The USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) 2023 patrol in the western Pacific gave Navy reservists from meteorology, intelligence, cryptology, and communications an opportunity to integrate with their active-duty counterparts while underway. The experience culminated months of collaboration among 22 stakeholders. It could not have happened without the rich relationships among Reserve and active-duty stakeholders that are key to warfighting readiness.
The Navy’s current operations and future ability to respond to crises demand an aggressive approach to building warfighting readiness at the Reserve-unit level. The previ- ous Chief of Naval Reserve (CNR) drove a generational change to refocus the Reserve on warfighting readiness. This remains the top priority for the force.1 Some costs associated with readiness are unique to the Reserve component. The Reserve is constrained by antiquated systems and policies, limits on compensation, the availability of part-time citizen-sailors, the active component’s lack of understanding about the Reserve environment, and a geographically dispersed force. My experience as the commanding officer (CO) of the Navy Reserve U.S. Seventh Fleet (C7F) N2N39 unit proved strong relationships can break through these constraints.
Warfighting readiness is all about relationships—creating and maintaining bonds among sailors to achieve progress otherwise infeasible. Without strong relationships, the Navy will not develop proficient information warfare (IW) sailors by 2027, when the Chief of Naval Operations demands the Navy be ready for a possible war with China. The Seventh Fleet is at the tactical and operational leading edge in the Indo-Pacific region and is working to outcompete China. The Seventh Fleet’s 11 Reserve units comprise roughly 50 percent of the total force personnel. Reservists will augment the staff and assume the watch during a crisis or conflict.
My unit benefited from decision-makers who held the C7F mission in high regard. Thanks to them, individuals throughout the stakeholder ecosystem—the web of relationships binding the Navy’s Reserve and its active-duty components—worked with us to try multiple approaches to maximize readiness.
It Takes a Village
An individual sailor is the central player in the readiness ecosystem. Two groups of stakeholders directly affect the readiness of every sailor—the supported command and the sailor’s unit. The nature of the third group of stakeholders depends on whether a sailor is locally assigned or nonlocally assigned. A single faulty relationship within the web can derail the sailor’s development.
Nonlocal sailors are a perpetual challenge for a unit to manage. For example, among my Reserve unit’s 74 billets were 28 nonlocal sailors. These were assigned to 18 Navy Reserve Centers across the country. Relationships with their Navy Reserve Centers ensure nonlocal sailors can fulfill orders for drill weekends or annual training. In October 2023, the unit engaged three Navy Reserve Centers to send five sailors underway on board the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76). Given challenges related to federal budgeting and the new fiscal year, intense collaboration with each Navy Reserve Center was needed just to get sailors out the door.
Three of the four stakeholder groups are active-duty or full-time staff, meaning they work during the duty day. In contrast, reservists are part-time sailors with full-time civilian jobs. They perform Navy work mostly in the evenings and on weekends, working around their civilian career commitments. This time incongruity introduces significant obstacles. For Reserve leaders, this is not a new problem, but warfighting readiness increases its importance.
Essential Steps to Building Relationships
The Reserve unit CO and senior enlisted leader (SEL) commit to building and maintaining relationships. They also create the incentives and organizational structures designed to encourage these relationships. This is a significant endeavor and crucial to readiness. It adds resiliency, distributes the workload (eventually), and increases the likelihood of a unit achieving its mission. However, maintaining the vitality of these relationships means keeping a growing number of personnel current on a large volume of rapidly cycling information. For Reserve sailors to maintain adequate situational awareness, they must engage multiple times per week, and Reserve leaders must engage daily. If civilian employment or family commitments prevent a member from engaging, their efforts might falter and diminish active-component confidence in Reserve competence.
