Continuum of service: initiative seeks to facilitate movement within various programs.

Dennis M. McCarthy, assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs, uses the analogy of a circuit breaker to describe the Cold War approach to military service that is still being used to this day: The switch is either on or off, an individual is either active or reserve--on or off active duty. There is no in-between.

Carrying his analogy further, Mr. McCarthy's vision is to replace the outdated circuit breaker with a rheostat, a device that allows for easily adjusting the personnel flow among all of the Total Force components--regular, guard, reserve and civil service.

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"We must replace today's blunt manpower instruments with a kit of flexible, precise tools that allows reserve members to move back and forth along a continuum of service that reflects both the needs of reservists and those who employ them," he said. "This continuum is a way of describing the full spectrum of availability, ranging from members of the Individual Ready Reserve who do not routinely train as members of units and who may never be recalled to active duty to individuals who perform short-term active service during the course of a year to reservists who volunteer for active duty for up to 365 days.

"It thus spans the range of possible employment up to a year and encompasses all categories of duty from drills to annual training to active duty in support of specific requirements and contingencies to full mobilization."

An Air Force talking paper says the purpose of continuum of service is to "maximize Total Force operational readiness, increase options for members to serve, maximize the availability of needed skills and experience levels, and facilitate the seamless movement of members across components."

"Continuum of service" is not a new concept for Air Force Reserve Command. For years, AFRC has been a logical choice for regular Air Force members who want to continue their military service but on a part-time rather than a full-time basis. And within the Reserve, it's common for people to switch among the various programs (unit, individual mobilization augmentee, air reserve technician, and active Guard and Reserve).

"For personal or professional reasons, a person may need to change status several times in his or her career," said Col. Connie Hutchinson, chief of the Personnel Division at Headquarters AFRC, Robins Air Force Base, Ga. "They may start out on active duty, then become a traditional Reservist after a few years, then switch over and become an IMA or an ART and then move on to an active Guard and Reserve tour.

"What we are trying to do is make these transitions easier for military members because it helps us hold on to highly skilled and trained individuals who may otherwise decide to leave the service. And, it helps us meet our goal of getting the right people in the right job at the right time."

Portability and convertibility are two of the tools AFRC is using to execute the continuum of service concept. Portability is the ability for a Reservist to carry his status, and all of the benefits accumulated in that status, with him to a new position; while convertibility refers to the ability of the command to temporarily change a position from one status to another.

For example, Col. John Hart was recently chosen to be the Air Combat Command reserve advisor at Langley AFB, Va. Formerly an AGR position, the slot was converted to an ART position, allowing Colonel Hart to keep his ART status in his new job.

"In this case, portability and convertibility allowed us to get the best person for the job, not just the best person in a particular status," Colonel Hutchinson said. "Right now, this is something we are pressing forward with for our key command and joint billets, but our hope is to expand it even further in the future."

Outside of the Reserve, the Department of Defense has begun experimenting with a career intermission or sabbatical program that would allow military members to transition to minimal Ready Reserve participation and then return to active duty at a prescribed later date. Sabbaticals, portability and convertibility all fall under the continuum of service umbrella and create a win-win situation for both members and the services.

Not only do these programs allow members to serve in different capacities at different points in their lives, they improve the availability of needed skills and experience across the components and increase the propensity for members to volunteer for duty.

According to Secretary McCarthy, continuum of service is an idea whose time is overdue.

"The post-Cold War reality of guard and reserve service is radically different--for the member, force provider and gaining commander, who will lead a joint and Total Force comprised of active, guard and reserve personnel in battle," he said. "It has become increasingly obvious that the guard and reserve cannot fulfill their potential as true partners in a Total Force with current manpower, personnel, and administrative policies and systems. The circuit breaker is worn out." It's time to install the rheostat.

The Air Force recently released a continuum of service video and posted it on the service's Web site. The address is http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id= 123147873.

(Editor's note: This is the third in a series of three articles on force management and development. Previous articles focused on education and training, and joint service opportunities. This article focuses on continuum of service.)