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United States Army Reserve
The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces.
On 23 April 1908 Congress created the Medical Reserve Corps, the official predecessor of the Army Reserve. After World War I, under the National Defense Act of 1920, Congress reorganized the U.S. land forces by authorizing a Regular Army, a National Guard and an Organized Reserve (Officers Reserve Corps and Enlisted Reserve Corps) of unrestricted size, which later became the Army Reserve. This organization provided a peacetime pool of trained Reserve officers and enlisted men for use in war. The Organized Reserve included the Officers Reserve Corps, Enlisted Reserve Corps and Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC).
The Organized Reserve infantry divisions raised immediately after World War I generally continued the lineage and geographic area distribution of National Army divisions that had served in the war. They were maintained on paper with a maximum of all of their officers and one-third of their enlisted men. Units in other arms of the Army besides infantry were also maintained, such as field artillery, coast artillery, cavalry, engineers, medical, signal, quartermaster, and ordnance. In March 1926, the War Department authorized the manning of Regular Army units being maintained in an "inactive" status with Organized Reserve officers, eliminating the previously used "Active Affiliate" program for these units. Nearly all "Regular Army Inactive" (RAI) infantry regiments and many other units were "affiliated" with Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) units in their vicinity. The professor of military science and tactics at the school or the senior Regular Army officer of the unit's branch assigned to the ROTC program served as the unit commander, and the unit was populated with graduates of the program. By 1 October 1933, command of all RAI units had been turned over to Reserve officers. A number of the affiliations became defunct throughout the 1930s, but RAI units were among the most active in the Reserve.
The ultimate use of Organized Reserve units and personnel remained unclear in the interwar period. While Army regulations stated that "The ultimate objective in training units of the Organized Reserve in time of peace is to provide partially trained units which may be readily expanded to war strength and completely trained in time of emergency," historian William J. Woolley wrote that, "The question of whether reserve units were to be chiefly concerned with mobilizing and training a conscripted citizen army or were to be contingents of a nearly ready combat force was never resolved in the 1930s, and reforms in training efforts often shifted between one and the other of the two objectives." Service in the Organized Reserve during the interwar period was not as appealing as the Army expected, and suffered because of limited funding that restricted training opportunities. Weekly inactive training drills were unpaid, and the average Organized Reserve officer was ordered to active duty for two weeks of paid training only once every three or four years; some officers trained nearly every year, to the detriment of others who had to wait as long as seven years between training opportunities. Turnover in the Officers' Reserve Corps was high, as many men in mandatory ROTC had little interest in military affairs, and allowed their five-year commissions to expire without applying for reappointment. By the beginning of the 1930s, ROTC graduates became the single largest cohort of officers in the Officers' Reserve Corps.
The original Regular Army Reserve, established in 1916 but abolished in 1920, had chiefly been manned by the reenlistment of former Regular Army soldiers or National Guardsmen, but the small annual stipend as an incentive for joining was not included in the Enlisted Reserve Corps (ERC). Another problem with the Enlisted Reserve Corps was the few avenues through which someone could join. Enlistment in the ERC was restricted to those men "who have had such military or technical training as may be prescribed by regulations of the Secretary of War." One means to join the ERC was through the ROTC or Citizens Military Training Camps (CMTC). If a man had completed at least one year in ROTC, or had completed one 4-week CMTC camp, he could also enlist in the ERC. Each year of participation in ROTC and completion of each CMTC camp earned the participant promotions in the ERC. Some enlisted reservists went on to receive commissions in a few years, thus leaving the ranks of the ERC. The final way one could enter the ERC was if he (or she, in the case of nurses) possessed skills needed by the Army that required no prior military training, such as nursing, railroad occupations, certain communications fields, and music. Interestingly, a substantial number of enlisted reservists in the interwar period, at least into the early 1930s, were bandsmen. Because of these restrictions, the ERC maintained an average strength of only about 3,500 men and women, and never more than 6,000 at any time from 1919 to 1941; most divisions reached their full complement of officers but had less than 100 enlisted men.
