Because USAREUR units are assigned fewer personnel than they are authorized, deployed units were augmented with personnel from other European units and active and reserve forces from the United States. Most of the Army reservists were involuntarily called to active duty under PSRC, whereas most Air Force reservists volunteered to participate in the Bosnia mission. The remainder are in the Army reserve. Army Personnel Needed to Be Added to Forces/Units Deploying to Bosnia

Augmentation from reserve forces and U.S.-based active forces was required because USAREUR did not possess all the personnel and capabilities the mission needs. With the decision to extend the Bosnia mission indefinitely, the Army canceled its June 1998 troop withdrawal and extended its plans for providing personnel beyond June. Although the vast majority of the ground-based combat support and aviation-related requirements can be filled, about a dozen unit capabilities will require special attention in the future because the capabilities are primarily in the reserves and many of these capabilities have already been mobilized and deployed in support of the operation. Requirements for these capabilities have totaled several hundred persons per rotation. The availability of the Reserve Component to meet some of the future Bosnia mission requirements at current force levels is limited to some extent. Conclusions

The military services have successfully provided the needed capabilities for the Bosnia mission for the past 2-1/2 years. These steps have met the mission’s needs with varying impacts on parent units that have provided personnel and have required the Army to operate in a fashion different from the way in which it organizes its forces, which is as entire units to fight a major theater war. The Army also has relied on the reserves both to provide support capabilities that reside primarily or solely in the reserve component and to reduce the high level of activity of some active forces. The President has statutory authority to involuntarily activate units and members of the Selected Reserve. The Bosnia mission has led to a situation in which in some instances all of the units with needed capabilities already have been ordered to duty and served the maximum time permitted. In some instances, the services have activated reservists involuntarily for shorter periods of time than the statute allows. It is possible that some of these reservists could be recalled to serve the full activation period under a single PSRC of 270 days. The statute does not prohibit multiple activations as long as the total number of days on active duty does not exceed  270 days. Scope and Methodology

To determine how the military services are providing needed capabilities for the Bosnia mission and plan to provide follow-on forces for the extended mission, we reviewed documents and interviewed personnel at the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staffs; Department of the Army headquarters and Department of Air Force headquarters, Washington, D.C.; U.S. European Command, USAREUR, and USAFE, all located in Germany; U.S. Atlantic Command, Norfolk, Virginia; Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida; Forces Command, Fort McPherson, Georgia; Air Combat Command, Langley Air Force Base, Virginia; and Office of the Secretary of Defense (Reserve Affairs).
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the military services' efforts to provide the needed capabilities for continued military operations in Bosnia, focusing on: (1) how the services have provided the needed capabilities for the operation thus far; (2) how the services plan to provide them in the future; and (3) the President's ability to call up reserves under his Presidential Selected Reserve Call-up (PSRC) authority.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) the military services have successfully provided needed capabilities for the Bosnia mission for the past 2 1/2 years; (2) the U.S. Army Europe (USAREUR) has provided the majority of Army forces, augmented with reserve forces and active forces from the United States; (3) because USAREUR units are assigned fewer personnel than they are authorized, the Army had to borrow personnel from nondeploying units so that deploying units could deploy with the required number of people; (4) also, because the operation did not always require entire units, the Army deployed partial ones; (5) these steps enabled the Army to meet the mission's needs but, in some cases, have had an adverse impact on the parent units that have provided personnel; (6) the U.S. Air Forces Europe has provided the majority of air forces, augmented with U.S.-based active and reserve forces; (7) both services have used their reserve components to meet the mission requirements because some critical support capabilities reside primarily or solely in the reserves and because use of the reserves reduces the high level of activity of some active forces; (8) most Army reservists were involuntarily activated through PSRC, while most Air Force Air Reserve Component members were volunteers; (9) with the decision to extend the Bosnia mission indefinitely, the Army and the Air Force are developing plans for a follow-on force; (10) though the vast majority of the ground-based combat support and the aviation-related requirements for the mission can be filled, about a dozen unit capabilities will require special attention in the future because the capabilities are primarily in the reserves and many of these capabilities have already been used; (11) requirements for these capabilities have totalled several hundred persons per rotation; (12) to satisfy future mission needs, the military services and the U.S. Atlantic Command are considering using similar capabilities in the other military services, asking for greater participation from other countries, and contracting for some of the needed capabilities; (13) some reservists have served for fewer than the 270 days that the PSRC statute allows; (14) because the statute does not prohibit multiple involuntary activations if the total does not exceed the 270-day limit, some of these reservists could be recalled to serve up to the full activation period; and (15) in addition, the Bosnia mission has led to a situation in which in some instances all of the reservists with needed capabilities have been ordered to duty and served the maximum time allowed for a single call-up.