U.S. Army Reserve Personnel Command
The U.S. Army Reserve Personnel Command manages Individual Ready Reserve [IRR] and Individual Mobilization Augmentee [IMA] soldiers. The AR-PERSCOM mission is to conduct or support Human Resource Life-Cycle Management for over one million customers. AR-PERSCOM consists of over 1,000 civilians and 520 soldiers of which a majority of the officers are Majors (O4) and noncommissioned officers are Sergeants First Class (E7). The majority of AR-PERSCOM efforts support the 205,000 Selected Reserve soldiers (TPU, IMA and AGR). AR-PERSCOM works daily towards assisting them in meeting the minimum mobilization readiness requirements to qualify them to transfer to one of the selected reserve organizations or to fill a valid mobilization requirement.
With the advent of the Reserve Officer Personnel Management Act (ROPMA) in October 1996, it quickly became apparent that the current management system in the USAR was inadequate in terms of developing the "best qualified" officers who could successfully compete with their active component counterparts in Force XXI and the Army After Next. In the past, success in the USAR was determined by what control group the officer was in. Officers assigned to Troop Program Units or the Active Guard Reserve program were considered "players," while those assigned to the Individual Ready Reserve or the Individual Mobilization Augmentee program were not, regardless of the reason they were in that control group.
The Officer Personnel Management System XXI (OPMS XXI) is the new personnel management system that will groom a generation of U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) officers. It will prepare them for senior leadership and decision-making positions at all levels of the Department of Defense into the year 2025. The Individual Ready Reserve will be used as a temporary "holding cell" for officers who are completing non-resident Professional Military Education courses, or cannot actively participate in the Troop Program Unit or Individual Mobilization Augmentee programs due to temporary conditions.
Individual Mobilization Augmentee (IMA)
An Individual Mobilization Augmentee is an individual reservist attending drills who receives training and is preassigned to an active component organization, a Selective Service System, or a Federal Emergency Management Agency billet that must be filled on, or shortly after, mobilization. Individual mobilization augmentees train on a part-time basis with these organizations to prepare for mobilization. Inactive duty training for individual mobilization augmentees is decided by component policy and can vary from 0 to 48 drills a year.
Active Guard Reserve (AGR)
The Active Guard Reserve (AGR) Program supports and enhances the mobilization readiness of the Army Reserve. AGR soldiers serve full time and enjoy the same benefits as Regular Army soldiers, including full commissary and Post Exchange privileges, medical care for themselves and their immediate family, and the opportunity for immediate retirement after 20 years of active federal service. Soldiers on AGR duty serve worldwide in positions that directly support the Army Reserve.
The AGR Program is open to soldiers serving in the Army Reserve, National Guard and Regular Army. To gain eligibility for entrance into the AGR Program, soldiers in the Regular Army and National Guard must be discharged from their component and accessioned into the Army Reserve. Soldiers must be in the grades of Specialist through Sergeant First Class, Warrant Officer One through Chief Warrant Officer Four, or Second Lieutenant through Major.
The Chief, Army Reserve considers eligible Active Guard Reserve (AGR) officers for extension beyond 20 years of active federal service (AFS). By extending AGR officers beyond 20 years AFS, the Army Reserve will be able to take advantage of the talents and experience of officers who until now, for the most part, have had to leave the AGR Program upon reaching 20 years AFS. Members of the AGR Program and other full-time support soldiers and civilians are essential to the Army Reserve's ability to maintain its current high readiness levels and to increasing those levels even more.
Troop Program Unit (TPU)
Troop Program Unit (TPU) soldiers work part-time and receive pay only when they perform duty. Pay is by exception: when a TPU soldier performs duty, he/she submits paperwork and the system manually inputs the pay. The Unit Administrator (UA) usually handles a TPU soldier's pay. The UA submits drills, duty orders, travel and other administrative change documents to the pay account of the soldier's servicing Reserve Component Pay Support Office (RCPSO). The only time that the UA does not do the TPU soldier's pay is when the soldier is performing duty of 30 days or more (this includes travel time) and the duty location has a local finance office. In this case, the soldier must report to the local finance office for pay processing.
Individual Ready Reserve (IRR)
The Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) consists of soldiers assigned to control groups (Annual Training) and (Reinforcement). These different groups provide for the control and administration of soldiers not assigned to the Selected Reserve (TPU, IMA and AGR).
Control group (Annual Training) consists of non-unit Ready Reserve soldiers with a training obligation. They may be assigned to units or required to perform other appropriate training deemed necessary by their career manager. These soldiers must take part in annual training when directed.
Control Group (Reinforcement) consists of all other non-unit Ready Reserve soldiers not assigned to other control groups. They may, or may not have completed their military service obligation (MSO) and have no mandatory training requirements. Soldiers credited with three or more years of active duty and who have a remaining MSO are assigned to this Control Group.
Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) is a personnel pool principally consisting of individuals who have had training and have previously served in the active forces or in the Selected Reserve. The IRR consists of obligors who must fulfill their Military Service Obligation, and those who have fulfilled their MSO and who voluntarily remain in the IRR. IRR members are subject to involuntary active duty (AD) or training and fulfillment of mobilization requirements. Additionally, the IRR also includes some personnel who are participating in officer training programs or in the Armed Forces Health Professions Financial Assistance Programs.
All members of the Ready Reserve serving in the Army Reserve who are not members of a Selected Reserve unit, or assigned to an individual mobilization augmentee billet, or performing Active Guard or Reserve duty, or are on extended AD, are placed in the IRR.