For members with the leeway to engage frequently, there is a price even as the mission benefits. Their Navy work usually is unpaid because of legal limits on Reserve compensation in an inactive status.2 Members routinely give their time without compensation; this is referred to as “patriot time.” Evening and weekend Navy work means attending calls from the parking lot during kids’ sports games, writing awards packages on New Year’s Day, or hesitating to seize opportunities at work because the reservists’ civilian and Navy jobs will be impossible to balance. Reservists at home often remain physically or mentally detached from their families to accomplish Navy work.
As a unit CO, I weighed daily the uncompensated time and effort required to meet the mission while prioritizing my people. The potential for mental health issues is ever-present. For reservists, the stress of balancing two careers with family obligations introduces risks that can overwhelm even the toughest members. Prioritizing sailors’ physical and mental health adds to an already complex environment. Unit leadership positions have always demanded excessive time. But now, the drive toward warfighting readiness levies similar demands on lower-ranking members, placing mental health, morale, and retention at risk. For reservists who have built strong relationships, one benefit is seeing they are truly valued. They know they are incorporated into a combat-ready force, rather than being an afterthought to their active-duty shipmates.
Active-Duty Supported Command Relationships Are Critical
Identifying the most important stakeholder in the ecosystem is like picking a favorite child. If I must pick a winner, it is my active-duty shipmates at C7F N2N39. Why? Because they know the mission and own the requirements. The Reserve unit CO and SEL collaborate with their active-duty counterparts so the unit complements their capabilities and the components build competency together. If these relationships are strong, everything else will follow.
Step one is simply showing up. In-person engagement at the supported command starts relationships on a productive path. Relationships with active-component supported commands lead to trust. This enables the activities required to build readiness. Trust allows reservists to educate the active component about the CNR’s policy and priorities, supports uncomfortable conversations when Reserve capabilities are misunderstood, and facilitates tedious discussions about manning documents and planning. Perhaps more crucially, grace is found when something new is tried and it fails. The demanding daily schedule in the Pacific means active-duty sailors must collaborate with reservists outside their duty day—early in the morning, late at night, or on a Saturday. Relationships result in full-timers collaborating with reservists during nonbusiness hours in recognition of their civilian jobs. When the active component makes time for reservists, it is because of trust.
The relationships between my command and active-duty C7F produced:
• Reserve IW members from every community on a six-week Blue Ridge patrol
• Active-duty sailors traveling to Fort Worth quarterly to train the reserve component during drill weekends
• Reservists briefing the C7F commander without introducing themselves as reservists—we are one team
• Active-duty sailors conducting due diligence about aircraft schedules, so reservists were not stranded while meeting the carrier
• Reservists getting frocked and awarded on the same stage with their active-duty counterparts
• Active-duty sailors advocating and securing reservist school quotas when the system says there are none
• Reservists earning afloat watch qualifications and warfare pins while underway
Relationships Make Warfighting Readiness Almost Achievable
Pursuit of warfighting readiness at the unit level requires significant time and commitment from leaders. Title 10 sets the minimum requirements for Reserve participation at 38 days a year or 76 days over two years.3 The former CNR’s mandate was to build warfighting proficiency (not qualification) in this time frame.4 This is not feasible in the dynamic Indo-Pacific, but reservists must plan and work within the minimum participation requirement.
The CO sets the tone for the unit, and my approach was to anchor on the “why.” I did this by triaging tasks, protecting time on drill weekends, pursuing sailor recognition, and being transparent about challenges. Every reservist is a voluntary participant and can quit any time. Relationships within the unit and across the ecosystem are essential to creating opportunities that motivate sailors and keep them engaged despite increased requirements.
When sailors work side-by-side with their active-duty counterparts, they reach the pinnacle. As one of my sailors told me emphatically, “This is personal.” The mission becomes real, and the everyday challenges facing active-component sailors are poignant. This resonates with reservists and increases their commitment to becoming good teammates. In turn, active-duty sailors prioritize helping new reservists have phenomenal annual-training experiences, which leads to Reserve reenlistments.
