Considering a Cadre Augmented Army - RAND Corporation

-207- An Operational Analysis of Cadre
(65,000) by the number of BCTs (six). This assumes that combat support (CS) and combat
service support (CSS) units are also maintained in cadre status and have grade structures
similar to a BCT. At a rate of three BCTs per year, an additional 18,525 junior personnel
would be needed each year. Table 5.1 shows the annual increase in the number of junior
personnel for different cadre unit structures and rates of mobilization. 114
Table 5.1—Wartime Personnel Needed to Fill Out Cadre Units for Differing Cadre
Unit Structures and Mobilization Rates
Cadre
Mobilization Rate
All Officers and
NCOs
Senior Officers
and NCOs
1 BCT / year 6,175 8,342
3 BCT / year 18,525 25,025
6 BCT / year 37,050 50,050
5.2.2—Increasing End Strength
Since cadre units would have many years to prepare for deployment, it might be
possible to fill out cadre units by increasing the end-strength of the AC. Increasing endstrength
in wartime is not new to the United States Army. The Army has increased in size
for almost every major war including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2007, the army
announced it was increasing its end strength by 65,000 personnel. There are two concerns
with increasing end-strength in wartime: feasibility and cost.
As of early 2008, the Army planned to add six BCTs over the course of four years.
This expansion occurred at a rate of about 9,000 new soldiers per year. 115 The cadre
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114 Here, we consider only two of the five cadre unit structures examined in Chapter Two. We only need to
consider these two structures because the number of junior enlisted personnel required is only determined by
the cutoff for senior enlisted personnel. All of the cadre unit structures we examined in Chapter Two define
senior enlisted personnel as either E-5 or E-6 and above. The fact that some structures do not retain all senior
personnel does not affect the need for junior personnel because senior personnel will be procured by either
increasing promotion rates or activating senior IRR personnel.
115 Originally the expansion was planned to take five years at a rate of 7,000 additional soldiers per year [DSB
(2007), p. 26; Korb and Bergmann (2007), p. 22]. In late 2007, the DoD stated that the expansion could be
accomplished over four years [Cloud (2007)], this increases the rate of expansion to 9,000 per year.