ABSTRACT
Since the suspension of conscription in 1995, Argentina has a legal vacuum regarding military reserves. The defeat in the Malvinas/Falkland War, the military terror in the “War against subversion” and the end of the Cold War converged in the democratization of the Armed Forces now weakened and with meager resources. In 2008, the Army tried to fill the vacuum using fragments of laws by creating the Argentine Army Reserve System. The analysis of the system's creation under the condition of “transitory military state” that it instituted, led to multiple exchanges between a group of ex-conscripts members of the Union of Reserve Officers and the army's high command leading to the Course of Reserve Officers to recruit college graduates from different professional fields. The military gave in to the “reservists lobby.” Its main goals were renewing recruitment and training, restoring military prestige and rebuilding bridges with civilians. The chapter investigates the following issues: the narratives of exchanges between different reservists’ generations, ranks and degrees and the Army; the resources exchanged; the different orientations expressed in recruitment, discipline and training criteria; and the effects they have on the configuration of alliances between the military, reservists and political officials.
