As the U.S. Army modernizes by leveraging technology and merging commands, the U.S. Army Reserve must also plan for the future. During the Effects Coordination Board (ECB), led by the U.S. Army Reserve Command (USARC) and hosted by the 63d Readiness Division (63d RD) at the Sgt. James Witkowski Armed Forces Reserve Center in Mountain View, Calif., on 7 and 8 August, leaders discussed multiple systems and processes. More than 150 leaders from mission support commands (MSC), readiness divisions (RD), functional commands (FC), and garrisons participated in person or virtually in the 2026 ECB.

“It was an opportunity for the Readiness Divisions and Mission Support Command organizations to come together and work on initiatives and topics that will improve readiness across the Army Reserve,” said COL Steven S Trotter, U.S. Army Reserve Command ECB lead.

During the briefings, various topics were discussed, and the three most focused on were maintenance, the ECB charter, and Army Vantage.

“One of the topics of top significance was the charter and bylaws of the ECB,” said Trotter. Trotter then stated that one reason the topic of the ECB charter and bylaws was a significant point of discussion was that the charter had never been codified or signed by the CAR, and that the ECB team, the 63d RD team, USARC team, and the former chief of staff had identified it as a need.

While the ECB unfolded and the topics were discussed in depth, key leaders focused on what they believed would be impactful to the U.S. Army Reserve, its operations, and its Soldiers.

“The purpose of this year's ECB was twofold,” said Maj. Gen. Kent J. Lightner, commanding general of the 412th Engineer Command and ECB panel member.

“One was to reestablish the ECB as a permanent event that would occur on an annual basis, with very clear guidelines around how it would operate, and how we would refer decisions and recommendations from the RD and MSC commanders to USARC senior leadership for future implementation of those decisions,” said Lightner.

“The second reason was to get after some of the topics that are of importance to the commanding general of the Army Reserve right now,” said Lightner and continued by stating that probably the most important topic was the geographic command and control discussion and decisions that would need to be made between all the parties involved.

“Geographic command and control was the main topic we were going to talk about; this is really an inflection point where we're making decisions around how we're going to completely change the way units report up into U.S. Army Reserve Command,” said Kent.

As he continued, Lightner stated that the discussion included the hub-and-spoke topic and unit realignment.

“This would allow the units to come together to support each other from a readiness standpoint,” said Leitner as he spoke on the significance of the hub-and-spoke idea behind the future realignment of units and sites that would be the primary locations for training.

The hub-and-spoke method would not only align the units so they support each other, but decrease the number of units traveling across the country to join their higher headquarters.

“Yogi Berra said it best: in theory, there is no difference between theory and practice; in practice, there is. But this is good theoretically,” said Maj. Gen. Windsor S. Buzza, commanding general of the 63d Readiness Division and ECB panel president, as the hub-and-spoke method was being briefed.

“I think what we all are saying here is that there must be a collaborative effort where the readiness division commanders retain their authority to make decisions about the units inside their geographic footprint, and not the staff at either D.C. or Marshall Hall making directing decisions. The readiness division commanders are going to have to work with the functional commands on the unique requirements that those functional commands have for training on equipment at the designated locations. As long as we are working towards the intent, I think we will get there,” said Buzza as he emphasized the importance and criticality of leadership internal communication.

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