The Joint Reserve Force is a critical piece of the Defense Logistics Agency’s wartime posture, a three-pronged approach comprised of the civilian workforce, the active-duty force and the reserve force, said DLA’s Joint Reserve Force Deputy Director Kristin Kremer.
“A major benefit is a trained and ready reserve force that is available to support DLA’s mobilization requirements,” Kremer said. “Historically, because of the type of conflicts we've been fighting over the last 20 years and the support we've been providing to DLA, we haven’t been focused on training reservists to a specific mobilization function.”
She added that realigning and refocusing the organization to train for its core mobilization mission will enable the team to provide the capability and capacity DLA needs to support future conflicts.
Changes in the operational environment and DLA’s requirements after the drawdown of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan led the JRF leadership to create a working group 18 months ago to review the current structure, prioritize DLA functions and explore ways to better train reserve personnel for future mission sets.
Currently JRF personnel are in 22 locations with small footprints supporting the DLA major subordinate commands, regional commands, and staff offices. “We had to look to see if we have the right military service, rank structure and military occupational specialties in each location without any historical reference as to why the billets and positions were arrayed as they are,” Kremer said, noting that the working group will recommend adjustments to the framework to better figure out what type of billets are needed and where they’re needed.
After conversations with DLA senior leaders and mission partners to understand the agencies’ priorities, the working group decided on an expeditionary capability within the reserve force.
Training opportunities
The redesign will benefit JRF members by providing additional real-world training opportunities with an impact on promotion opportunities for the reservist, DLA Distribution’s Mission Support Supervisor Deneen Diggs said.
“The JRF members can expect to see opportunities to train in different areas and on different equipment in more of a joint environment,” she said. “For DLA, the redesign ensures all reservists obtain standardized training regardless of service and are equipped to support DLA missions.”
Another benefit is the ability to deploy JRF members in support of contingency operations where DLA civilians or contractors have limitations or restrictions.
“During deployments and contingency operations in certain locations, some DLA field activities require armed escorts for commercial vehicles and internal security. Only DLA reserve personnel can perform this task, as DLA civilians and contractors are prohibited from carrying weapons,” said DLA Disposition Services Readiness and Mobilization Branch, Strategic and Contingency Planner Timothy Walters.
Kremer noted that there will be no changes to the military services, but significant change in how DLA operates internally. DLA organizations will now request support vs owning it internally.
“A change for the better is all about making us efficient, effective and able to provide the capability and capacity that DLA needs now and in the future,” Kremer said.
Once the future framework is approved and established, Kremer said the next phase is to develop a command-and-control structure. This involves working with the military services to implement the new billets administratively and establishing the training requirements and locations for each new function.
Improve recruitment
The JRF leadership expects the redesign to improve recruitment as well. Kremer described the recruitment process for the reserve force as being like the civilian workforce.
“We must advertise; we get candidates who apply for the positions; we interview them, and then we bring them onboard,” she said. “For us, if we don't recruit, we don't fill our billets.”
Kremer said one of the critical puzzle pieces during the redesign process has been ensuring alignment of mission and training locations in areas that have a good population from which to recruit reservists.
“We're doing some analysis to see where those are in relation to already established DLA entities, and then that will drive some of the decision making on where we might re-posture and realign our support for the future,” Kremer added.
Air Force Reserve Capt. Shannon Gaines said JRF team members bring both military and civilian expertise and experience.
“The JRF truly creates a space for our active-duty counterparts to use the fully capacity of a reservist,” she said. “As a reservist, we bring corporate and industry knowledge to the table that is often agile and innovative. This a luxury our active-duty counterparts may not have but still helps us further the DLA mission by employing those skills to make things more efficient, expedite processes and just effective overall.”