The extent of the U.S. Army's mobilization before its involvement in World War II—“a state neither of war nor of peace"—disrupted the Organized Reserve. Beginning in mid-1940, large numbers of Reserve officers began to be called to active duty individually and assigned to expanding Regular Army units, and to National Guard units after the mobilization of that component was authorized in August. On 30 June 1940, 2,710 Reserve officers were on active duty, but by 15 May 1941, the number was over 46,000, and by 30 June, 57,309. The need for young, qualified company-grade officers (lieutenants and captains) was acute, and by mid-1941, 75 to 90 percent of the officers in Regular Army units and 10 percent in National Guard units were Reserve officers. By December 1941, 80,000 Reserve officers were on active duty. By the end of 1942, 140,000 officers holding Reserve commissions through various paths were on active duty, but by that date, 12,100 who had been previously commissioned "had not received such orders," mainly for reasons like being over-age in grade, found medically disqualified for active service, deferred due to academics or civilian employment, or lack of vacancies.
On 6 February 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9049, which ordered "into the active military service of the United States...for the duration of the present war and for six months after the termination thereof...each of the organizations and units and all of the personnel of the Organized Reserve not already in such service;" because most Reserve officers were already on sctive duty, this amounted to a “public relations” document. Because of the course of the mobilization of 1940–1941, "few of the Reserve officers originally assigned to...units were available for duty with them. Consequently, the units as activated bore small resemblance to those of peacetime." The order and timetable in which Organized Reserve infantry divisions were ordered to active duty was based upon the number of World War I battle honors earned (if applicable), the location and availability of training sites, and the ability of the Army to furnish divisional cadres and filler replacements.
The 101st Infantry Division was designated a division of the Organized Reserve after World War I and assigned to the state of Wisconsin; unlike the 82nd Airborne Division, the Reserve division was disbanded when the 101st Airborne Division was raised in the Army of the United States on 15 August 1942.
Hub AI
United States Army Reserve AI simulator
(@United States Army Reserve_simulator)
United States Army Reserve
The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces.
On 23 April 1908 Congress created the Medical Reserve Corps, the official predecessor of the Army Reserve. After World War I, under the National Defense Act of 1920, Congress reorganized the U.S. land forces by authorizing a Regular Army, a National Guard and an Organized Reserve (Officers Reserve Corps and Enlisted Reserve Corps) of unrestricted size, which later became the Army Reserve. This organization provided a peacetime pool of trained Reserve officers and enlisted men for use in war. The Organized Reserve included the Officers Reserve Corps, Enlisted Reserve Corps and Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC).
The Organized Reserve infantry divisions raised immediately after World War I generally continued the lineage and geographic area distribution of National Army divisions that had served in the war. They were maintained on paper with a maximum of all of their officers and one-third of their enlisted men. Units in other arms of the Army besides infantry were also maintained, such as field artillery, coast artillery, cavalry, engineers, medical, signal, quartermaster, and ordnance. In March 1926, the War Department authorized the manning of Regular Army units being maintained in an "inactive" status with Organized Reserve officers, eliminating the previously used "Active Affiliate" program for these units. Nearly all "Regular Army Inactive" (RAI) infantry regiments and many other units were "affiliated" with Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) units in their vicinity. The professor of military science and tactics at the school or the senior Regular Army officer of the unit's branch assigned to the ROTC program served as the unit commander, and the unit was populated with graduates of the program. By 1 October 1933, command of all RAI units had been turned over to Reserve officers. A number of the affiliations became defunct throughout the 1930s, but RAI units were among the most active in the Reserve.
