Considering a Cadre Augmented Army - RAND Corporation

-1- Introduction
Introduction
This dissertation considers whether integrating a new type of unit into the U.S. Army
could reduce costs without significantly increasing military risk. A new type of unit is now
worth considering because the Department of Defense (DoD) recently changed its force
planning guidance. The DoD shifted its focus from planning primarily for wars fought
without rotation to planning for wars fought with rotation. In a force designed for use with
rotation, some units are not needed as quickly as they were in a force designed for use
without rotation. These units could be maintained at a lower level of readiness in peacetime
and still be ready to deploy in the timeframe implied by rotation. 1 Maintaining these units at
a lower level of readiness will reduce costs because there is a tradeoff between the peacetime
cost and readiness of a unit. This paper explores whether integrating cadre units into the total
force could reduce costs without significantly increasing military risk. Cadre units retain only
leaders during peacetime and are brought to full strength only in wartime. The following
sections discuss the implications of the recent shift in DoD planning and introduce a role for
cadre units.
I—A SHIFT TO PLANNING FOR ROTATION
Since the end of World War II, the U.S. military has planned primarily to fight two
major wars simultaneously. 2 During the Cold War, this meant planning for a global war
fought in more than one theater. After the end of the Cold War, the DoD began sizing the
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1 Throughout this dissertation, we define readiness as what Betts (1995) defines as operational readiness: “how
soon an existing unit can reach peak capability for combat.” [Betts (1995), p. 40]
2 Hoehn and Ochmanek (2008) wrote: “Since 1950, when President Truman decided to fight to preserve the
independence of South Korea, the United States has made it a policy to field sufficient military forces to deter
— and defeat — large-scale aggression in two distinct parts of the globe more or less simultaneously.”