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Chief of U.S. Army Reserve visits AFRICOM, meets key leaders

The 32nd Chief of U.S. Army Reserve, Lieutenant General Jeffrey W. Talley, hosted a town hall meeting at the Kelley Theater for Reserve Soldiers assigned to U.S. Africa Command. This was part of a two-day visit to the command's headquarters from March 5-6, 2013.

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Photo by: U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs 

The 32nd Chief of U.S. Army Reserve, Lieutenant General Jeffrey W. Talley, hosted a town hall meeting at the Kelley Theater for Reserve Soldiers assigned to U.S. Africa Command. This was part of a two-day visit to the command's headquarters from March 5-6, 2013.

During the visit, Talley also met with key U.S. Africa Command leaders during a roundtable held March 6. They discussed the USAR's regional alignment of forces and the strategic impact the Army Reserve Liaison Team, assigned to U.S. Africa Command, makes to planning, training and mission support.

"The reason I am here is first and foremost to meet with customers," said Talley. "And the customer here is AFRICOM. I want to make sure I understand the needs of AFRICOM as a combatant command."

Talley, who was on his way to Africa after his visit to the headquarters, said the support provided by his team to U.S. Africa Command's mission is very significant.

"When you look at AFRICOM headquarters with less than a thousand, and I am providing 250 (members), it's actually a bigger piece of the pie," said Talley. "The Army Reserve is providing some pretty good support, not only to the headquarters but also to the field down on the continent of Africa."

While addressing the Reserve soldiers, Talley addressed the confusion members might have about the three components of the Army, and explained the importance and roles of the Army Reserve.

"The Army Reserve is a single command and a single component," said the general, who is also the seventh commanding general of the U.S. Army Reserve Command. "This makes us very different. We are made up of combat support and combat-service support units, so we provide that daily support to contingent and combat (operations) support to the Army and to the joint force. We are a complementary force to the Army and the joint force. The Army Reserve Command is embedded in every Army Senior Service Command and every COCOM in the world."

He added that the reason for having the U.S. Army Reserve is to support the regular Army and the joint force.

"If I know there is a need from a combatant command or an Army senior service supporting combatant command, I can meet that requirement if it is a CS-CSS, or I can find a way to meet that requirement," he said.   

He added that the USAR reports to General David M. Rodriguez, the U.S. Army Forces Command commander, who will soon take command of U.S. Africa Command.

As the commanding general of the USAR, Talley serves at the operational level, commanding all Army Reserve Troop Program Units (TPUs – part-time Soldiers) worldwide. With a total end strength of 205,000 Soldiers and more than 12,000 civilians, the Army Reserve continues to serve in the field, alongside the Active Component, in Afghanistan, Africa, the Balkans and hundreds of other locations around the world. 

Most of the Army's force enablers, like lawyers, doctors, engineers and logisticians, are in the Army Reserve, according to the general. 

"We are relevant to AFRICOM because if you look at the needs of the command, the customer, they are very interested in preventing and shaping on the continent which lends itself to a big demand for our enabling capabilities," said Talley.

Following his speech, the Chief opened up the floor for questions from the audience. After addressing their questions and thanking them for their hard work, he left a parting comment.

"This is your chance to provide input on how we re-organize the Army Reserve to better support AFRICOM," Talley said. "Some of you have great ideas and you know more about it than I do, so I really welcome your comments on how we can better structure this to make it easier for that combatant command to get access to Reserve Soldiers." 

As the Chief of USAR, Talley serves as the principal staff adviser to the Secretary of the Army and the Army Chief of Staff on all Army Reserve affairs.