Contradictory and Complementary Identities of U.S. Army Reservists: A Historical Perspective

Abstract

Over the past three decades, evolving threats to U.S. national security have necessitated changes in the missions, structure, and organization of reserve forces. These changes, while intended to redefine the purposes and functions of the U.S. reserve force, at times had unanticipated effects on the individual reservist’s experience of and identity with reserve military service. Emergent identities include the obliged-conscripted citizen soldier, weekend warrior, instrumental volunteer, identity seeker, soldier warrior, and conservative ideologue. The author elaborates on these identities and their association with geopolitical events and corresponding responses in the U.S. national defense strategy and concludes by discussing the implications of more recent identities for adequately staffing and readying the U.S. reserve force.

Recruitment and Retention as a Challenge of Contemporary Armed Forces and Societies/ Pridobivanje in Zadrževanje Kadrov Kot Izziv Sodobnih Oboroženih Sil in Družb

“…Broader geopolitical context and national defense strategies can impart identities to soldiers which relate to readiness. For example, the reservist who is part of a strategic deterrent and rarely expecting to be called up develops an identity of "weekend warrior" (see Griffith, 2010). A more common identity these days for reservists is the "soldier warrior," who is expected to be ready for call-up and deployment.…”

Military Education questions today

“…The conclusion of this issue, that we should respond to such typified utterances, and we have to be able to apply them properly. It is essential that a national army be able to be prepared for the reception of new generation want to serve in the defense forces and apply them properly (Griffith, 2011). …”

Soldiers' In-Group and Out-Group Peer Perception: Contact and Ethnic Identity

“…This topic has significant importance concerning such issues as cohesion and efficiency of the unit; well-being of minority group members, and equity. In recent years numbers of studies were focused on subgroup identity of reserves and regulars (Griffith, 2011;Lomsky-Feder, Gazit, and Ben-Ari, 2008). Yet, findings regarding intercultural group perception in the military are inconsistent.…”