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1. MOD [may] require its contractors to deliver certain designated services by staff who
have Sponsored Reserve (SR) status. Thus, a contract for services may be delivered
through SRs not only in peacetime but also in operations in a non-benign environment.
2. A SR may either be employed and paid by MOD or remain employed and paid by their
civilian employer. The latter option is preferred since it offers the benefit of continuity
and reduced administration whilst having no impact on the degree of command and
control MOD has over the SR when he […] is Called-Out or under Service Training.
3. Before SR draft terms and conditions specific to any particular project are offered to
tenderers, it is important to ensure that in addition to usual project stakeholders, Centre
and single Service Authorities with SR interest are consulted. 89
The UK Sponsored Reserve approach has a number of interesting features and
deserves study. The basic idea of being both in a military status and being paid by a private
employer is one that is discussed below. The idea of maintaining military command and control
over personnel that are essentially contractor employees is likewise important.
Reserve forces in the UK are structured differently than in the United States. The
volunteer reserve (of which the SR is only a small part) makes up only about 15% of the
combined total of regular forces and volunteer reserves. In the case of the Royal Air Force, the
figure is less than 4%. Neither the structure of UK military forces nor the purpose of the
Sponsored Reserve (obtaining civilian skills) make the wholesale importation of the Sponsored
Reserve concept into the US military scene necessarily desirable or one that promises a
universal solution for all issues related to contracted combat support.
In Britain, the Sponsored Reserve is not primarily used as a means of large scale
augmentation of deployed forces but rather to maintain continuity of services performed by
civilians in peacetime and assure that deploying support personnel are in a military status. The
Sponsored Reserve concept would seem to be a closer fit for deployed weapons system
contractors (or other specialists) than for LOGCAP-type contracts. It might be particularly
suitable in instances where weapons system contractors are involved in the actual operation of
a weapon system or in maintenance and support that can take place on the battlefield. It seems
probable, however, that a concept along the lines of Britain’s Sponsored Reserve could find, at
a minimum, some useful role in the structure of US forces.
Functional control: integrating contractor personnel into the operational team.
One modest change that could help link policy and reality in the operational theater would be to
vest functional control and supervision over contractor personnel in commanders subject to the
theater chain of command. This would formalize the “informal chain of command” relationship
which apparently already exists in many instances.
Functional control is the type of control familiar in matrix organizations and among
personnel seconded from one organization to another. In agency and employment law, this type
of relationship is recognized in the common law “borrowed servant” doctrine. Examples in civil
life include a construction crew from one employer (who currently lacks a project to work on)
being transferred to another employer’s work site and performing work for the second employer.
The construction crew may continue to receive its pay from the first employer, who for many
89 Ministry of Defense. (2003, May). Sponsored reserves. United Kingdom: authro.
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