Future Reserves 2020: perceptions of cohesion, readiness and transformation in the British Army Reserve

The British Army Reserve, and in particular its logistics component, is currently undergoing profound organisational transformation as part of the Future Reserves 2020 (FR20) program. Yet, to date there has been no sustained quantitative analysis of perceptions of cohesion, readiness and morale in the Army Reserve. Moreover, there has been little quantitative examination of FR20’s impact to date. This paper addresses these gaps in the literature by undertaking an examination of the above variables using survey data from a representative sample of AR logistics soldiers collected longitudinally. It finds that cohesion is highly important in explaining variance in perceptions of readiness and morale, and that perceptions of cohesion, readiness and morale are relatively high in the force. Nevertheless, the data indicates that FR20 has failed to increase these significantly over time. Similarly, it finds that confidence in FR20 delivering increased military capability is also declining. These findings are important for understanding FR20’s impact to date and future trajectory.