Regional soldier support centers launched; support to soldiers to improve

When the Chief, Army Reserve (CAR), LTG James R. Helmly, wanted to decentralize career management of Army Reserve Soldiers and establish Soldier support cells across the country, COL Debra Cook, commander of U.S. Army Human Resources Command-St. Louis (HRC-STL), suggested a way to "build a better mousetrap."

Helmly's aim was to be more responsive to the needs of Soldiers and commanders by having Regional Soldier Support Centers (RSSCs) based at Army Reserve Regional Readiness Commands. However, Cook recommended using existing technology and know-how to do the same thing, while keeping jobs in St. Louis and saving on the costs of relocation, hiring and training.

Part of selling the idea, she said, was showing that career managers and support staff in St. Louis already understood the concerns of the USAR Soldiers and were prepared and able to provide support on a regional basis. Both the CAR, and MG Dorian T. Anderson, commander of the U.S. Army Human Resources Command, gave her the go-ahead on the plan. The result is the recent launch and reconfiguration into RSSC teams at HRC-STL.

Cook wanted to make it clear that RSSC members weren't changing their functions and that under the new system they would be able to better support Army Reserve Soldiers to grow in their careers and leader development. "Regional teams are going to give us that ability," she said.

Cook emphasized that RSSC team members were basically "changing seats," and that the population they serve will change. Instead of serving Soldiers in a certain specialty or functional area, members will now serve an entire region. This reorganization will significantly improve support to commanders, as well as Soldiers.

On Jan. 27, 2005 Soldiers and civilian employees from HRC-STL's former Enlisted Personnel Management Directorate (EPMD), Officer Personnel Management Directorate (OPMD), Health Services Directorate (HSD), as well as elements from the Personnel Actions and Services Directorate (PASD), physically relocated within HRC-STL into their new RSSC team areas. The resulting RSSC teams will train and build cohesive teams in the near term to provide improved service for Soldiers and commanders in the future.

The RSSC is organized into three components: Eastern Region, Western Region, and Team AMEDD, with a National Team overseeing the organization (see map). Team AMEDD serves Army Reserve Soldiers associated with the Army Medical Department. The idea of teams serving regional areas is not new. HRC-STL has had regional teams in its PASD directorate for some time. However, the new RSSC reorganization builds on the experience of PASD regional teams, further expanding the concept to Soldier career management functions.

The RSSC is an outgrowth of the Federal Reserve Restructuring Initiatives or FRRI (pronounced "fry"), which serves as the Army Reserve's catalyst for transformation. A major element of FRRI is establishing human resources life-cycle management across the board.

The RSSC's implementation is a tangible means of achieving FRRI objectives, while providing a flexible, adaptable organizational structure to continue to improve support to Soldiers and commanders in the field on a regional basis.

FRRI IMPERATIVES INCLUDE:

1. Reengineer the mobilization process to streamline and automate procedures that are currently time intensive, paper based, and multi-layered.

2. Transform command and control to focus regional commands on training, leader development, unit readiness, and shorter mobilization timelines.

3. Restructure units into a flexible and adaptable force that meets anticipated mission requirements within the resource cap of 205,000 soldiers. Divest structure that is irrelevant, habitually unready, or too costly to modernize.

4. Improve Human Resources staff, technologies, and business practices to assist commanders and leaders at all levels to recruit, develop, train care for soldiers. families, civilians and contractors.

5. Build a rotational-based force so a soldier will only deploy 9-12 months every 5-6 years. Create additional depth in high demand capabilities.

6. Improve individual support to combatant commanders by increasing the number of trained and ready soldiers in critical MOSs available for individual augmentation. Overcome past impediments--systems issues, red tape, and communications problems.

COPYRIGHT 2005 U.S. Army Reserve
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group