Sharing Burden and Risk in another Theater: An Operational Assessment of Reserve Component Forces in Afghanistan

In this continuation of research originally performed in support of Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) Paper P-8177, Sharing the Burden and Risk: An Operational Assessment of the Reserve Components in Operation Iraqi Freedom, IDA now analyzed data associated with Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan. Assessments followed three primary lines of research inquiry: analysis of mission report (MISREP) data from the combined air operations center (CAOC), analysis of Army and Marine Corps significant activity reports (SIGACTs), and interrogation of interviews, both archived and those conducted by IDA, of participants in the campaign and leaders responsible for the various processes required to conduct and sustain OEF. Analyses indicated that RC forces did what they were tasked to do, with no sizeable differences in performance from that of their AC counterparts. These analyses are consistent with the assessments of OIF data, which also considered mobility data. Analyses continue to depict a shared burden and shared risk between AC and RC forces in these two operational campaigns.