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Above, Army Reserve soldiers reenlist at the U.S. Capitol to kick offthe 100-year anniversary celebration of the U.S. Army Reserve. Topright, Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander, Multi-National Force-Iraq,addresses more than 100 reenlistees at a ceremony in Baghdad com-memorating the 100th anniversary of the Army Reserve.

April 2008 n ARMY 45

he Army Reserve’s 100th anniversary ac-

knowledges our nation’s enduring need for

such a force, and it gives us an opportunity

to recognize the contributions of hundreds

of thousands of men and women who have

sustained the organization for a century.

Further, this anniversary recognizes that the force has

changed during the past 100 years from a small reserve

force of about 160 medical professionals into a much

more capable force that provided all types of combat-

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arms, combat-support (CS) and com-bat-service-support (CSS) capabilitiesto what it is today: a CS/CSS-focusedoperational, expeditionary and do-mestic force that is an essential pieceof the Army.

What hasn’t changed in 100 years isthe commitment, selfless service andpersonal courage of our men andwomen who voluntarily put theirlives on hold—and on the line—to de-fend our country and our freedoms.

Since terrorists slammed hijackedairliners into New York’s World TradeCenter, the Pentagon and a field nearShanksville, Pa., on 9/11, more than182,000 Army Reserve soldiers havemobilized to serve in Iraq, Afghani-stan and more than a dozen othercountries. Today about 23,000 ArmyReserve soldiers serve on active dutyin support of the global war on terror-ism. About 17,000 serve overseas,while another 6,000 support homeland defense missions attraining centers, mobilization sites and medical centers.About 15,000 serve in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Today I lead 205,000 heroes, and I see those heroes stepup every day to serve our nation. Our Army Reserve sol-diers are part of the next greatest generation of Americanswho have served their nation in the military.

Transformation from a Strategic to Operational ForceThe Army Reserve I joined was a strategic reserve, a

source of manpower should our nation need us. We werenot highly trained, we were not well equipped and wewere not ready to deploy immediately, but the Army knewour numbers and our locations.

Our expectation was to devote one weekend a monthand two weeks each summer to soldiering. The men andwomen in my unit didn’t expect to be called up unlessWorld War III broke out and the Russians were comingacross the Fulda Gap—and we never thought that wouldhappen.

Today, as we mark our 100th anniversary, our transfor-mation to an operational force continues. It has resulted in

the most dramatic changes to Army Reserve structure,training and readiness since World War II. The days whenArmy Reserve soldiers committed one weekend per monthand two weeks in the summer to soldiering duties aregone. The weekend warrior is no more.

Today’s Army Reserve is no longer a strategic reserve; in-stead, it is an operational force and an integral part of theworld’s greatest army. Today’s units are prepared andavailable to deploy with a full complement of trained sol-diers and equipment when the nation calls. Today’s ArmyReserve soldier is a member of the best trained, best ledand best equipped fighting force our nation has everfielded.

Enduring MissionsAs we continue to adjust to current needs, we support

other enduring missions at home and around the globe. Institutional support. During the 1970s and 1980s, the

Army Reserve provided institutional support to the Army.Our units provided trainers to expand the capability oftraining bases to deal with the annual summer surge ofyoung men and women who graduated from high schooland entered basic and advanced training. At the sametime, Army Reserve medical professionals augmented thecapabilities of Army hospitals and clinics at home duringtheir two-week “summer camp.”

Although today’s Army Reserve continues to supple-ment the institutional base, trainers who once expanded

46 ARMY n April 2008

LT. GEN. JACK C. STULTZ JR. is chief of the Army Reserve andcommanding general of the U.S. Army Reserve Command. Be-fore this assignment, he commanded the 143rd TransportationCommand. Gen. Stultz is a graduate of the Command andGeneral Staff College and the Army War College.

Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz Jr., Chief of theArmy Reserve, meets with soldiers of the

391st Military Police Battalion at CampBucca, Iraq. The 391st is in charge of

the care and custody of some of the internment facility’s 20,000 detainees.

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training-base staffs now instruct members of the Iraqi andAfghan armies. Today doctors, nurses and other medicalprofessionals who once augmented military hospitals inthe States command the hospitals in our war zones. OneArmy Reserve combat-support hospital serves in Iraq, andanother is ready to deploy there in the spring.

Domestic operations and missions. Throughout its cen-tury of existence, the Army Reserve hasanswered the nation’s call to serve dur-ing times of emergency, both in warand in peace. Peacetime emergencieshave included a variety of disaster re-lief and humanitarian operations athome and abroad.

Today the Army Reserve remains theTitle 10 first responder to support civilauthorities during a domestic emer-gency. It provides two thirds of DoD’srapid response capabilities and is pre-pared to deploy to conduct chemical,biological, radiological, nuclear orhigh-yield explosive consequence-management operations in support ofU.S. Northern Command or the leadfederal agency at the incident site.

