Personnel: Active and Reserve Forces

The all-volunteer force, created in the early 1970s, represented an effort, following the Vietnam war, to find an alternative to the unpopular draft, considered to be unfair in its burdens on the less privileged members of our society. The current system has been largely successful in attracting, training, and retaining skilled personnel to operate the high-tech weaponry of the modern military. The all-volunteer force has been structured to provide incentives, including educational benefits, to enlist and retain middle- and senior-level noncommissioned personnel with important experience and key job skills. As the force is reduced in the 1990s, it will be essential to develop a proper mix between Active and Reserve Components, including the National Guard and Active Reserves, as well as combat and support units. There will probably be renewed discussion of questions of national service, the size of force structure, and involuntary separation. Decisions to merge or abolish understrength units will create a dilemma for congressional budget cutters and members of Congress traditionally protective of Reserve Components from their respective districts.