Military reserve force

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A military reserve force is a military organization composed of part-time military personnel, and sometimes civilians, who are available to fight when a nation mobilizes for total war or to defend against invasion. Reserve forces are generally not considered part of a permanent standing body of armed forces. The existence of reserve forces allows a nation to reduce its peacetime military expenditures while maintaining a force prepared for war.

In some countries, such as the United States, Spain and the United Kingdom, members of the reserve forces are volunteers who have a part-time obligation. In other countries, such as the Republic of China and Israel, service in the reserves is compulsory for a number of years after one has completed their national service. Also, in some cases a militia could constitute part of a military reserve, such as the United States National Guard. A Home Guard is a specific type of reserve force that can only be activated in the event of invasion.

A military reserve force is different from a military reserve, which is a group of military personnel not committed to a battle so they are available to address unforeseen situations.

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[edit] History

Historically reservists first played a significant role in Europe after the Prussian defeat in the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt. On 9 July 1807 in the Treaties of Tilsit, Napoleon forced Prussia to drastically reduce its military strength, in addition to ceding large amounts of territory. The Prussian army could no longer be stronger than 42,000 men.

The Krümpersystem, introduced to the Prussian Army by the military reformer Gerhard von Scharnhorst, arranged for giving recruits a short period of training, which in the event of war could be considerably expanded. With this the reduction of the army's strength did not have the desired effect, and in the following wars Prussia was able to draw up a large number of trained soldiers. The system was retained by the Imperial German Army into the First World War. By the time of the Second Reich reservists were already being given so-called 'war arrangements' following the completion of their military service, which contained exact instructions relating to the conduct of reservists in time of war.

[edit] Sources of reserves

Reservists are often former military members themselves who reached the end of their enlistment/ resigned their commission. Indeed service in the reserves for a number of years after leaving active service is required in the enlistment contracts and commissioning orders of many nations. Reservists can also be persons who undertake basic training an undergo periodic call ups, without ever having been on active service. The Territorial Army in the United Kingdom is one example of such a reserve.

[edit] Use of reserves

Reserves are used and employed in may ways. In wartime they may be used to provide replacements for combat losses to in action units and formations, thus allowing these to remain battle worthy for longer. Or they can be used to form new units and formations to augment the regular army. In addition reservists can undertake tasks such as Garrison duty, manning Air Defence, Internal security and guarding of important points such as supply depots, Prisoner of War Camps, communications nodes, air and sea bases and other vital areas, thus freeing up regular troops for the front. A combination of these can be used.

In peacetime reservists can be utilised in internal security duties, and disaster relief, sparing reliance on the regular military forces, and in many countries where military roles outside warfare is restricted, reservists are specifically exempted from these restrictions.

[edit] Advantages

One of the primary advantages in having military reserves is that they increase the available manpower by many fold in a short period of time, unlike the months it would take to train new recruits or conscripts, since reservist are as mentioned above already trained. Reservists are often experienced, combat veterans which can increase not only the quantity, but the overall quality of the forces. Having a large reservist pool can allow a government to avoid the costs, both political and financial of requiring new recruits or conscripts. The reservists are usually more economically active than regular troops, and the affect their call-up has on the economy means a government will only call them up when war is unavoidable such as Israel, avoiding a government from acting in a way that is aggressive. On the other hand preparations made to institute a call up (which are obvious to adversaries) can be used as a display of determination.

[edit] Disadvantages

Reservists are usually provided with second line equipment, which is no longer used by the regulars, or is an older version of that in current service. Reservist will conversely have little experience with the newer weapon systems, and in the modern world the complexity of new weapons systems ensures that they will not have the time to master the new systems in time for combat or will have to stay out of combat for extended periods as they are retrained. Reservists are also often less motivated than regular troops, though this of course will vary from significantly depending on the force, the unit or even individuals. Conducting of exercises involving reservists is expensive, requiring compensation for lost wage, and it is difficult to call up then demobilise reservists again and again, which means that a nation that has called up reservists may be reluctant to to stand them down again until the conflict is resolved. In the prelude to WWI, the reluctance of the various antagonists to demobilise reserves once called up, due to the difficulty of remobilisation has been held up as one of the causes why the diplomatic phase escalated so quickly to war.

[edit] Examples of Military Reserve Forces

[edit] Australia

[edit] Brazil

[edit] Canada

[edit] China

[edit] France

[edit] India

There are many more reserve forces of India which include the J&K police

[edit] Ireland

[edit] Israel

[edit] The Netherlands

[edit] New Zealand

[edit] South Korea (Republic of Korea)

[edit] Soviet Union

Soviet Union made the largest use of reserves in both senses during the Second World War, having separate and distinct military reserve force formations that included not only conscription reserves of lower readiness category cadre units, but also including the use of Military reserves - reserve Armies and even a Front that constituted the reserve of the High Command.

[edit] Spain

The 39/2007 Defence law specially reinforces the role of the voluntary reservist, who through authority of the Minister of Defence can be approved for serving in missions abroad. The voluntary reservist is a resource that the Spanish society makes available to the National defence, and their active participation in international peace-keeping missions contributes to improve the levels of social conscience towards the Defence forces. The material contribution of voluntary reservists to the operations in which Spain takes part is based on a model characteristic of similar to those that prevail in other European countries; that of taking advantage from the professional qualifications of the volunteers, as well as of their capacity to communicate, and to integrate themselves in the military units while collaborating actively in different operations. In despite of this, the bulk of Spanish military reserves consist of retired personnel, either approaching retirement age or having left the active army. [1]

[edit] Sri Lanka

[edit] Switzerland

[edit] Thailand

[edit] United Kingdom

[edit] United States

Main article: Reserve Component of the Armed Forces of the United States

[edit] SFR Yugoslavia

[edit] See also

[edit] External links