Hey, JOs: Want an interesting career plus a life? Come to the Guard and Reserves

By Brig. Gen. James D.
Campbell

Best Defense Guard
columnist

One of things I find most interesting, and even objectionable,
in the entire discourse between these two senior officers is the fact that, clearly, neither of
them recognizes or even considers the reserve components as part of "the
Army."

Many of the talented young officers and NCOs who
are choosing to leave the active force are, in fact, transferring to the
National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve. So in that sense, "the Army"
isn't losing these experienced young leaders. That is, we're not losing them if our active counterparts view the
Guard and Reserve as part of the wider team. Even more of these junior leaders
would choose the Guard and Reserve if active duty senior leaders actually tried
to present service in the Reserve Components as a viable option for those who
want to keep serving but also want stability for their families along with
different career and educational opportunities. Unfortunately, as judged by
these essays in FP, most senior Army
leaders don't ever even think of the reserve components as really part of
"the Army." Personally, along with many of my peers I left the regular
Army in the early '90s after almost 10 years of service and have been in the
Guard ever since. I've managed to have a full, reasonably successful career,
and have gotten to do a lot of things on the civilian side I never would have
done had I stayed on active duty.

This paradigm of leaving the reserve components
out of the equation has all sorts of corollaries: The refusal, for example, of
senior Army leaders to consider that, based on the recent Reserve Forces Policy Board report showing that the reserve components (RC)
cost only one-third the amount of the active components (AC), shouldn't we seek
to grow the RC as we must shrink the AC in order to retain the military
capability and force structure at less cost, and therefore have a flexible
"surge" capacity for emergencies? Aside from the fact that this is
effectively what we have done post-conflict throughout the entire history of
our nation, the cost pressures alone would dictate that it is a very
intelligent option. In addition to saving force structure and capability, we
would also be saving enormous numbers of proven, combat-experienced officers,
NCOs and soldiers by keeping them in the uniform and having them around for the
long term. Unfortunately, what we are hearing from senior Army leaders is that
they want to keep the AC as large as possible, even if that means cutting the
RC -- an idea that flies in the face of fiscal reality, the past 12 years of
actual operational experience, U.S. military history and tradition, and serves
as yet one more glaring reminder that our current generation of senior leaders
has never accepted the RC as equal, capable elements of the overall force. Cutting
off the nose to spite the face...

I invite all high-caliber junior and mid-grade
leaders in our Army (and Air Force) who are seeking a change and want more
stability for their families, more interesting assignment and career
opportunities, and challenging educational opportunities to look into joining
the National Guard in their home states or the states where they'd like to
live. We have been the key component of our nation's military since 1636, we
are in many ways the sole remaining repository of many of the best traditions
of the service, we listen to our people (we have to in order to keep our
high-performing, traditional part-time leaders in uniform), and we are still on
the front lines around the world. We are also still the only part of the force
which can legally and rapidly respond to assist our local communities when they
are in need.

BG James D. Campbell, Ph.D. is the adjutant
general of the Maine National Guard.