Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\tNumbers game: Inside the Army\u2019s end strength scramble<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t To meet its end strength goals, the Army will need to recruit somewhere between 27,000 and 33,000 new soldiers in less than 11 weeks.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n
More than half of the total Army\u2019s civil affairs, legal, psychological operations, chaplain, military history, quartermaster and medical units belong to the Army Reserve. Leaders, including Daniels, often claim to lawmakers that the force\u2019s units provide the active-duty Army with critical capabilities at a fraction of the cost to maintain them full-time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the practices that fed the mobilization machine have the Reserve on the ropes as the wars end and Pentagon officials look toward large-scale conflict rather than counterinsurgency rotations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many challenges burden the component\u2019s officers as they try to manage part-time service with full-time careers and family commitments. To understand the problems, Army Times scoured budget documents and public comments from Daniels and other Reserve officials, interviewed experts and current officers, and secured other documents from sources or via the Freedom of Information Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Reserve hasn\u2019t met its end strength target since 2016, and a recent report found that more than one-third of its new lieutenants don\u2019t finish their initial military training within two years of joining the force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the troops who are in uniform are facing increased \u201cpromotion peril,\u201d as a recent operations order terms it because they aren\u2019t completing the professional military education courses required to advance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The result is a significant decline in the number of officers who want battalion command \u2014 traditionally considered the culminating experience of a successful Army career \u2014 and burnout among those who accept it. Ongoing struggles with filling some battalion command slots even led the Reserve and the Army Talent Management Task Force to launch a pilot program placing active duty officers in command of select Reserve battalions that haven\u2019t had a commander in years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daniels is working to overcome these hurdles, and she\u2019s shared her game plan in a series of articles and speaking engagements, as well as a Jan. 27 phone interview with Army Times for this article. She named it \u201cOperation Shaping Tomorrow,\u201d a comprehensive plan to address the component\u2019s myriad manpower obstacles. Step one is focusing on people and their experience rather than turning metrics green on PowerPoint slides.<\/p>\n\n\n\nArmy Reserve 1st Lt. Roman Tirado, Army Reserve Medical Command, lunges for a rope on an obstacle course near Hammelburg, Germany on July 26, 2022 during The Interallied Confederation of Reserve Officers Military Competition. (Staff Sgt. David Graves\/Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nCurrently serving officers interviewed by Army Times believe in Daniels\u2019 vision but worry that the message isn\u2019t getting through. They requested anonymity because they weren\u2019t authorized to speak to the media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think [Daniels] is completely squared away,\u201d said one current Reserve battalion commander. \u201cThe problem is she needs to fire every f—— [general] she has\u2026because all of them are still looking at metrics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A leaky accessions pipeline<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The end-strength shortfall now facing the active Army and National Guard is old news to the Reserve, which hasn\u2019t met its authorized end strength since 2016, according to an Army Times review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s left some Reserve units understrength and without leaders in key positions, officials have acknowledged. The component experienced non-prior service recruiting shortfalls earlier and more acutely than the active Army and Guard, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A previously unreported factor compounding the end-strength crisis has been the Reserve\u2019s struggle to ensure new troops complete their initial training on time, according to a July 2022 report by the Army Audit Agency obtained by Army Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike the active component, where a soldier\u2019s career begins when they ship to training, Reserve and Guard troops often see significant delays between when they take their oath and when they make it to training. In the Guard, enlisted troops awaiting training are kept in holding units, but Reserve recruits and newly-commissioned officers attend regular drills while they await training \u2014 or work to secure a seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nearly a quarter of the Reserve\u2019s enlisted recruits who joined between Oct. 1, 2016, and Feb. 28, 2018, didn\u2019t complete their initial training within two years of joining, as required by law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The delay was more pronounced for new officers, more than a third of whom did not complete their basic officer course within two years, commissioned during the period, the report said. While some lieutenants went on to complete training beyond the two-year mark, nearly one in five of them hadn\u2019t as of May 2021, leaving them ineligible for deployment or even promotion to first lieutenant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The battalion commander argued the officer training delays may be due to problems securing slots for the lieutenants to attend required courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\nArmy Reserve Cpl. Ethan Allen, Army Reserve Medical Command, double checks his route during a CIOR orienteering exercise at Catamount, Vermont on July 23, 2022.