In an era of restrictive budgets and mounting debt, leaders at the highest levels have called for creative solutions to ensure America can meet the future challenges to its national security interests. The U.S. military must decrease spending, particularly on ballooning manpower costs, while maintaining readiness, modernization, and adequate force structure. The Total Force concept has been a powerful and cost effective collaboration between the Regular Air Force, the Air Force Reserve, and the Air National Guard- together forming a synergistic Three-Component Air Force. Finding the right mix remains a difficult task and requires decision makers break Cold War force structure paradigms, consider advantageous mission capabilities, devise methods to preserve experience and capacity, and target efficiencies. The Air Reserve Component can be leveraged to assist in all these endeavors, while improving agility and reversibility of the force. However, changes in policy, law, and culture will be necessary to anchor institutional change.