Photo By Timothy Hale | Maj. Gen. David Conboy, U.S. Army Reserve Command deputy commanding general for...... read more read more
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FORT BRAGG, N.C. – Since the beginning of 2015 the U.S. Army Reserve has been on a campaign to increase recruiting and retention while at the same time trimming away excess in the ranks.
Operation Full Court Press is inspiring great strides in recruiting and retention but there is room for improvement when it comes to meeting end-strength goals.
This was the message from Maj. Gen. David Conboy, U.S. Army Reserve deputy commanding general for operations, during a June interview.
“It is working. We’ve seen very significant success,” Conboy said.
“Since the start of the year, we’re up a little more than 3,100 Soldiers, in terms of our formations. We’re over 198,000 (total force strength). That’s where we were initially focused on and now we’re pressing to see if we can get over 199,000. That’s very important to help us meet our end-strength objectives.”
Currently, Congress funds the Army Reserve end-strength at 202,000 Soldiers. Those numbers have fluctuated since 2000 as Army Reserve support of Army contingency missions have dictated.
U.S. Army Reserve Command G-1 officials said at the end of 2000, there were nearly 207,000 serving in the Army Reserve.
Those numbers increased to nearly 212,000 in 2003 to support Operation Iraqi Freedom and the nearly two-year old Operation Enduring Freedom.
In 2005, Army Reserve end-strength leveled off at a little more than 189,000, staying there through 2007.
In 2008, the Army’s operational focus shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan and the need for Army Reserve Soldiers increased with end-strength reaching a high-water mark of a little more than 205,000.
Those numbers started falling again in 2009 down to 195,000 before slowly climbing this year back to 198,000.
“Maintaining strength is so important because it is fundamental to our readiness,” Conboy said. “We have to have the right Soldiers – our women and men in uniform – to be able to accomplish our mission. Before we move on and address leader training and collective training it all starts with having the right number of Soldiers in individual readiness. Everything we do has to be associated with building readiness.”
While Conboy said the numbers are increasing he is not ready to declare a manpower victory.
He said the goal was to reduce “flags,” which can range from APFT and height and weight failures, to unsatisfactory participants, by 50 percent but leaders in the field haven’t reached that goal.
“We can do better there,” Conboy said. He added the retention mission and negating controllable losses is doing very well. We can’t let up.”
He cautioned that meeting desired end-state strength while keeping Soldiers who did not meet the standard in the ranks was not helpful in maintaining readiness.
“With Full Court Press, Lt. Gen. (Jeffrey) Talley directed that we re-double our efforts to bring Soldiers who are not meeting the standard into the standard. But in the end, if they can’t meet the standard they’re not helping our readiness and we have to administratively discharge them.”
Conboy said the success he has seen is leaders who are actively engaged with their units.
“What’s happening is engaged leaders are making a difference,” he said. “We have outstanding leaders in positions who want to make a difference in the lives of the Soldiers and build readiness in their units.”
Senior U.S. Army Reserve officials have said that giving unit leaders the flexibility to take acceptable risks with processes, systems and training is helping turn the numbers around.
“I think our very best leaders will want to do that and will do that,” Conboy said. “That’s what being a commander is about. We can never do everything perfectly and to the standard. We clearly do not have the time or resources to do that.”
He added that junior leaders need to be able to have that flexibility to make those decisions and their higher headquarters need to be supportive. By doing so, the junior leaders take ownership in the process to achieve and determine the results of training. What works for one unit will be different for other units depending on their particular mission, Conboy said.
“It’s not about following a script. It’s about the outcome we are seeking to achieve and that outcome is building readiness in the best way possible,” he said. “So that’s where we need that creative and innovative leader. We can’t be risk-averse or a zero tolerant environment. When it comes to character and Army values, those are non-negotiable. In terms of everything else, we need to underwrite those even though they may not turn out to be perfect. It’s all about trying to do the right thing and learning.”
Another component of Full Court Press that is aiding retention and recruiting is units that have active Family Readiness Groups, or FRGs.
“They (FRGs) are incredibly important,” Conboy said. “We say often that ‘we enlist a Soldier but we reenlist the family.’ I think that is particularly true in the Army Reserve.”
Conboy said that because Army Reserve units are not typically found on Army installations, having an active FRG is important.
“Having those robust Family Readiness Groups throughout our formations is important and building it into a weekend battle assembly is absolutely a great idea,” Conboy said.
“It comes down to engaged leaders and engaged families at the local level that are doing the things that help our Soldiers stay ready to accomplish our mission,” Conboy said. “After 13 years of war, we’ve put an enormous burden on our Soldiers and our families and we certainly owe it to both of them to provide the resources, systems, and framework to continue to advance FRGs and the great work they do.”
| Date Taken: | 06.02.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 07.07.2015 14:37 |
| Story ID: | 169281 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 1,213 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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