(Staff Sgt. David Graves\/Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u201cI had to work my ass off to get two of my second lieutenants into [the Basic Officer Leader Course],\u201d he said, pointing to backlogs that began with reduced course capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each career field has its own course, and some branches have longer wait lists than others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daniels acknowledged the delays to Army Times, explaining that the Reserve took \u201ca really hard look at how many [lieutenants] we\u2019re commissioning in which different branches\u2026to be careful that we don\u2019t over access in particular areas versus others.\u201d The reserve command is \u201cdoing a better job managing\u2026monitoring [and] analyzing\u201d the delays since the report\u2019s publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The delays risk running the Reserve afoul of federal law mandating that troops who don\u2019t complete their training within two years be kicked out of service, auditors warned. If unchecked, the tardy trainees may derail Daniels\u2019 \u201cbig hairy audacious goal\u201d of being overstrength by 3,000 sergeants and 500 captains by the end of 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rise of \u201cpromotion peril\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Reserve also faces barriers to ensuring that the troops who do complete their initial training go on to fulfill other professional military education requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officers who want to reach the rank of major must complete Captain\u2019s Career Course, and those aiming for lieutenant colonel must complete Intermediate Level Education. Both courses take months to complete in person, and part-time officers often are left to study through an additional drill weekend each month or online distance learning courses are done on their own time and dime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And they\u2019re failing to complete \u2014 or even start \u2014 their courses in droves, Brig. Gen. Lance Calvert wrote in a December 2022 memorandum provided to Army Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe USAR, and subordinate echelons, are not exercising adequate oversight of the timely career management\/progression of captains and majors due to a lack of \u201cmeaningful management\u201d in scheduling the courses, Calvert explained in the memo. \u201c[T]he data shows that a significant number of officers are not attending school within established career map guidelines creating a backlog and increasing the population of [captains] and [majors] who are now in promotion peril.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Calvert said the \u201cbacklog of Captains and Majors that are in promotion peril\u2026exacerbates ongoing officer retention issues and contributes to the [Reserve\u2019s]\u201d end-strength woes.<\/p>\n\n\n\nArmy Reserve Best Squad Competitors smile while they watch other soldiers fire during the Best Squad Competition at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, on May 16, 2022. (Spc. Jorge Reyes\/Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nFor the fiscal 2018 promotion board considering majors for promotion to lieutenant colonel, nearly half of the otherwise eligible majors were blocked from promotion consideration because they hadn\u2019t finished intermediate education, according to a fiscal 2023 enrollment guide available on the Reserve\u2019s website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The distance learning and part-time versions of intermediate education are designed to mirror the graduate-level courses provided at the Command and General Staff College for those who attend in person, adding complex classwork on top of officers\u2019 existing military, civilian work and family responsibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Reserve\u2019s commander, Daniels, said the component is taking a \u201cproactive look at [professional military education]\u201d such as intermediate education in order to ensure commands are scheduling their officers to attend and giving them the time they need to complete it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The component\u2019s major commands are centralizing enrollment decisions for officer education and prioritizing seats based on a soldier\u2019s relative \u201cpromotion peril\u201d and whether their career field is undermanned, according to the Calvert memo. They\u2019re also directing commands to synchronize enrollments with the slower periods in unit training cycles so officers aren\u2019t trying to balance their education with deployment preparations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But some officers make a conscious choice to skip or fail intermediate education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One Reserve major, who requested anonymity because he wasn\u2019t authorized to speak with the media, told Army Times that he chose not to attend the course out of fear it would degrade his home life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t looking forward to the workload, the online classes, the extra weekends,\u201d he explained, adding that his unit was expecting him to continue fulfilling his typical duties despite the sharp jump in demand. After considering the tradeoffs, he\u2019s preparing to submit his retirement request, having served previously as an enlisted service member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The burden of battalion command<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s a deeper reason why the major opted out of intermediate education and consideration for lieutenant colonel \u2014 he doesn\u2019t want to command a battalion and fulfill the extra duty days and outside-of-drill workload that comes with the role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The current battalion commander said he spends 20 hours per week outside of drill working on Army tasks. He served nearly 70 additional days in uniform in 2022, he estimated. That contrasts with the 39-day annual commitment of \u201cone weekend a month, two weeks a year\u201d recruiters use to sell part-time service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have a good federal job\u2026I have an eight-year-old kid, and I have a wife, and I have things that I do in our personal life that I enjoy more than I think I would feel a sense of purpose and accomplishment in being a battalion commander,\u201d the major said. \u201cIt\u2019s not rewarding enough for me to put the rest of my life on hold for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The anonymous major is far from the only officer opting out of battalion command, whether by passing on promotion opportunities or formally opting out of the