Mayor Rogero honored the United States Army Reserve for their 105th Anniversary with a proclamation today. Members from the Knoxville-based 844th and 489th were on hand to receive the proclamation.



Left to Right: Ambassador John Dyess, Office of the Chief, Army Reserve; 2 LT Mike Sweany, 844th ENG BN; SSG Amy L. Reesman, 489th CA BN; Mayor Madeline Rogero; SFC Brian A. Heller, 489th CA BN; SFC Fred Blanke, 844th ENG BN; 1 LT Anna McDonald, 844th ENG BN

In 1908, the nation's leaders created the first reservoir of trained officers in a reserve status, known as the Medical Reserve Corps; in 1916, Congress passed the National Defense Act, creating the Officers' Reserve Corps, the Enlisted Reserve Corps, and the Reserve Officers' Training Corps, later named the Organized Reserve Corps (ORC), all of which are forerunners of the current Army Reserve which today makes up over 20 percent of the Army's assets

In World War I, 89,500 reserve officers were mobilized and during World War II, 200,000 members of the ORC participated, with reserve officers providing twenty-nine percent of the Army's Officers.

In 1952, legislation renamed the ORC as the Army Reserve and then divided it into three reserves, a Ready Reserve, a Standby Reserve, and a Retired Reserve.

Well over 120,000 Soldiers provided combat support and combat service support during Operation Desert Shield/Storm, and others offered similar support in Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Noble Eagle, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Currently over 12,000 Army Reserve Soldiers are deployed around the world.

The role of the Army Reserve has changed over time. Moving from a Strategic Reserve to an Operational Force, the Army Reserve provides resources and training to first-responder organizations across the nation, trains soldiers, implements national objectives, keeps the Army mobile, and enables the Army to do more with constrained resources.