Considering a Cadre Augmented Army - RAND Corporation

-181- An Operational Analysis of Cadre
both.” 63 He argues that this should be done by increasing the size of the Trainees,
Transients, Holdees, and Students (TTHS) account, which would provide increased
educational opportunities for officers and NCOs. Explicitly increasing the number of
officers and NCOs in school and attaching some of them to cadre units is another way of
organizing a cadre force in peacetime. 64 Johnson even hints at this possibility: “an increased
TTHS account will provide the Army the ability to achieve … potentially, an expansion base
for any larger conflict that might come along.” 65
There are a number of advantages to this alternative. First, retaining additional
officers and NCOs in educational programs could reduce the relative cost of cadre units if
the Army valued the additional educational experiences of officers and NCOs. Second, this
alternative would not negatively affect the leader development process since the duties
assigned to cadre leaders in peacetime are part of the leader development process. In
addition, like the senior IRR, this alternative would not put cadre leaders in a situation where
they would have to compete for leadership opportunities.
There are two major disadvantages to this alternative. First, leaders would not be
developing combat leadership skills during these assignments as they would if they were
leading an active duty unit. However, the Army’s commitment to rotating leaders through
staff and line assignments shows that these are both important. Like all the other non-
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63 Johnson (2007), p. 1.
64 This would require that cadre officers and NCOs be pulled out of school in wartime. This has always been a
contentious point in the Army as it is generally thought not to be good practice to disrupt the education of
officers to meet wartime needs. However, in this case, this would be education above and beyond what is
currently being provided and therefore could be delayed until the end of the war without significant
consequences.
65 Johnson (2007), p. 3.