reservists by December 1, 1990, its priority for reserve unit missions remained essentially the same, with medical units remaining first in priority.

         In its reserve call-ups the Navy continued to emphasize selected individuals for their skills, rather than units for their roles. Unlike the other services, the Navy did not create sub - units to get access to individuals or small groups. The Navy viewed the call - up authority as permitting it to call up skilled individuals as needed, and not just entire units.

         In selecting reserve units to deploy, the Navy relied on prewar readiness indicators ( as it had been planning to do ) and did not formally validate the readiness of the units or individuals.

Tailored to Meet Needs

         The Navy tailored its use of the reserves to meet the warlighting needs in Southwest Asia.

• Many medical people were needed. The Navy provided over half of all medical beds in support of the Central Command, including two hospital ships and three fleet hospitals. The CENTCOM surgeon's office singled the Navy out for special praise for their responsiveness to the need for medical units.
• Few augmentees were needed for combat ships. As then envisioned, in a general war with the Soviet Union, reservists would have been used to augment active crews to support around-the-clock operations on combat ships. In the Gulf war the pace of operations was less intense. For example, aircraft carriers normally conducted flight operations about 12 hours per day.
• More minesweeping was needed. The active forces had only two of the ships needed, so the Navy activated two Naval reserve mine sweeping vessels, the USS Adroit and the USS Impervious. Once in the Gulf, they did the critical coordinated training needed with helicopters that tow mine sweeping sleds and explosive ordnance demolition teams. ( The Navy did not deploy reserve air mine sweeping units, but relied on active units, which had the more modern equipment ).

Overall Impact of Navy Reserve

         In summary, the Navy effectively integrated a critical part of its selected reserve with its active force: half of its medical reservists, making a major contribution to the medical service; a few units providing a capability not available in the active force; and some reservists providing selected skills to augment and support active units.

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