The lessons learned from the korean war set the

the lessons learned from the Korean War set the precedent for readiness of all
Army Reserve organizations in future call-ups. During the period from 1968
to 1974 and with the end of the Vietnam War (1961-1975), Congress reduced
the Army end-strength from 1.5 million to 785,000 Active Duty Soldiers.
The end of the draft coincided with the announcement of the Total Force
Policy in 1973. This new policy, also known as the Abrams Doctrine for
Army Chief of Staff General Creighton W. Abrams, Jr., placed an increased
reliance on reserve component units for rapid deployment to military
operations. It called for the United States to maintain an active force capable
of maintaining peace and deterring aggression across the globe. Those forces
would be reinforced, when necessary, by a well-trained and equipped reserve
component within a month’s notice.

The effect of an all-volunteer Army and the Total Force Policy was a shift
of important responsibilities and resources to the Army Reserve. The intent
was to ensure that the Army would never again engage in a major conflict
without the reserve components. To support this concept, after 1967 the
Army Reserve became increasingly combat support and combat service
support oriented, and in that same year Congress established the Office
of the Chief, Army Reserve (OCAR) within the Army Staff to give Army
Reserve Soldiers an official spokesman at the Department of the Army level.
However, throughout the entire Cold War period, after the Korean War, the
Army Reserve was mobilized only twice; over 68,500 Army Reserve Soldiers
for the Berlin Crisis (1961-1962) and nearly 6,000 for the Vietnam War
during the period from 1968 to 1969. In reality, it existed as a strategic reserve
and the Active Army handled most military operations without the reserve
components. This would all change with the end of the Cold War and the
further draw-down of the Active Army in the 1990s.
Convoy from Cu Chi to Tay Ninh, Vietnam 1967, William Linzee Prescott.
(Courtesy of the Army Art Collection, U.S. Army Center of Military History).
Forty-two Army Reserve units were mobilized in 1968, with thirty-five going
to Vietnam.
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THE OPERATIONAL RESERVE:
1990 - Present
The fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 marked the symbolic end of the
Cold War and a victory of the free world over totalitarianism. The likelihood of
the Soviet Union posing the threat it once did seemed unlikely. The world looked
safer. Thus, in the post Cold War period, the United States perceived a reduced
danger and sought a “peace dividend” through significant reductions in military
budgets and manpower levels. The mission for America’s armed forces to remain
the “world guardian,” however, did not change. In fact, by this time, the unified
command system had expanded to include Latin America, Africa, and the Middle
East. Meanwhile, the late twentieth century experienced a revolution in military
affairs through advances in information management (digital technology), which
seemed to render past forms of warfare obsolete. This new technology was
significant because it allowed Soldiers to view the battlefield in real-time and