Army Reserve: Partners With Business

 

With the U.S. military increasingly reliant on reservists, many small businesses are losing their employees for extended periods of time. Sheryll Poe, uschamber.com staff writer, sat down with Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz, Chief, Army Reserve, and Commanding General, U.S. Army Reserve Command, to talk about the deployment and development of citizen-soldiers for the benefit of both business and the military.

 

uschamber.com: How has the relationship between the Reserve and employers changed as a result of increased deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo?
Stultz: When I joined Procter and Gamble in 1979 and told them I was joining the Army Reserve, they said, 'Great-one weekend a month, two weeks in the summer. We allocate time for that.' Large companies have remained supportive as we've transformed from a strategic to an operational force where reservists can be expected to serve for one year at a time on a regular cyclical basis, but it's tougher on small businesses. What we've got to do is provide predictability and stability so that our soldiers and employers can plan ahead. If business owners know four years in advance that employees are leaving, they can plan accordingly.

 

How are you improving the call-up process?
We're trying to build a predictable cycle that meets the needs of both small and large businesses. Ideally, we'd like to put units into a cyclical model with a one-year deployment, if needed, and four years' training in between. That would give employers the greatest predictability for planning purposes. But it might be easier on a small business if we took a reservist for only six months at a time every three years or so. We are continuing a dialogue with small businesses and want to be as flexible as we can to meet their requirements. 

 

What organizations can help businesses understand the evolving mission of the Guard and Reserve?
There is the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR). Separately, within the Army Reserve, there is the Army Reserve Employer Relations (ARER). These groups encourage and reward employers who support the soldiers that already work for them and inform employers of their legal rights.

 

Do you have a good understanding of where reservists work and the various skills they bring to the table?
We've got the data, but I'm not sure how accurate it is. There are lots of job changes in America, so collecting the data is a moving target. We know we have a large number of reservists who work in law enforcement, commercial trucking, the medical fields, and in federal, state, and local government.

 

Can businesses and the Reserve work together to meet their personnel needs?
I want to partner with the business community to recruit, train, and retain workers and reservists and place them in good civilian jobs. Unlike the active Army, which requires a recruit to choose between the Army and, say, the police force, I want recruits to join the police force and the Reserve. Soldiers with a good steady job are likely to stay with the Reserve. The Army Reserve and companies are both in the business of training leaders-military leaders and business and civic leaders.

 

What projects are you developing to work with businesses?
The Center for Army Analysis is developing a computer model that will be able to identify geographic locations where the needs and resources of the Army Reserve and employers overlap. We want to work with businesses in those locations to ensure that potential soldiers have good opportunities in the civilian sector. We're about three to six months from having that program up and running.