Considering a Cadre Augmented Army - RAND Corporation

-267- A Historical Analysis of Cadre
1. INTRODUCTION
Since its creation, the United States Army has nearly always framed force structure
decisions as a tradeoff between active and reserve forces. Active and reserve forces have
been referred to in many ways throughout history. In this paper, we refer to active forces as
either the Regular Army or the Active Component (AC). We refer to the reserves as either
the militia or the Reserve Component (RC). 1 The key differences between active and reserve
forces are: (1) reserve forces are part-time while active forces are full-time, (2) reserve forces
are less expensive than active forces, and (3) reserve forces have fewer training opportunities
than active forces. 2 Active forces train full-time and can be ready to deploy within days or
weeks. Reserve forces train part-time and can be ready to deploy within months. The
readiness of a force is determined by two main factors: the number of personnel assigned to
a unit and the number of training opportunities available. Reserve forces have a lower level
of readiness than active forces because they have fewer training opportunities.
Active and reserve forces are two points on a readiness continuum. There are a
myriad of alternative forces, at different levels of readiness, which the Army could also
choose. Cadre forces are one of these alternatives. Cadre forces have a lower level of
readiness than active forces because they retain fewer personnel in peacetime than they
would deploy with in wartime. Cadre units retain only leaders during peacetime and are
brought to full strength only in wartime. Cadre forces are not new to American military
planning. They have been proposed periodically throughout the history of the United States
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1 Prior to the passage of the Dick Act of 1903, reserve forces were called the militia. After 1903, reserve forces
were generally referred to as the National Guard. The Reserve Forces Act of 1955 created the Army Reserve.
As is common today, we use the term Reserve Component (RC) to refer to both the National Guard and Army
Reserve.
2 See Klerman (2008) for a more detailed discussion of the distinguishing characteristics of reserve forces.