I take it that your lens is a regular force lens.
During Afghanistan the reserves consistently deployed double digit augmentation. In total, I believe, 4,642 reservists deployed.
The problem from the regular force's point of view is that they want reservists for full tours which usually totals almost a year long commitment by the time predeployment training etc etc is taken into consideration. Much of the reserve force that is available on that basis is already filling thousands of Class B jobs in Ottawa and around the country.
If, for example, the regular force was to set more limited objectives, such as augmenting a rotation for a three-week exercise with a rifle company to augment a battalion or several recce troops to augment a squadron or a troop of artillery to an artillery battery, especially during summer vacation periods, I would suspect that a much greater level of participation would result.
One always has to remember that the vast bulk of the reserve force are only part-timers in the sense of the Army. In reality they are full-timers at civilian jobs and in schools who dedicate their spare time to military service. The key to the issue -- and it only takes a couple of beers to see that -- is that the regular force needs to set achievable goals and create the circumstances that will facilitate achievement. It does happen but, unfortunately, is the exception rather than the rule.
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My observation from 14 years in the army reserve in an urban regiment was that we had generally three categories of troops:
1. The dabblers, who would give it a whirl, finish basic, do maybe a year to a year and a half in the company, then get out.
2. The “School and a bit” crowd who would join either late in high school or early in college/university, and get out within a couple years of graduating once life got busy. Call it 5-7 years.
3. The “Long haulers” who would stick it out into their professional adult lives for as long as they’re able.
Anecdotally, most of us who deployed were younger- Cpl/MCpl. Most of us were either taking a break from or done school, or were not yet settled into a career or a marriage. There were of course plenty of exceptions, but generally very few would deploy in their first decade of a professional career. There were also quite a few who were living the Class B life.
May - August is the big window for students, of course- shorter stuff is easily fit in there, and the FTSE targets this window. For a full deployment though, we’re talking a year and a half to two years. In my case I took two years off after my second year of university. That was a year of workup then six months in theatre. Arguably, our pre deployment time was quite inefficient. We could have done the real work in maybe 6 or 7 months inclusive of our month in Ft Bliss and our month in Wainwright- both of which were also inefficient for my platoon. We sat on our thumbs a lot.
There will always be a lot of young reservists who don’t really have much direction in life yet who will happily grab a tour of any length. For anything lengthy, good NCOs in particular will be harder.
