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percent, and 24 percent, respectively, in the late 1980s. Table 3 shows active and Selected Reserve component and civilian manpower levels by service.

Civilians. The mix of military and civilian personnel in the Total Force reflects organizational changes in the delivery of services and functions, as well as adjustments in force structure. Starting in the late 1950s, the Department established a number of defense agencies to support the military components. These predominantly civilian organizations (about 100,000 nonmilitary employees) have reduced overall costs by consolidating overhead functions and reducing military manning requirements. With changes in technology and continued pressures to reduce defense costs, the Department of Defense--as part of its implementation of the Secretary of Defense's July 1989 Defense Management Report to the President-is undertaking additional consolidations of support functions, including financial management, contract management, depot supply, consumable item management, and commissary operations. Organizational and technical changes in support functions will continue to change the military and civilian mix and the way the Department views requirements for military personnel. It should be noted, however, that civilian data reflect peacetime employment only, whereas military data (because they include reserves) reflect wartime resources. The Defense Manpower Requirements Report indicates that DoD would need to hire another 320,000 civilians in the event of a major conflict.

Combat and certain support positions are assigned to military personnel, as are other positions needed to maintain an overseas rotation base. It is departmental policy that positions not requiring recent operational military expertise be filled either by civilian DoD employees or private contractors. Nonmilitary functions that can be performed only by government personnel, or that are deemed critical mobilization assets, are reserved for DoD employees. All other nonmilitary functions are assigned to either DoD or contractor personnel, based on the relative cost advantages.

The civilian work force of the Defense Department currently numbers about one million men and women, or about 16 percent of the Total Force. These individuals perform the bulk of logistics, base operation support, and research and development functions. Civilians also constitute a substantial portion of the force structure devoted to medical and personnel support; personnel training, and essential auxiliary activities, including intelligence and communications.

Contractors. In both peacetime and war, civilian contractors make important contributions to the Total Force. Over 200,000 peacetime positions are held by contractors, of which about 80,000 have been subject to contracting competition in the United States, ensuring the least-costly provision of services consistent with national defense needs. Contractors perform about one-third of DoD's depot maintenance workload, a significant portion of research and development (through universities, federally funded research and development

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Table 2

Categories of Reserve Personnel

The Ready Reserve consists of the Selected Reserve (including individuals in both National Guard and reserve units), the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), and the Inactive National Guard (ING).

The Selected Reserve comprises personnel assigned to Selected Reserve units, reservists in training programs, individual mobilization augmentees (IMAs), and full-time support (FTS) personnel.

The Individual Ready Reserve and the Inactive National Guard are composed of reservists who are not attached to units. Most IRRING members previously served in the active component or the Selected Reserve, and have a military service obligation remaining. Members of the Individual Ready Reserve are eligible for mobilization and for limited involuntary active duty for training. They may train voluntarily for retirement points and promotion, with or without pay. Members of the Inactive National Guard are not eligible to earn retirement points or pay, nor can they be promoted.

The Standby Reserve is a pool of individuals who could be mobilized to fill specific manpower needs. Members of the Standby Reserve (who often have medical or other skills that might be critical in the case of mobilization) are not required to train, are not assigned to units, and do not receive pay or retirement credit.

The Retired Reserve consists of: (1) reservists who receive retired pay; (2) reservists eligible for retired pay who have not reached age 60 and are not members of the Ready or Standby Reserve; and (3) retired regular enlisted personnel who have completed 20 years but less than 30 years of service. (All retired regular officers and retired enlisted personnel with over 30 years active and retired service are on the regular retired list.) Members of this reserve category may be ordered to active duty in national emergencies under Title 10 U.S.C. Section 672(a), Title 10 U.S.C. Section 675, or Title 10 U.S.C. Section 688(a).

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centers, or private-sector firms), much of the health care provided via CHAMPUS, and peacetime and wartime transportation services. First-year savings from contracting have been estimated to exceed 30 percent of the cost of providing equivalent services "in house." The nearly 150,000 private-sector employees who supported U.S. forces in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam conflict demonstrated the value and practicality of large-scale use of contract services in wartime.

The Defense Department is required by law to rely on contractors for commercial activities where cost-effective. Between 1979 and 1989, DoD's Commercial Activities Program examined 81,519 military and civilian positions, of which 51,244 were transferred to the private sector. Congress exempted core logistics activities from the law. The Commercial Activities Program has been particularly successful in subjecting functions and processes to critical scrutiny, to the extent that even some of the functions designated to remain in house have subsequently been eliminated or restructured on a more cost-effective basis.

Host Nation Support. The United States obtains host nation support (HNS) in varying degrees from almost all of its NATO allies, as well as from other nations, including Korea and Japan. The type and level of support vary from country to country, and may include facilities, exercise support, prepositioning facilities, or infrastructure. Estimates of the value of host nation support depend on the type of assistance provided, but all such arrangements reduce the costs of maintaining U.S. forces abroad. For example, as stated in the 1990 report to Congress, Allied Contributions to the Common Defense, the Japanese government paid at least 50 percent of the cost of employing Japanese workers at U.S. military facilities in Japan in 1990, with the total support from that country equating to about $40,000 for each U.S. service member stationed there.

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