Over the past three decades, evolving threats to U.S. national security have necessitated changes in the missions, structure, and organization of reserve forces. These changes, while intended to redefine the purposes and functions of the U.S. reserve force, at times had unanticipated effects on the individual reservist’s experience of and identity with reserve military service. Emergent identities include the obliged-conscripted citizen soldier, weekend warrior, instrumental volunteer, identity seeker, soldier warrior, and conservative ideologue. The author elaborates on these identities and their association with geopolitical events and corresponding responses in the U.S. national defense strategy and concludes by discussing the implications of more recent identities for adequately staffing and readying the U.S. reserve force.
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37.
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53.
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60.
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80.
Hogg, Social Psychology; also see the classic studies regarding motivation for consistency among attitudes, cognitions, and behaviors: L. Festinger, A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1957); L. Festinger and J.M. Carlsmith, "Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance,"Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology58 (1959): 203-11.
81.
Zemke, Raines, and Filipczak, Generations at Work.
82.
See appendix A of B. R. Orvis, N. Sastry, and L.L. McDonald, "Military Recruiting Outlook: Recent Trends in Enlistment Propensity and Conversion of Potential Enlisted Supply" (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2007); for Joint Advertising Market Research & Studies , see http://www.jamrs.org.
83.
Griffith and Perry, "Wanting to Soldier"; Griffith, "After 9/11."
84.
Griffith, "Will Citizens Be Soldiers?"
85.
C.R. Erbes , P.A. Arbisi, C. Courage, M.A. Polusny, P. Thuras, and M. Rath, "Contextual Predictors of Post-Deployment Symptoms in the RINGS Study" (paper, American Psychological Association, Boston, August 2008), 87; D.S. Vogt, R.E. Samper, D.W. King, and J.A. Martin, "Deployment Stressors and Posttraumatic Stress Symptomatology: Comparing Active Duty and National Guard/Reserve Personnel from Gulf War I," Journal of Traumatic Stress 21, 1 (2008): 66-74.
86.
Franke, "Duty, Honor, Country,"178.
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L. Kapp, "Recruiting and Retention: An Overview of FY2004 and FY2005 Results for Active and Reserve Component Enlisted Personnel," RL32965, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, June 2005; M. A. Kleykamp, "College, Jobs, or the Military? Enlistment during Time of War,"Social Science Quarterly87, 2 (2006): 272-90.
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