Reassess Ready Reserve Force

By Sheila M. McNeill, National President

There is a merciful lull in new overseas deployments, making this an excellent point in time to reassess the role of the Ready Reserve Force (RRF), a major element of our successes in recent conflicts.

The RRF was created in 1976 to support the rapid, worldwide deployment of our military forces. But it could have a broader role as a multipurpose national asset able to serve additional agencies with a variety of missions.

The RRF is the nation’s premier sealift readiness program. It now comprises 59 transport ships with a diverse array of capabilities, including troops transports, crane ships, fast roll-on/roll-off ships and tankers. The 40 ships deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom carried approximately 22 percent of military cargo transported during the initial conflict. The RRF ships are kept in a reserve status in the event they are needed quickly by the military services for the rapid, massive movement of materiel or troops. Some are maintained in a semi-active or reduced operating status with partial crews of nine to 10 mariners aboard to keep the ships ready for immediate activation. As a test of the RRF’s readiness, some ships engage in regular maintenance sea trials and no-notice activations each year.

The successful operation of the RRF is a joint effort by government agencies and industry. The program is managed by the Maritime Administration to fulfill the requirements of the U.S. Transportation Command. The ships are operated by commercial companies and crewed by civilian merchant mariners. When activated, they fall under the operational control of the Military Sealift Command (MSC).

That complex structure is no barrier to success for the RRF ships, which met or exceeded most operational goals during Iraqi Freedom. The RRF in 2004 has met its goal of 100 percent on-time activation, for example, and exceeded the goal that 95 percent of ships be fully capable while working for the MSC. The RRF’s achievement: 99 percent.

The RRF program is funded by the Navy, which recently reduced the RRF fleet from 68 ships to 59 due to the tremendous competition for Navy funds.

That makes a multi-agency assessment all the more vital. The RRF was created long before 9/11 as a Defense Department resource. It comprises highly capable ships worth billions of dollars. They could be used in a variety of innovative ways to improve the security of the United States during a terrorist alert, an actual attack or in the event of a natural disaster. For example, the Department of Homeland Security might utilize some as medical platforms for triage or emergency care should there be another attack or disaster on the scale of 9/11.

The RRF contains 10 crane ships with unique capabilities. They are fitted with huge cranes able to move or unload the 40-foot containers that are a basic shipping mode of international commerce. The crane ships would enhance the ability of the Coast Guard or other agencies to search suspect ships at sea or in a remote anchorage having no shoreside facilities. A crane ship and companion barge carrier could come alongside, offload some containers and move others, facilitating a rapid and effective search of the huge container ships that ply the world’s oceans. These are among the ideas being developed in the Maritime Administration’s nascent Safe Port Concept.

The feasibility of this approach should be carefully assessed by the Maritime Administration and the departments of Defense and Homeland Security before the RRF is diminished further and its valuable assets are lost to the nation.