Army Guard, Reserve leaders discuss changes, challenges to force
By Maj. Patrick A. Swan
February 7, 2006
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Feb. 7, 2006) – In the first week of February, as the Army rolled out its budget and explained changes to its force structure, a top Army National Guard leader had a message for Soldiers: “The Army is in transition and we’re all in this together.”
Brig. Gen. David. P. Burford, assistant to the director of the Army National Guard, spoke at the mid-winter symposium of the Reserve Officer Association at the Washington Hilton Feb. 7.
“Our Soldiers must be flexible and they must be instantly agile,” Burford said, “because we’re engaged in so many missions around the world today. We’re no longer a strategic reserve force. We’re an operational reserve force and that means we must move out to the fight faster.”
Echoing Burford was Brig. Gen. Richard J. Sherlock, the deputy chief of the Army Reserve.
“It is clear we are more fully employed than we have been in the last 40 years,” Sherlock said. “We’re stretched, but not beyond our capacity. We can support ourselves. But we must keep ourselves mentally prepared for an expectation of service so we can deploy quickly anywhere we’re needed.”
On the subject of force structure, both Sherlock and Burford said the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard participated in the process to determine the right force structure and that they will build the force the Army asks them to build.
“Whatever force the Army asks for, we simply want it fully funded with trained units and ready Soldiers so we can best respond to the needs that our nation dictates,” he said.
Burford said duty in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom has made it hard to distinguish between National Guard and Reserve Soldiers and their active-component counterparts.
“We share the same planes, food, tents, battle space, casualties, recuperative care,” Burford said. “I don’t see how much closer we can be. Besides, enemy bullets don’t distinguish between active and reserve component Soldiers.”
Sherlock said combatant commanders don’t care what component supplies them with troops, so long as their needs are met.
“They do care about the performance of the troops they’re getting,” he said. “And our troops’ performance has been magnificent. These are the finest men and women our nation has ever had serving in her defense and I’m damn proud of all of them.”
(Maj. Patrick A. Swan serves with the 204th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, Orlando, Fla., U.S. Army Reserve)
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