Forward-deployed presence. To alesser extent, Army Reserve soldiersonce provided a forward-deployed presence when theirunits participated in exercises in Europe and Korea andother countries or in security cooperation operations inCentral and South America.

Today Army Reserve soldiers are continuously deployed tomore than 20 countries around the world, and indicatorspoint to increased Army Reserve requirements in Africa, es-pecially now that U.S. Africa Command has been established.

Other ConstantsThroughout the history of the force, Army Reserve sol-

diers who served our nation brought with them uniqueadded values. When Army Reserve units mobilize, duringboth war and peacetime, they bring significant supportand concern from their communities with them. Like ourNational Guard counterparts, Army Reserve soldiers pro-

vide an enduring connection betweenthe military and local communitiesacross our nation.

At the same time, when Army Re-serve soldiers deploy overseas, theybring part of America with them.They also often deliver the best ofAmerica to the children of that coun-try as they demonstrate our country’sgenerosity and concern for them andpeople in other nations around theworld.

Another constant is the value ofcivilian-acquired skills that Army Re-serve soldiers bring with them to helpmake the U.S. Army the most power-ful and sophisticated military force inthe world. Often these skills are unre-lated to the soldiers’ normal militaryduties. For instance, a military police-

man who is a teacher at home may be exactly the right sol-dier to help train Iraqi policemen. His civilian-acquiredskills help him understand how people learn, how to teachand how to interact with people and motivate them to learn.

Citizen-Soldier Becomes Warrior-CitizenDuring our first 100 years, we were characterized as “cit-

izen-soldiers.” When Army Reserve soldiers wore combat

April 2008 n ARMY 47

At Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, Lt. Gen. Stultz reenlists nine Army Reserve soldiers last December. Gen.Stultz visited Reserve soldiers during the holidays to talk to them about future job opportunities.

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patches, they were typically from ac-tive duty units the soldiers had servedwith in Vietnam.

Today’s Army Reserve soldiers arewarrior-citizens. They are warriorswho fight for our nation, and they arealso citizens, but their involvement inmilitary operations has been tremen-dously expanded.

Today we see evidence of their in-volvement in the combat patchesworn by soldiers who served on ac-tive duty with their Army Reserveunits. We see it in the reserve unitpatches worn by active component soldiers who served incombat under a reserve headquarters.

Young men and women serve in today’s Army Reservebecause they want to defend our country. They fully expectthat they will be called upon—on a regular basis—to dojust that. They know they must maintain a high state ofreadiness, both physically and mentally. They know theywill be asked to make great sacrifices—to leave their fami-lies and their civilian jobs—to serve our nation.

Today’s Army Reserve soldiers represent the values

upon which our country was founded. They are citizenswho are willing to lay down their plows and pick up theirrifles when called upon. They’re proud of their service.They’re proud to say they’re part of the Army Reserve.

The Future of the Army ReserveIn the years ahead, the Army Reserve will be totally inte-

grated with the operational Army. Soldiers will freelymove back and forth between active and reserve status. Allsoldiers will serve part of their careers on active duty andpart of their careers on reserve duty.

In the business world, the average employee changes jobsevery four or five years. When they start any job, they expectto stay a few years and then move on. In the Army of the fu-ture, soldiers will serve on active duty, move to reserve sta-tus to work at civilian jobs, then return to active duty. Andthe Army Reserve will provide a means of doing that.

Over the next 100 years, the Army will facilitate soldiers’ability to gain civilian experience and the valuable skills theylearn in a nonmilitary setting. For example, the Army maytransfer soldiers to reserve status so they can work in citygovernment for four years because they will return to activeduty with the skills necessary to help build cities in countriesthat need U.S. assistance. And the Army will help those sol-diers find the city jobs!

We will partner with America’s employers to allow peo-ple to be a part of this continuum of service. With our part-ners, we will provide portable health-care and retirementplans. The military will contribute to soldiers’ plans whenthey’re on active duty; their civilian employers will con-tribute to their plans when they pursue civilian careers.

When we have established this continuum of service,our nation will no longer need a separate and distinctArmy Reserve. It will have gained a force that is a totallyintegrated part of the operational Army. M

50 ARMY n April 2008

Sgt. April Pashley, 404th Civil Affairs Bat-talion, receives the new Combat Action

Badge from then-Army Chief of Staff Gen.Peter J. Schoomaker. The first Army Re-

serve soldier to receive the award, shecame under fire in Iraq while guarding

Coalition forces with her Army Reservespecial operations unit from Fort Dix, N.J.

SSgt. Jason Fetty (right) is the first Army Reserve soldierto earn the Silver Star for actions in Afghanistan. With himis CSM Leon Caffie, senior enlisted adviser for the ArmyReserve. SSgt. Fetty thwarted a suicide bomber at theopening of a new medical facility, saving countless lives.

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