board that selects future battalion commanders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf someone doesn\u2019t have time to complete [professional military education] or isn\u2019t making time to complete [it], that\u2019s telling you something about the role of the Reserve in their individual life when it comes to selecting for [battalion] command,\u201d said Kate Kuzminski, who heads the military and veterans program at the Center for a New American Security think tank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She likened the move to \u201cquiet quitting,\u201d a term coined in 2022 to describe workers across America reportedly doing the minimum to remain employed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re not interested in battalion command at a certain point in your career, then maybe it\u2019s time to leave the Reserve,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s the tightrope walk that the Reserve is walking because they don\u2019t actually want to lose a bunch of people on that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Time-consuming requirements such as medical deployability and administrative readiness often take away from training time, though, potentially reducing the rewards of battalion command and driving up the workload. Much of it falls to overworked full-time staff thinly spread throughout the Reserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A 2022 inspection by the Army Reserve Command inspector general found that most units and leaders are overwhelmed by administrative work and readiness requirements that consume training time, Daniels said. She\u2019s launched an initiative to change that culture because she believes the solution to the component\u2019s recruiting and retention woes is to send troops home from drill weekend feeling as though they did their jobs and participated in meaningful training.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCapt. Joy Petway, 88th Readiness Division, looks for her first point during land navigation at an international competition in Catamount, Vermont on July 23, 2022. (Staff Sgt. David Graves\/Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe inspection found less than one hour per weekend was devoted to skills training in a typical Reserve unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daniels said she\u2019s asked her staff to stop focusing on metrics and to help units train. A memorandum outlining her priorities obtained by Army Times backs up her words. She even ordered her personnel directorate to stop circulating weekly Reserve-wide reports ranking units on medical compliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m encouraging all of my folks to get after tough, realistic training done safely in order to give their soldiers something to talk about when they go back to the office on Monday, or to their schools or their communities,\u201d Daniels explained. \u201cGo talk about it, bring more [recruits] into the force.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The current battalion commander said the message isn\u2019t getting out. He commands a non-deployable training unit that provides part-time drill sergeants who augment basic training centers during the busy summer months when recent high school graduates enter the force. Despite succeeding in getting drill sergeants to school and training centers, he received a middling evaluation due to administrative metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said his superior criticized him for \u201cnot doing very well at metrics\u201d such as medical readiness before submitting the mediocre evaluation. \u201cWhat the f— do I need deployability for?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The battalion commander said Daniels is \u201cfighting the current\u201d in trying to deemphasize metrics after more than two decades of war ingrained them in the component\u2019s culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s not clear if Daniels\u2019 combined efforts can immediately address a shortfall of battalion commanders, either. According to the news website Task & Purpose, 110 Reserve battalion command roles remained vacant between 2016 and 2020. The lack of leaders grew so dire in some fields that Daniels approved a pilot program that placed a handful of active-duty officers in command of Reserve units in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kuzminski and Daniels hope the program can help address short-term manpower needs and make more commands available to competitive active-duty officers while the Reserve works to rebuild its officer career development pipeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But if the status quo continues, argued the current battalion commander, the problems plaguing the Army Reserve will only grow worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCol. Steven Padilla (left), commander of the 11th Military Police Brigade hands the 324th Military Police Battalion colors to Lt. Col. Joel Maxwell (right). Maxwell was the first active-duty officer to take command of a Reserve battalion as part of a new pilot program. (Master Sgt. Andy Yoshimura\/Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u201cThe battalion commanders that I have seen in my division\u2026they\u2019re all retiring [after finishing],\u201d he said. \u201cThis is taking everything out of [us].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And if Daniels\u2019 gambit to change the culture around readiness doesn\u2019t stick?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Reserve\u2019s on a highway to hell,\u201d the battalion commander said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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Army Reserve officers are bailing out, this general has a plan - Army Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Practices that fed the mobilization machine during recent wars now bedevil the Reserve as those wars end and the Pentagon preps for bigger fights.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Army Reserve officers are bailing out, this general has a plan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Practices that fed the mobilization machine during recent wars now bedevil the Reserve as those wars end and the Pentagon preps for bigger fights.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2023\/02\/17\/army-reserve-officers-are-bailing-out-this-general-has-a-plan\/\" \/>\n<meta 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