Considering a Cadre Augmented Army - RAND Corporation

-37- A Budgetary Analysis of Cadre
2. CADRE COST/RISK TRADEOFFS
This chapter calculates the changes in costs and military risk from moving to a cadre
augmented force. We consider a number of different cadre augmented force structures to
provide a broad picture of the cost-risk tradeoffs from a cadre augmented force. This
chapter relies upon the assumptions outlined in Chapter One. These assumptions are relaxed
incrementally in Chapters Three through Seven.
The first section of this chapter calculates the difference in cost and risk from
increasing the size of the Army with cadre units instead of AC units. The second section
calculates the change in annual cost and risk from altering the mix of the Army as it will be
in 2011 to include cadre units. The third section considers alternative measures of military
risk. The final section calculates the size of the cost savings from cadre relative to the total
cost of the Army and presents other reform proposals that achieve cost savings of the same
magnitude as those from a cadre force.
2.1—EXPANDING THE FORCE
In January of 2007, President George W. Bush announced he was going to increase
the size of the active Army by six BCTs. 22 The purpose of this expansion was to increase
dwell time 23 for units deploying in support of the Global War on Terror (GWOT). 24 The
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22 Sherman and Roque (2007), Department of Defense (2007b,c)
23 Dwell time is used throughout this dissertation to describe the amount of time a unit is home between
deployments. This is a term commonly used by the Army.
24 “The extra 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 Marines, due to be added by 2012, will increase time at home for units
between deployments … Army Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, Army Chief of Staff, and Marine Gen. James T.
Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.” [Wood (2007)]