Considering a Cadre Augmented Army - RAND Corporation

-152- An Operational Analysis of Cadre
shorter delays to recruit and/or activate leaders, and (2) more rapid training of junior
personnel. 5 If we could estimate the relationship between cadre structure and readiness, we
could calculate a direct tradeoff between cost savings from a cadre augmented force and
stress on the AC. 6 However, it is difficult to estimate this relationship due to a lack of data.
Additionally, the readiness of a cadre unit is determined by factors not related to the size of
the cadre such as delays in activation. Therefore, we do not attempt to estimate the
relationship between cadre unit structure and readiness.
Since cadre units have never been purposely maintained in the U.S. Army, there is
little guidance to determine the appropriate size and structure of a cadre unit. Previous cadre
proposals have provided some guidance, but there is no established standard. This chapter
explores a variety of options for structuring cadre units in peacetime and calculates their
costs.
In order to perform the analyses in this section, we extracted the grade structure of a
BCT from U.S. Army Armor Center (2005) for each of the three types of BCTs (infantry,
Stryker, and heavy). 7 The grade structures of these three types of BCTs differ only slightly so
we chose to focus on infantry BCTs. Figure 2.1 shows the grade structure of an infantry
BCT.
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5 The justification for these is as follows: (1) cadre units that retain more leaders in peacetime need to
recruit/activate fewer leaders in wartime and (2) additional leaders would reduce the ratio of junior personnel
to leaders; this would reduce the amount of time it would take to develop proficient junior personnel.
6 This would allow DoD decision makers to determine size of a cadre unit based how they value stress on the
AC relative to cost savings.
7 The full structure for all three types of BCTs is shown in Appendix A.