Abstract

In the mid-1970s, the Total Force policy shifted the active components’ combat support and service support to the reserve components. This policy made it necessary to mobilize and to deploy reserve component forces in the event of a large-scale war. During the Persian Gulf War, 228,000 reservists were called up, of which 139,207 were Army Reservists. The war, then, provided a test of the Total Force policy: Were the Army reserve components ready for immediate mobilization and deployment in support of combat missions?