Considering a Cadre Augmented Army - RAND Corporation

-93- A Budgetary Analysis of Cadre
Figure 8.2—A Strategic Reserve
When RC units are used only as a strategic reserve, the force needs more AC or
cadre BCTs to sustain the same rotation. For a force with 28 RC BCTs, ten additional BCTs
are needed to allow the RC to serve as a strategic reserve. If ten AC BCTs were added to the
force, this would increase average long-run annual costs by about $11 billion per year. If
cadre BCTs were added instead, this would increase average long-run annual costs by only
$4 billion per year, a savings of about $7 billion annually. A cadre augmented force reduces
the cost barrier to returning the RC to their traditional strategic role, an alternative that the
army may consider in the future. 112
8.3—A BROADER PERSPECTIVE
The results of this paper served as the impetus to explore cadre units in more depth.
The large cost savings make a cadre augmented force worth considering further. 113 However,
this paper only looked at budgetary issues. Many other issues need to be considered in a full
analysis of a cadre augmented force. We address many of these issues in Papers II and III of
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112 The Commission on the National Guard and Reserves recommended in 2008 that the National Guard be
tasked with only homeland security duties [CNGR (2008)]. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to think that
others may consider returning the reserves to their traditional strategic role, a move that would be less drastic
than removing all war fighting responsibilities from the National Guard.
113 Though these costs savings come with increases in military risk; a tradeoff the DoD should carefully
consider.