This article reviews the history of military reserves in Australia with particular reference to the Army Reserve. It shows how the importance of reserves in Australia has waxed and waned across the past two centuries, from an early situation of primacy in the colonial period. The importance of reserves has reemerged in the post–Cold War era, with new forms of reserve organization evolving alongside ‘‘conventional’’ reserve forces. The authors discuss the extent to which these developments need to be accompanied by attention to cultural and personnel management issues and to enhanced reserves–regular integration. Despite the challenge of juggling civilian employment with reserve commitments, most reservists appear to welcome a greater, rather than a token, obligation to serve. There is a viable and meaningful role for the reserves provided that the Australian Defence Force and the government are prepared to devote sufficient effort to them and to assign them appropriate tasks.
Department of Defence, ‘‘Annual Report 2008-09’’ (Canberra: Government Publishing Service, 2009); ‘‘Department of Defence Census 2007 Public Report’’ (Canberra : Department of Defence, February 2009), 20.
2.
On the history of Army Reserve see Jeffrey Grey, The Australian Army: A History ( Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2006); Jeffrey Grey, A Military History of Australia, (Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2008); Peter Dennis and Jeffrey Grey, eds., Oxford Companion to Australian Military History, 2nd ed. ( Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2008).
3.
T.B. Millar, ‘‘Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Citizen Military Forces’’ (Canberra: Government Publishing Service, 1974).
4.
Paul Dibb, ‘‘Review of Australia’s Defence Capabilities’’ (Canberra: Government Publishing Service, 1986).
5.
Charles C. Moskos, ‘‘Toward a Postmodern Military: The United States as a Paradigm,’’ in The Postmodern Military, ed. Charles C. Moskos, John Allen Williams , and David R. Segal ( New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 18-19.
6.
On the concept of reserves as ‘‘transmigrants’’ between civilian and military worlds, see Edna Lomsky-Feder, Nir Gazit, and Eyal Ben-Ari, ‘‘Reserve Soldiers as Transmigrants: Moving between the Civilian and Military Worlds,’’Armed Forces & Society34 (2008): 593-614.
7.
Department of Defence, ‘‘Annual Report 2008-09,’’appendix7.
8.
Andrew Davies and Hugh Smith, ‘‘Stepping Up: Part-Time Forces and ADF Capability,’’Strategic Insights44 (November 2008): 16-17.
9.
Department of Defence, ‘‘Annual Report 2005-06 and 2008-09’’ (Canberra: Government Publishing Service, 2006) 223; Department of Defence , ‘‘Annual Report 2008-09: Volume 1’’ (Canberra: Government Publishing Service, 2009) 27.
10.
‘‘Defence 2000-Our Future Defence Force’’ ( Canberra: Department of Defence ), 2000, xii-xiii; ‘‘Defending Australia in the Asia-Pacific Century: Force 2030’’ ( Canberra: Department of Defence , 2009), 90-91.
11.
Department of Defence, ‘‘Annual Report 2008-09,’’appendix7.
12.
John Coates and Hugh Smith, ‘‘Review of the Ready Reserve Scheme,’’ report to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence ( Canberra: University of New South Wales, June 1995).
13.
Sigma Consultancy , ‘‘Making It Possible: Recruitment Policy Analysis for High Readiness of Reservists in the Australian Defence Force,’’ report to the Department of Defence , 2002.
14.
Paul Irving , ‘‘Potential of the Army Reserve to Provide the ‘Shortfall’’’ ( paper, Defence Reserves Association annual conference , Sydney, 2006).
15.
Dave Fisher and Murray Stewart, ‘‘Send the Reserve to War with Six Weeks Training: The British Experience,’’Australian Army Journal4 ( 2007 ): 107-27.
16.
Australian Defence Force, ‘‘Joint Operations for the 21st Century’’ ( Canberra, May 2007), 3, 21.
17.
Sigma Consultancy , ‘‘ Army Manpower Control Project Stage III Report,’’ report to the Department of Defence, 1996.
18.
Sigma Consultancy, ‘‘Making It Possible.’’
19.
20.
