Considering a Cadre Augmented Army - RAND Corporation

-99- A Budgetary Analysis of Cadre
As wars get longer, l 3 increases for each of the cadre augmented forces because all cadre units
are mobilized for a larger fraction of the time. The rate of increase is larger for larger cadre
forces because in the limit, when wars occur 100 percent of the time, l 3 will approach 100
percent for all cadre forces.
Table A.4 shows the unit cost equations when we substitute the rotation and cost
parameters in Table A.2 and the fraction of time cadre units are mobilized over the course of
a ten-year war for the +6 Cadre force.
Table A.4—Unit Cost Equations for +6 Cadre Force
Force
AC (1)
RC (2)
Cadre (3)
Average Per Unit Cost
c =
1
1
c2 = α *0.40 + (1 −α)*0.28
c3 = α *0.83 + (1 −α)*0.20
If we make an assumption about the frequency of wars, we can use the cost
equations above to calculate the relative cost of any force. In Chapter Two of this paper, we
assumed that wars occur 33 percent of the time. Under this assumption, the average cost of
one cadre (RC) BCT in the +6 Cadre force relative to an AC BCT is 41 percent (32
percent). 118
A.2—ANNUAL COST PER BCT
The annual cost estimates for AC and RC BCTs used in the body of this paper are
derived from two sources: CBO (2007a) and Jaffe (2006). CBO (2007a) estimates the annual
cost of an active duty soldier at $111,000. 119 For simplicity, we assume that each active duty
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118 The relative cost of a RC BCT does not vary with the size of the force.
119 This estimate is a sum of personnel costs ($65,000 per year), health care costs ($13,000 per year), and
operations and maintenance costs ($33,000 per year).