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Army Total Force Policy- Reserve Component Training Integration

Wednesday May 21, 2014

What is it?

Army Total Force Policy (ATFP) directs active and reserve component forces to integrate their Soldiers and unit capabilities into pre-deployment collective training events to:

  • maintain Army readiness standards throughout components

  • provide predictable, recurring and sustainable operational force capabilities

  • prepare for deployments as multicomponent expeditionary forces

What has the Army done?

U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) has issued Interim Implementation Guidance for the ATFP and has designated First Army as its coordinating authority to integrate AC and RC forces and capabilities at the tactical level (division and below) during pre-deployment collective training in support of total force readiness.

First Army maintains strong partnerships with Army National Guard (ARNG), U.S. Army Reserve (USAR), Combat Training Center and Mission Command Training Program leadership to enable RC unit integration and support collective training exercises with active component, joint forces, interagency and government organizations, defense support of civil authorities and regionally aligned forces.

What continued efforts does the Army have planned for the future?

Army Total Force Integrated Training Guidance focuses resources on readiness of the Total Force and initiates deliberate steps to purposefully incorporate training among and between components during major collective training events at CTCs, regional collective training centers, and major mission command and home station training events – particularly those that serve as culminating training events to certify and validate formations for assigned missions and the available period of the Army Force Generation cycle.

Partnered exercise design, planning and execution throughout the life cycle of ARFORGEN are essential to ensure collective training events are integrated and resourced to maximize training efficiencies.

Critical to collective training integration is First Army’s Training Support Synchronization Working Group (TSSWG). This forum focuses on multicomponent integration of CTEs to support the ATFP and sets conditions for FORSCOM’s ARFORGEN Synchronization and Resourcing Conference (ARSC).

Why is this important to the Army?

Reserve component forces comprise more than half of the Army’s total force. The imperatives for Total Force integration have never been higher.

First Army is leading an effort to improve the scope and degree of integration of collective training events, with a goal to achieve better scenario development and exercise integration each year. Toward achieving that goal, more than 70 percent of collective training events will be integrated with units from two or more components during fiscal years 2014 and 2015.

First Army is uniquely positioned as FORSCOM’s coordinating authority for ATFP to facilitate and enable multi-component, integrated CTEs in a realistic and demanding operational environment

Resources:

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