To fully integrate the Army National Guard and Army Reserve with the active force, the commander of Forces Command said that goal for the Combat Training Centers this year is to have 50 percent participation of the reserve components in rotations at Fort Irwin, Calif., and Fort Polk, La.Speaking Monday, Oct. 13, prior to the formal opening of the Association of the United States Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition, Gen. Mark Milley said, "We don’t want to go back to 90 percent active, 10 percent guard and reserve" for these rotations.He said this goal was part of Army Secretary John McHugh’s Total Force Policy.The reserve components make up more than 50 percent of the total force.At the same time, Milley said there is a continuing need to work on partnerships between reserve component units and the active force so they become familiar with each other before deployments or training exercises."It matters with training and leadership," he added. "Think multi-component in everything we do," and it will pay off."The only thing more expensive than fighting a war is losing," Milley said.Calling Gen. Creighton Abrams’ decision as chief of staff to ensure the Army had to use soldiers from all components when it goes to war "a stroke of genius," Milley said "you get Main Street" involved by doing that.He added that in reaching that decision, Abrams and the Army’s top leaders at the end of the Vietnam War had to assess the reasons the United States lost.He also said the answer was that "the will of the American people was broken. Why did that happen? We weren’t connected to the American people."Milley added, "Our number one task is readiness" not to meet some force generation model, but "readiness now" because "we just don’t know where we are going to be" and when the Army will be needed.He cited the deployments to West Africa to contain the Ebola outbreak and the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria as examples of not being able to predict with certainty where and when soldiers will be deployed.Walter T. Kerwin Jr. AwardsAt the breakfast, the Association of the United States Army, in conjunction with the National Guard Association of the United States and the Reserve Officers Association, presented the annual Walter T. Kerwin Jr. Award to units from the Army National Guard and the U.S. Army Reserve.The presentations were made by Milley and Lt. Gen. Roger Schultz, USA, Ret., the vice chairman of the AUSA Council of Trustees for National Guard and Reserve Affairs.The Walter T. Kerwin, Jr. Readiness Award for the outstanding Army National Guard unit for Training Year 2013 went to the 1-149th Infantry Battalion, Kentucky Army National Guard.This battalion, one of the last military forces to leave Iraq, provided convoy security for two-thirds of the Iraqi Theater during Operation New Dawn, as well as support to specialized missions and personal security detachments.The battalion, comprised of more than 650 soldiers, was dispersed across two forward operating bases and contingency operational bases.While conducting convoy security escort missions, units of the battalion encountered more than 11 improvised explosive devices (IEDs), six small-arms fire incidents, one suicide vehicle-borne IED, one improvised rocket launcher and more than 100 indirect-fire attacks.The award was accepted by its commander, Lt. Col. Joseph Lear, and Command Sgt. Maj. David Jackson, along with Maj. Gen. Edward Tonini, Kentucky adjutant general; Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Chumley, state command sergeant major; Lt. Col. Bryan Howay, commander, 75th Troop command; and Command Sgt. Maj. Richard Southard.The Walter T. Kerwin, Jr. Readiness Award for the Army’s most outstanding Reserve unit was presented to the 411th Civil Affairs Battalion, Danbury, Conn.Deployed in 2013 to Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, as part of Combined Joint Task Force–Horn of Africa, the battalion adapted to a shifting role for civil military operations in the region.It conducted military-to-military engagements with many partners in the region, including Djibouti, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. The battalion also conducted a military-to-military Stability Operations Seminar for 550 Tanzanian Peoples Defense Forces Soldiers preparing to deploy to the Democratic Republic of the Congo through the United Nations.Lt. Col. Reginald Kornegay, commander, and Command Sgt. Maj. Robert Riti accepted the award, along with Maj. Gen. Daniel Ammerman, commander, U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command, and Command Sgt. Maj. Harry Bennett.Kerwin, for whom the award is named, was a former Army vice chief of staff who served as the first commander of U.S. Army Forces Command when it was established in 1976.Kerwin died on July 11, 2008.He dedicated himself and his command to the task of training and preparing for war not only the active component, but also reserve components.