Inspector General Robert P. Storch announced today that the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General released the “Audit of the Department of Defense’s Management of Dwell Time for Service Members in the Reserve Components.”
The objective of this audit was to determine whether Service members in Reserve Components who were mobilized during FY 2019 through FY 2021 received sufficient dwell periods in accordance with DoD and Service-level policies. Dwell time is defined as the period a Service member spends at their home station between mobilizations.
“The DoD must keep thorough, accurate records of Service member dwell periods to make well-informed decisions regarding the mobilization and deployment of Reserve Component units,” said IG Storch. “Effective execution of the mobilization-to-dwell process is crucial to prevent Service members from facing excessive combat exposure and deployment frequencies.”
While the DoD OIG determined that Reserve Component Service members mobilized during FY 2019 through FY 2021 generally received sufficient dwell time in accordance with applicable policies, the Reserve Components were unable to consistently provide documentation showing that Service members mobilized during their dwell period consented to that mobilization or that the Secretary of Defense ordered their mobilization.
The DoD OIG recommended that responsible organizations issue guidance reinforcing the policy of obtaining dwell waivers for Service members volunteering for mobilization while in their dwell period, and require and track training for Service members responsible for validating dwell time and obtaining waivers.
Officials from the organizations responsible for developing and implementing personnel policy agreed with the recommendations and described actions planned and taken to resolve the recommendations.