Happy Birthday Naval Reserve

Powell Black

June, 2006

On March 3, 2006 the Assistant Secretary of Defense, the Honorable T. F. Hall, sent a letter to Vice Admiral John G. Cotton, USN, Chief, Navy Reserve. He offered his greetings to the men and women of the United States Reserve for a happy 91st birthday.

That's right, United States Navy Reserve. No more NAVAL reserve. (The Naval Reserve was organized on March 3, 1915.) The Navy changed the title last year to recognize and honor the fact that the reserves are and have been for many years a vital part of what we formerly called the Regular Navy. All of us, as crewmen of the EURYALE, were reserves. Some of us may even remember being made fun of by the so-called regulars that we were second-class sailors or Feather Merchants as we were called. It's interesting that all other U. S. military forces have been known simply as Army Reserve, Air Force Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve and even the Coast Guard Reserve.

In the March issue of the Naval Reserve Association's NEWS, its Executive Director, RADM Casey Coane, also wrote "Happy Birthday, Navy Reservists." (The opening paragraph of this article derives from that issue.) Admiral Coane wondered "why the change?" The following are some of his comments.

In December, as part of Congress finally getting the Defense Authorization Bill passed, they also included the official name change from the Naval Reserve to the Navy Reserve.

This all began, however, when then-CNO Admiral Vern Clark decided to realign the Navy Reserve and, in essence, take responsibility for our Reserve Component. He gave VADM Cotton some specific guidance as to the direction this alignment should take. In executing that direction, VADM Cotton believes that what is now commonly referred to as ARI (Active Reserve Integration) means that we are truly becoming the Navy's reserve.

We are now in the U.S. Navy, not the U.S. Naval Reserve.

CNO Clark said this: Effective immediately, we will refer to all of our Sailors, Active, and Reserve, as United States Navy Sailors. (NAVADMIN 121/05)

From that simple sentence, the "R" has disappeared.

It seems clear that our nation is on a path changing its concept of reserve forces from strategic to operational. We in for a long struggle.

The Reserve Components of all services ARE going to fight that long war.

The purpose of this article is to inform our EURYALE shipmates of recent changes in what has happened since WW II, and to bring you current on some of the Navy's intentions today concerning the reservists who have for many long years - ninety one -- have been ready to fight for our country.

It is thought that today nearly 21,000 reservists are serving in the Global War on Terror and are an indispensable part of the nation's military capability, and that may not count those serving in the Iraq war.

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