The US Army’s Reserve is going to create units of highly combat readiness.
US Army soldiers stand at attention before a homecoming ceremony at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado February 12, 2009 (Photo: Reuters / Rick Wilking)
The US Army’s Reserve (USAR) plans to establish units of highly combat readiness, new commander of the USAR, Lieutenant-General Charles Luckey, said in an interview with a group of journalists on Monday.
As Luckey admitted, there is still no full understanding of how these units would look. He specified that they are still trying to decide how such formations would look and what military plans would define the requirements, imposed on them.
However, Luckey also confirmed that he has already required his command structure to explore the question of what kind of forces and means of the USAR can be provided to combat units in the case of receiving a request without prior warning at this stage. The US Army‘s Reserve is going to be ready for combat deployment “in less than 90 days [before it] and, in some cases, significantly less than 90 days,” Luckey added.
He also specified that at first, they are thinking about creation of USAR units of highly combat readiness, which would include “somewhere between 25,000 and 33,000 people.” In total, the USAR consists of 200,000 people.
According to Luckey, in the past 15 years, the threat to the US national security has changed and the USAR must be ready to take part in military operations of the “full spectrum.” “We need to look at another mandate of readiness,” the Lieutenant-General said. In addition, according to him, the USAR should be ready for appearance of “demand [for it], caused by extraordinary circumstances.”
At the same time, he noted that the matter does not concern return to the Cold War, mention of names of specific countries or selection of a particular potential enemy. According to Luckey, the US as a military leader must “take into account the potential of a potential enemy,” as well as “to remain relatively optimistic, trying to determine intentions of others.”
“I do not tell that we must be ready to act against any particular potential threat. Globally, the US has various threats… And I think that over the past 15 years, they have become more complex and more dynamic,” the Lieutenant-General concluded.
Cannon fodder.