The ultimate use of Organized Reserve units and personnel remained unclear in the interwar period. While Army regulations stated that "The ultimate objective in training units of the Organized Reserve in time of peace is to provide partially trained units which may be readily expanded to war strength and completely trained in time of emergency," historian William J. Woolley wrote that, "The question of whether reserve units were to be chiefly concerned with mobilizing and training a conscripted citizen army or were to be contingents of a nearly ready combat force was never resolved in the 1930s, and reforms in training efforts often shifted between one and the other of the two objectives." Service in the Organized Reserve during the interwar period was not as appealing as the Army expected, and suffered because of limited funding that restricted training opportunities. Weekly inactive training drills were unpaid, and the average Organized Reserve officer was ordered to active duty for two weeks of paid training only once every three or four years; some officers trained nearly every year, to the detriment of others who had to wait as long as seven years between training opportunities. Turnover in the Officers' Reserve Corps was high, as many men in mandatory ROTC had little interest in military affairs, and allowed their five-year commissions to expire without applying for reappointment. By the beginning of the 1930s, ROTC graduates became the single largest cohort of officers in the Officers' Reserve Corps.
The original Regular Army Reserve, established in 1916 but abolished in 1920, had chiefly been manned by the reenlistment of former Regular Army soldiers or National Guardsmen, but the small annual stipend as an incentive for joining was not included in the Enlisted Reserve Corps (ERC). Another problem with the Enlisted Reserve Corps was the few avenues through which someone could join. Enlistment in the ERC was restricted to those men "who have had such military or technical training as may be prescribed by regulations of the Secretary of War." One means to join the ERC was through the ROTC or Citizens Military Training Camps (CMTC). If a man had completed at least one year in ROTC, or had completed one 4-week CMTC camp, he could also enlist in the ERC. Each year of participation in ROTC and completion of each CMTC camp earned the participant promotions in the ERC. Some enlisted reservists went on to receive commissions in a few years, thus leaving the ranks of the ERC. The final way one could enter the ERC was if he (or she, in the case of nurses) possessed skills needed by the Army that required no prior military training, such as nursing, railroad occupations, certain communications fields, and music. Interestingly, a substantial number of enlisted reservists in the interwar period, at least into the early 1930s, were bandsmen. Because of these restrictions, the ERC maintained an average strength of only about 3,500 men and women, and never more than 6,000 at any time from 1919 to 1941; most divisions reached their full complement of officers but had less than 100 enlisted men.
The extent of the U.S. Army's mobilization before its involvement in World War II—“a state neither of war nor of peace"—disrupted the Organized Reserve. Beginning in mid-1940, large numbers of Reserve officers began to be called to active duty individually and assigned to expanding Regular Army units, and to National Guard units after the mobilization of that component was authorized in August. On 30 June 1940, 2,710 Reserve officers were on active duty, but by 15 May 1941, the number was over 46,000, and by 30 June, 57,309. The need for young, qualified company-grade officers (lieutenants and captains) was acute, and by mid-1941, 75 to 90 percent of the officers in Regular Army units and 10 percent in National Guard units were Reserve officers. By December 1941, 80,000 Reserve officers were on active duty. By the end of 1942, 140,000 officers holding Reserve commissions through various paths were on active duty, but by that date, 12,100 who had been previously commissioned "had not received such orders," mainly for reasons like being over-age in grade, found medically disqualified for active service, deferred due to academics or civilian employment, or lack of vacancies.
On 6 February 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9049, which ordered "into the active military service of the United States...for the duration of the present war and for six months after the termination thereof...each of the organizations and units and all of the personnel of the Organized Reserve not already in such service;" because most Reserve officers were already on sctive duty, this amounted to a “public relations” document. Because of the course of the mobilization of 1940–1941, "few of the Reserve officers originally assigned to...units were available for duty with them. Consequently, the units as activated bore small resemblance to those of peacetime." The order and timetable in which Organized Reserve infantry divisions were ordered to active duty was based upon the number of World War I battle honors earned (if applicable), the location and availability of training sites, and the ability of the Army to furnish divisional cadres and filler replacements.
The 101st Infantry Division was designated a division of the Organized Reserve after World War I and assigned to the state of Wisconsin; unlike the 82nd Airborne Division, the Reserve division was disbanded when the 101st Airborne Division was raised in the Army of the United States on 15 August 1942.