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3-15-13

FRA Co-Sponsors House Guard and Reserve Caucus

FRA joined 12 other military and veterans’ organizations in cosponsoring the 16th annual House Reserve Component Caucus Breakfast on Capitol Hill this week. Reps. Duncan Hunter (Calif.) and Tim Walz (Minn.) cochair the bipartisan caucus and attendees included caucus members, officials from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Reserve Component senior enlisted leaders and members of key military associations, including FRA.

The keynote speaker was Assistant Secretary of Defense (Reserve Affairs) Paul D. Patrick, who is a former Army Reserve Major General. He  discussed the upcoming Quadrennial Defense Review (2014) and its potential impact on the Reserve Component, and predicted constrained budgets for Defense for the foreseeable future, resulting in active duty end-strength reductions. This will require the Reserve Component to remain as an integral and important operational reserve force.  He suggested that Reservists will likely be required to undertake at least one 12-month deployment during six-year enlistments.