When strong relationships exist, they lead to more and higher-quality training, maximizing warfighting readiness within the constraints of those crucial 76 days. Proficiency in the Indo-Pacific requires consistent engagement, which part-time sailors cannot do. The next-best outcome is mostly proficient sailors who are confident and motivated. Those sailors will adapt to the unknowns the unit will face and accomplish the mission knowing they have the support of their active-duty teammates.
Prioritize Strong Relationships
Building effective relationships with full-time stakeholders starts with combating reservist stereotypes around responsiveness and engagement. This requires continuous effort throughout a tour. To be maximally effective, reservists must engage their active-duty counterparts like they are also full-time sailors. Unit coordination and progress are negatively affected when unit leaders cannot make this sacrifice. Building warfighting readiness requires effort from stakeholders across multiple parts of the ecosystem. This is almost always orchestrated by Reserve leaders and relies on the strength of their relationships.
For active-component units with assigned Reserve support, consider these effective practices:
1. Visit the Reserve unit during a drill weekend to meet the people and share your intent for how they support your mission.
2. Conduct virtual or in-person training sessions with reservists every drill weekend or quarterly.
3. Assign an active-duty junior officer as a Reserve liaison officer (different than the Reserve Program Director).
4. Incorporate Reserve-component matters into active-component meetings to coordinate arrivals and plan for Reserve training.
5. Incentivize junior leaders to work with their Reserve counterparts, which reinforces the total-force imperative.
6. Assign active-duty “running mates” to reservists during annual-training periods to build bonds and mutual understanding.
7. Provide performance information memorandums for reservists at the end of a training period.
For Reserve-unit leaders, consider these effective practices:
1. Travel to the supported command immediately, with a firm grasp on Navy Reserve guidance and a growth mindset.
2. Propose well-thought-out solutions to the active component regarding Reserve training, manpower, and planning; then listen and collaborate.
3. Align the Reserve unit to the active-component structure to enable clarity of mission and training requirements.
4. Arrange meaningful introductions to active-duty counterparts.
5. Facilitate foundational learning on drill weekends so members are more proficient on annual training.
6. Schedule recurring touchpoints with active-duty leaders for alignment and planning.
7. Discuss relationship-building with Reserve officers and enlisted members to promulgate the imperative.
The goal for both components is to normalize and prioritize the active duty–Reserve partnership, which will allow it to flourish.
Build Trust Now
Strategic competition demands a broad cultural change in the Navy that embraces active duty–Reserve integration, which is rooted in relationships. Senior leaders know “you can’t surge trust,” and that attitude should be inculcated throughout the Navy.5 To underscore senior leader commitment, active duty–Reserve integration should be included in promotion board precepts for both components. Without systemic reinforcement, most will not prioritize the effort.
The Reserves should add relationship-building into the performance evaluation system starting at E-6 and O-4 to grow unit leaders with those skills, particularly unit COs and SELs. “Team builder” is the closest language found in all current evaluation reports, and it is not specific enough.
For the active component, Reserve education should be incorporated into existing professional development courses for E-7 and above. Simple and well-chosen familiarization topics would be valuable while not creating a burden. The active component performance evaluation system should include Reserve integration starting at E-5 and O-3 to emphasize the total-force imperative.
In the meantime, active-duty and Reserve leaders must prioritize stakeholder relationships to build total-force capacity.
1. ADM Lisa Franchetti, USN, Navigation Plan 2024.
2. 10 U.S. Code § 12733. Computation of Retired Pay: Computation of Years of Service (2022). Retrieved from Cornell Law School.
3. 10 U.S. Code § 10147. Ready Reserve: Training Requirements (2022). Cornell Law School.
4. Commander, Navy Reserve Force, 2022 ALNAVRESFOR 020: “Navy Reserve Fighting” (Norfolk, VA, Navy Reserve Headquarters, 2022).
5. Jim Garamone, “Milley Touts Successes of Guard’s State Partnership Program,” DOD News, 18 July 2023.
