Considering a Cadre Augmented Army - RAND Corporation

-171- An Operational Analysis of Cadre
cadre units discussed in this chapter provide cadre leaders with more realistic training
experiences that could lead to increased proficiency. Leaders assigned to maintenance cadre
units will be less experienced than they would be if another cadre organization was chosen.
This means they will be less likely to be promoted which will also make cadre leadership
positions more unattractive. 37
Another concern is that cadre leaders from all types of cadre units would be less
proficient than similar leaders assigned to active duty units. However, there is little concern
about the wartime proficiency of these leaders because they would have at least six months to
train with their unit’s junior personnel before being deployed. 38 Nonetheless, the overall
leader development process still remains a concern. Rotating active personnel through cadre
positions will slow the leader development process throughout the army. This is a significant
drawback of creating cadre units with active duty personnel.
The active army leader development problem could be alleviated by retaining cadre
leaders in the RC rather than the AC. For this to work, these leaders would have to be priorservice
personnel and the units would have to be based regionally. 39 Prior service RC leaders
would have relevant leadership experience and would have enough time to practice their
skills in wartime while junior personnel are recruited and trained. Additionally, a cadre unit
with leaders in the RC would cost less than an AC cadre unit. The problems with
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37 This has been true for assignments of AC personnel to RC units: “The Army typically does not reward the
active officers it assigns to reserve component support duty, and typically does not assign its best officers to
that duty. Not surprisingly, therefore, active officers seek to avoid service in reserve-support positions.” [Jacobs
(1994), p. 53]
38 Officers maintained in cadre status during peacetime (not promoted or activated from the IRR) would have
two years to hone their skills before being united with the junior personnel for their unit.
39 This assumes that RC cadre leaders would train together in peacetime. Another possibility discussed in a
later section is to retain cadre leaders in a “senior IRR.”