The Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower and Reserve Affairs) — abbreviated ASA(M&RA) — is a civilian official in the

United States Department of the Army The United States Department of the Army (DA) is one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense of the U.S. The Department of the Army is the federal government agency within which the United States Army (U.S.) is or ...

. U.S. law provides that there shall be five

Assistant Secretaries of the Army Assistant Secretary of the Army is a title used to describe various civilian officials in the United States Department of the Army. Present Assistant Secretaries of the Army At present, there are five offices bearing the title of Assistant Secret ...

"appointed from civilian life by the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

, by and with the advice and consent of the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

." "One of the Assistant Secretaries shall be the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. He shall have as his principal duty the overall supervision of manpower and reserve component affairs of the Department of the Army. Pursuant to

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

General Order A general order, in military and paramilitary organizations, is a published directive, originated by a commander and binding upon all personnel under his or her command. Its purpose is to enforce a policy or procedure unique to the unit's situatio ...

No. 3, the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower and Reserve Affairs) supervises Army strategy, policy, programs, and compliance related to functions such as recruiting, readiness and mobilization, civilian and military manpower, medical and health affairs, family and

Morale, Welfare and Recreation Morale, Welfare and Recreation, abbreviated MWR, is a network of support and leisure services designed for use by U.S. servicemembers (active, Reserve, and Guard), their families, military retirees, veterans with 100 percent service-connected disab ...

, the review of soldier records, force structure policy, manpower analysis, the Army-wide Equal Employment Opportunity Program and critical matters pertaining to Reserve Affairs.Website of the OASA(MRA)
The office can be traced to 1950, when

United States Secretary of the Army The secretary of the Army (SA or SECARMY) is a senior civilian official within the United States Department of Defense, with statutory responsibility for all matters relating to the United States Army: manpower, personnel, reserve affairs, insta ...

Gordon Gray decided to centralize manpower issues for civil, military, and reserve personnel under one individual, with the position being elevated to Assistant Secretary when manpower issues proved to be a problem during the course of the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

.History of ASA(M&RA) from website
The office was then abolished in 1961, with its duties transferred to the Office of the Under Secretary of the Army, but then re-established - this time by statute - in 1968.

List of secretaries

References

{{authority control United States Army civilians United States Army organization