Lanterna Rally

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Published: 2005

Total Pages: 32

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The term Reserve Component is often used to refer collectively to the seven individual reserve components of the armed forces: the Army National Guard of the United States, the Army Reserve, the Navy Reserve, the Marine Corps Reserve, the Air National Guard of the United States, the Air Force Reserve, and the Coast Guard Reserve. The role of these seven reserve components, as codified in law at 10 U.S.C. 10102, is to provide trained units and qualified persons available for active duty in the armed forces, in time of war or national emergency, and at such other times as the national security may require, to fill the needs of the armed forces whenever ... more units and persons are needed than are in the regular components. During the Cold War era, the reserve components were a manpower pool that was rarely tapped. For example, from 1945 to 1989, reservists were involuntarily activated by the federal government only four times, an average of less than once per decade. Since the end of the Cold War, however, the nation has relied more heavily on the reserve components. Since 1990, reservists have been involuntarily activated by the federal government six times, an average of once every two years. This increasing use of the reserves has led to greater congressional interest in the various issues, such as funding, equipment, and personnel policy, that bear on the vitality of the reserve components. This report is designed to provide an overview of key reserve component personnel issues.