NATO supports Allied and Partner Reserve Forces
This year’s Annual National Reserve Forces Committee (NRFC) Plenary was hosted at NATO HQ from 6 to 8 February 2018. With NATO Member States and 6 partners, the NRFC promotes and enhances the utility and interests of Reserve Forces and Personnel as a vital component of National Forces and of the NATO Force Structure.
With the evolution of the global security landscape, NATO is enhancing its deterrence and defence, reinforcing its collective defence, improving its capabilities, and strengthening its resilience. Changes within the strategic environment have highlighted the requirement for a new and diverse array of defence capabilities.
As NATO has adapted to respond to the security challenges, so too has the role of Reserve Forces in NATO. Most NATO Nations use Reserve Forces as a part of their national military capability and to supplement national manning requirements. Specialised reservists are crucial when those qualifications are not readily available in the regular units and staffs. Over the past decade, thousands of reservists from Allied and partner Nations have been deployed in NATO operations, proving their value to their Nations and to the Alliance.
NATO recognises the importance of national Reserve Forces and the compelling requirement to better understand and exploit the inherent potential of reservists and Reserve Forces. This continuous improvement and innovation is vital to the future operations and strategic flexibility of the Alliance. Integrated, appropriately purposed, motivated and ready Reserve Forces provide an extraordinary strategic expandability for current military capability at a very low cost.
NATO works on reservist issues through three different entities: the National Reserve Forces Committee (NRFC), the Interallied Confederation of Reserve Officers (known by its French acronym CIOR) and the Interallied Confederation of Medical Reserve Officers (CIOMR).
The NRFC serves formally to provide policy advice on Reserve issues to the NATO Military Committee. It promotes and enhances the utility and interests of Reserve Forces and Personnel as a vital component of the Armed Forces of the Alliance Nations and Partners in times of peace, crisis and conflict.
During this year’s NRFC meeting, General Petr Pavel, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, highlighted in his Opening Remarks the importance of Reserve Forces, “as we make more and more demands of our forces while not always increasing their numbers, the role of our Reserve Forces to reinforce, enhance and improve our regular forces is increasingly critical”.
The different sessions highlighted the ongoing initiatives to better integrate Reserves Forces, such as including reservists in NATO and national exercises to increase interoperability or even the unique contribution reservists could make in the cyber domain. General Pavel stressed that “Reserve Forces help broaden our perspective, and have critical and high-demand skills in these areas, along with the breadth of experience that can improve national teams and our entire Alliance”.
As part of these ongoing efforts, the NATO School in Oberammergau, in coordination with the NRFC, have set up two courses for reservists. In 2017, 70 NATO and partner reservists benefited from this unique opportunity.