Considering a Cadre Augmented Army - RAND Corporation

-221- An Operational Analysis of Cadre
Dewar et al argue that training capacity could be “greatly increased” in wartime, they argue:
“the training tempo could be increased with the greater use of all training facilities. Class
sizes could grow, hours of use could increase, and the rate of training at current USATCs
(U.S. Army Training Centers) and schools could substantially increase. In addition, more
USATCs and schools could be opened quickly, if required.” 151 All of these would come with
additional costs. For FY 2008, the Army requested less than $1 million to train additional
personnel as part of the expansion. 152 In wartime, a cadre augmented force could require
similar expenditures. Given the magnitude of the cost, this would have little impact on the
cost savings from a cadre augmented force.
It appears that training capacity is not a great concern for a cadre augmented force.
If additional new recruits can be trained during off-peak times, the existing individual
training system has enough excess capacity to meet the demands of each of the cadre
augmented forces examined in this dissertation. If additional recruits cannot be added in offpeak
times, the Army might temporarily expand the training system as it plans to in FY 2008.
Even if the Army temporarily expanded the training system, the additional cost would not
exceed the cost of the training infrastructure that would be required to maintain the
equivalent-sized non-cadre force. Therefore, even if additional costs are incurred during
wartime, this does not increase the cost of a cadre augmented force relative to the same sized
regular force.
The relevance of the discussion in this section depends on whether or not cadre
leaders would be assigned the task of training new recruits during wartime. If cadre leaders
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151 Dewar et al (2000), p. 45
152 The Army requested $2 million to support three separate needs: AC overstrength, personnel support, and
recruiting and retention. The Army does not break these out separately, but it seems fair to assume that the AC
overstrength component is less than half of this amount. [Department of the Army (2007b), p. 10]