corp. report found it would take too much time to get larger reserve component formations—such as brigade combat teams or combat aviation brigades—properly mobilized and trained during the earlier periods of a conflict or contingency. 

The Army is likely to continue a pilot program that pairs active-duty and reserve component units to build readiness and strengthen unit cohesion across the force, the new director of the Army National Guard said.

The Associated Units Program, launched in 2016, was designed to test whether combining units across the components would increase readiness and improve relationships and unit cohesion.

The pilot program was to run for three years, with senior Army leaders set to decide on the program by Sept. 30.

Chief of Army Reserve Lt. Gen. Charles D. Luckey says his soldiers, their families and employers may feel the impact of having a more-ready force.

With his 21 years of combined service in the Regular Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve, Secretary of the Army Mark T. Esper knows the value of the reserve components and the challenges.

In an Army News Service interview, Esper said his own service in the National Guard after he left active duty showed this was a talented, hardworking force. “I came to really respect the Guard,” he said.

Spanning 20 time zones and containing 200,000 soldiers, the Army Reserve provides 78 percent of the sustainment capabilities for the Total Army

Host and Association of the U.S. Army Council of Trustees member retired Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz kicked off the annual Maj. Gen. Robert G. Moorhead Guard/Reserve Breakfast this morning by reiterating the theme of the 2017 AUSA Annual Meeting & Exposition.

Among the speakers were Gen. Robert B. Abrams, commanding general, U.S. Army Forces Command; Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Raymond Horoho; and Chief of the Army Reserve Lt. Gen. Charles Luckey. To a man, each reiterated the exposition theme of “building readiness.”

The lethality and complexity of today’s battle space present new challenges to the Army Reserve, where readiness levels have relied on a well-worn rotational schedule.

Instead, the Reserve must prepare for a full-spectrum operational environment that includes making ready significant portions of the Reserve force to move quickly, in some cases in days or weeks, so it can effectively complement active-component formations that rely on its capabilities.