Charles C. Moskos, ‘‘From Institution to Occupation,’’Armed Forces & Society4 (1977): 41-50; Ian McAllister and Hugh Smith, ‘‘Selecting the Guardians: Recruitment and Military Values in the Australian Officer Corps,’’Journal of Political and Military Sociology17, 1 (1989): 27-42; Nick Jans and Judy Frazer-Jans, ‘‘Still the ‘Pragmatic Professional’? Pre- and Post-9/11 Professional Orientation in the Australian Military,’’Armed Forces & Society35 (2009): 241-65.
21.
Gabrielle Ben-Dor , Ami Pedahzur, Daphna Canetti-Nisim, Eran Zaidise, Arie Perliger, and Shai Bermanis , ‘‘I versus We: Collective and Individual Factors of Reserve Service Motivation during War and Peace,’’Armed Forces & Society34 (2008): 565-92.
22.
David Chalmers , ‘‘The Summons to Serve: Can the Australian Army Reserve Be Called Out?’’ Working Paper 57 ( Canberra: Australian Defence Studies Centre , December 1999).
23.
Nick Jans, ‘‘Careers in Conflict: The Dynamics of the Contemporary Military Career Experience’’ (paper presented at the Biennial Conference of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces & Society, Chicago, 2009), 18.
24.
Charles Kirke , ‘‘Issues in Integrating Territorial Soldiers into Regular British Units for Operations: A Regular View,’’Defense & Security Analysis24 (2008): 181-95.
25.
Sigma Consultancy, ‘‘Army Manpower.’’
26.
Ken Gillespie, ‘‘The Delivery of Capability by Reserves’’ (paper, Defence Reserves Association annual conference , Sydney, 2006).
27.
Chalmers, ‘‘Summons to Serve,’’20.
28.
Fisher and Stewart, ‘‘Send the Reserve to War,’’113-14.
29.
Department of Defence, ‘‘2004 Australian Defence Force Reserves: Attitude Survey Report,’’Research Report5/ 2005 ( Canberra: Directorate of Strategic Personnel Planning and Research, February 2005 ).
30.
Kirke, ‘‘Issues in Integrating Territorial Soldiers,’’182; Jacques Aben, ‘‘The New French Military Reserve and the Test of Overseas Operations,’’Defense & Security Analysis24 ( 2008 ): 197-202.
31.
Fisher and Stewart, ‘‘Send the Reserve to War,’’121
32.
The U.K. Territorial Army has a limit of six months plus time for training and administration before and after deployment. See Kirke, ‘‘Issues in Integrating Territorial Soldiers,’’ 184.
33.
Fisher and Stewart, ‘‘Send the Reserve to War,’’113.
34.
See, e.g., James Griffith, ‘‘Institutional Motives for Serving in the U.S. Army National Guard,’’Armed Forces & Society34 ( 2008): 230-58; James Griffith, ‘‘After 9/11, What Kind of Reserve Soldier?’’Armed Forces & Society35 ( 2009): 214-40; Christopher Dandeker, Claire Eversden-French, Neil Greenberg, Stephani Hatch, Paul Riley, Lauren van Staden, and Simon Wessely, ‘‘Laying Down Their Rifles: The Changing Influences on the Retention of Volunteer British Army Reservists Returning from Iraq, 2003-2006,’’Armed Forces & Society36 (2009): 264-89.
35.
Weekend Australian, March 10-11, 2007.
36.
Tony Baxter-Tomkins and Michelle Wallace, ‘‘Emergency Service Volunteers: What Do We Really Know about Them?’’Australian Journal on Volunteering11 ( 2006 ): 12.
37.
Department of Defence, ‘‘Annual Report 2008-09,’’appendix7.
38.
Irving, ‘‘Potential of the Army Reserve.’’
39.
Sigma Consultancy, ‘‘Making It Possible.’’
40.
Department of Defence, ‘‘2004 Australian Defence Force Reserves.’’
41.
Department of Defence, ‘‘Defence Personnel Environment Scan 2025,’’ Report 27/2006 ( Canberra: Directorate of Strategic Personnel Planning and Research, July 2006 ).
