Gunner said:
I've never understood the Reserves staunch refusal for amalgamation of units. We have this huge, bloated, 5 Division structure spread across Canada centred on Battalions and Regiments that are at worst, platoon sized, and at best, perhaps two companies. Most of the units have a fairly limited history centred on WWI and WWII and most draw their lineage from other units that they merged with or amalgamated with years ago. Until this issue is addressed, I can't see the Reserves moving forward. If the UK can do it with units with 100s of years of real history fighting for the Empire, can't we bring our Reserve Force into the 21st century?
Stepping off my soapbox.
I agree.
I'm a proponent of the "clean sweep" approach. Our Reserve Regiments are "limited" - they mainly look back to WWI (not really as "theirs", just as numbered CEF battalions) and WWII. Sure, reservists have individually augmented tours for the last 20 years, but these are exactly that, individual, and not regimental.
The current Reserve setup of Brigade HQ's with understrength units is built around the idea of mobilization - we are 50 years behind on this one. I remember reading an article by LtCol (then Major) Dan Drew about readiness issues - he went over the time to build enough M1 Abrams tanks to kit out Reserve units in the case of mobilization as an example of how asinine the assumption for mobilization is and I imagine the same could be said about training times, equipping, expansion, etc for all other units and formation HQs. I feel that we must move away from the notion of mobilization built around "Total War" mobilizing of the populace and national industry. If this does occur, we can raise/create new units since this is what will happen anyways - having the Regiment "exist" before-hand makes no difference.
Instead, we should focus our reserves on a real structure to support the regulars in the "come as you are" wars and conflicts that we've been constantly engaged in for the last few decades. I see "mobilization" and the units of the Army structured into 5 operational echelons, and the Reserves having a real role and place in some of these groupings:
Echelon I) Special Operations Units and Rapid Reaction Forces (either Air Mobile or afloat in a Amphibious Role) - Required to be able to project globally within days and to remain in place to establish conditions for heavier follow-on-forces.
Echelon II) Regular Force Units and Formations - These are the full-time professional soldiers who must be capable being sustained on operations overseas - usually heavier then Echelon I forces (in our case, I see the "Cavalry" format as ideal for now). Current doctrine mandates two Battlegroups with surge capability for a Brigade. Echelon II forces are ROTO O and next few rotations.
Echelon III) Voluntary Augmention - This is where we sit now. This is limited use of Reservists in a strictly voluntary arrangement to help cover off on missions in mature theaters. This can involve individual augmentees to Regular Force Units or the formation of Reserve sub-sub units or sub-units within Regular Units (as with the Composite Reserve units and D&S Platoons). Reserve Battalions are required to be able to form a Platoon at all times as an Echelon III force (even if it is only a staff check).
Echelon IV) Reserve Activation - This is where the Americans sit now. Entire Reserve Units and Formations are called up, given workup training, and deployed. Obviously, quite disruptive, but it is something the Reserves should be able to do in a wartime scenario that does not call for complete national mobilization.
Echelon V) These are forces created from scratch in a National Mobilization scheme. They can exist on paper at zero strength until the balloon goes up and the floodgates are opened for recruits. These scratch units are filled out by soldiers from the other 4 echelons who have returned from operational duty.
The reserve units have strengths in that they are locally based and the members are usually quite familiar with eachother - if the CF could find a way to deal with attrition, job security, and service requirements (important and completely seperate issues that we've discussed lately), you would have a real pool of good, professional soldiers to rely on for Echelon III and IV tasks.
As I've said, I advocate the clean sweep approach:
- With regards to formations, all 10 Reserve Brigades are downgraded to Reserve Battalions. This cuts a top-heavy command structure out and streamlines C2 - we currently have more Reserve Brigade and Battalion HQs then Regular, but fewer reserve soldiers. This means that planning is done at the unit level - for example, every month or two , units in BC will train as a unit, rather then as 6 or 7 "Regiments" that send a platoon or two out to do some willy nilly training on their own.
- The Reserve Battalions are to be given a TO&E and are to organize as Echelon IV forces. They should be able to train as a unit in peacetime and, if the call goes out, deploy as a unit if Echelon IV forces are required. They will have their own DFS (Armour, organized like a USMC CAAT), Pioneers (Engineers), Mortar (Arty) and Admin and Support (CS/CSS) sub units as well as having 2 or 3 rifle companies.
- How these Battalions are organized within the larger structure is up for debate. We could have a hybrid Reg/Res Brigade Headquarters with some Reserve units formed as Brigade-level units (Engineers, Arty, CS/CSS). One per area would give the Reserves roughly 3 Reg Force Brigades and 3 Reserve Brigades. Essentially a 2 Division force.
- Now this is where I'm going to be tagged as the Heretic. I feel that each Reserve Battalion (former CBG) should be under 1 Regiment. It should share a set of colours, be under the same capbadge, and be
reflective of a Regional Identity (this is a common strength of some Regimental Systems like Britain and Germany - we cannot fit it into our Reg Force, but our Reserves can do it). For example within LFWA, there would be The British Columbia Rifles (BC
R is already taken), the Alberta Regiment, and the Western Regiment (or Prairie Regiment). All the old reserve units, in an effort to prevent bickering about who stays and who goes, should be relegated to Echelon V units - the Reserve Battalions will be new units that represent Echelon IV and V units and make their own history as Canada's "Ready Reserve" of actively serving reservists.
Anyways, just some thoughts (some old, some new).
Enjoy and flame away.
Infanteer
