Principles for Determining the Air Force Active/reserve Mix

📖 The Scoop

What should Air Force decisionmakers consider when making force mix deliberations across each element of the total force-active, Air Force Reserve (AFR), and the Air National Guard (ANG)? Generally, rational deliberations of force-mix decisions have focused on three factors-cost, military effectiveness, and availability. However, these three factors may not be the only considerations that should apply in determining an appropriate force mix. There is also the issue understood but often intangible-of how reserve forces help to meet certain social and political objectives important to the Air Force and Department of Defense (DoD) and how the reserve component (RC) captures valuable experience and expertise that would otherwise be lost. In addition, it is necessary to understand why the flow of human capital from active to reserve forces must be kept within feasible bounds. Finally, it is important to understand cost considerations in a disaggregated way; in other words, does the type of mission the Air Force performs favor one component over the other?

Genre: Political Science / Political Freedom (fancy, right?)