A Shared Mission
Deployments bring reserve and active components together, improved benefits and services for reserve troops and their families.
By Monique Rizer
Weekend Warrior. Armchair Soldier.
This was the image of the Reserves and National Guard for decades. But 9/11 changed everything. Suddenly the Reserve Component (RC) was needed at a level not seen since World War II. Deployments became a shared experience, and that’s the fastest way to change perspectives, explained Morten Ender, sociology program director and professor at West Point.
“Now, the active and reserves are doing the same things while they are deployed. But in some ways I think that’s where the similarities end,” Elder said. “Reservists bring a little more experience to the fight because they have jobs back home and can bring that to bear. That’s important because the campaign plan in Iraq and Afghanistan isn’t just being a warrior. It’s being a diplomat, it’s doing other things like economic development stabilization and winning hearts and minds.”
Reserves and their families also have different needs resulting from the deployments. And the country has strived to meet them.
Changing Needs
“Our nation began to rely more and more on the Reserve Component throughout the past twenty years, but particularly so following 9/11,” said James “Scotty” Scott, executive director of the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program, office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs. “Because of this, it became clear that the compensation and benefits available to members of the Selected Reserve should be enhanced to better support our RC service members and their families.”
OSD/RA reports that more than 200 legislative changes directly affecting the reserve personnel pay and management have been enacted since 2002. (See sidebar.)
John Gipe, the senior enlisted advisor at OSD/RA, said he has watched the landscape improve as they were called on more and more.
“After Desert Storm the treatment got better; the walls were being knocked down,” he said. “By 9/11 there had already been progress and by 2005 there were major gains.”
That year 50 percent of the combat brigades in Iraq were from the Army National Guard. Overall, more than 724,000 Guard and reservists have been mobilized since 9/11.
A More Experience RC
When Michael Noyce Merino became the first National Guardsman to win the Army’s NCO of the Year award in 2008, it showed a new acceptance by the regular Army.
“The National Guard wasn’t allowed to compete until a couple of years ago, because they weren’t considered to be a major Army command,” Noyce Merino explained. “We have had few opportunities to win and didn’t win until last year. I was proud to represent the Guard.”
Of course, Noyce Merino spent eight years on active duty and deployed twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. But his experience is not unusual in the Army National Guard. More than 37 percent of enlisted members came from the active duty. Still, Noyce Merino came with a bit of prejudice.
“I expected it to be a unit of soldiers who weren’t committed to deploying,” Noyce Merino admitted of his 2007 transfer. “Instead, I found a set of soldiers dedicated to their country, their families and their communities.”
Improved Training and Equipment
Gipe noted that the RC gets improved training now. “Training has changed 180 degrees in the way we treat our soldiers,” he said. “We get more money and more equipment, which enables us to train better.”
He points to the convoy live-fire range, first deployed in the Guard. This prepares service members to handle fire fights if they are attacked in a convoy. Noyce Merino highlighted the Humvee Egress Assistance Trainer (HEAT), which the Montana Guard recently received. It simulates an overturned vehicle and prepares soldiers to get out alive.
“That piece of equipment for a state like Montana, which doesn’t have that many soldiers, is representative of how much training is put into every guardsman for every unit today,” he said.
Both Components Benefit From Services Created for the RC
More demand on the RC has improved family programs as well.
“I still think there is a perception on the part of guard and reserve families that they may not be receiving all the support that active duty families receive,” said Kathleen Moakler, director of government relations with the National Military Family Association. “However, the number of programs that have been implemented for guard and reserve continues to grow, and they are more creative because they have to do with a geographically dispersed population.”
Military OneSource, the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program and Military Family Life Consultants—all were conceived to meet the needs of RC families, but have helped dispersed active duty families, too.
Family Services Are Still Developing
“We listened to reserve families over the years and realized we failed,” said Ross Mackenzie, a sailor and director of family and warrior support programs for the Navy reserves. “We realized we needed to do better in offering comfort, camaraderie, care and support to the reserves.”
The Returning Warrior Workshops are a part of that effort, which began this year under Yellow Ribbon Program funding. More than 2,000 sailors and their families have received financial counseling, on-site counseling support and even yoga and Pilates classes.
“Our goal is to educate and expose them to available resources, celebrate their sacrifice and help them network and seek help if they find they need it,” explained Mackenzie.
Families also get a chance to voice their challenges. Senior level officers sit plain clothed in the “improving the process” breakout portion of the RWW to hear what needs are not being met.
“We still can improve, but those issues are listened to and they’re being addressed,” Mackenzie said.
Based on the feedback at one RWW, an Individual Augmentee coordinator was placed within each command to “shepherd” the IA sailor and the family through the deployment and maintain month to month contact. That program began seven months ago.
An Expanded Military Family
Moakler said that the needs continue to evolve, but is encouraged reserve and guard families to take ownership of their service.
“They’ve been through the multiple deployments,” she said. “They’ve made sacrifices just as their active duty families have made. They can wear that title of military family proudly.”
Chronology of Reserve Component benefits
1973 – All volunteer force is created. Reserve and Guard only entitled to benefits and privileges while on active-duty status
1986 – Twelve shopping visits to commissary per year are granted
1990 – Operation Desert Shield
1991 – Operation Desert Storm
1997 – ID card is changed from red to green to match active duty (families still carry a pink card)
1998 – Commissary shopping days increase to 24 visits a year
2001 – Eligible to enroll in dental insurance through TRICARE. More than 30 days of active duty allows unlimited commissary shopping privileges. Attacks on 9/11 follow.
2003 – Invasion of Iraq. Reserve and Guard granted unlimited access to the commissary
2006 – The threshold for RC to receive full BAH, rather than BAH II, reduced from 140 days down to 30 days.
2007 – Eligible to purchase TRICARE Reserve Select healthcare even when not on active duty
2008 – Every 90 days served on active duty lowers the age to begin receiving retirement benefits for reservists
2009 – New GI Bill includes prorated version for service members, including reserve and guard, who have served at least 90 days on active duty since 9/11. Eligible members can transfer GI Bill benefits to family.