Legal background Reserve forces
The main provisions in primary legislation concerning the reserve forces are contained in the Reserve Forces Act 1996 ("RFA 1996") which covers matters such as the organisation and membership of those forces, service in the reserve forces, and the powers to call out reservists and reserve associations. The RFA 1996 is supplemented by secondary legislation made under the Act. In particular, orders and regulations made under section 4 set out much of the detail on service in the reserve forces. The reserve forces are made up of:
The ex-regular reserve forces: the Royal Fleet Reserve, the Regular Reserve and the Air Force Reserve. These consist of former members of the regular forces who, on leaving those forces, are transferred to the reserve forces for a period of time.
The volunteer reserve forces: the Royal Naval Reserve, the Royal Marines Reserve, the Army Reserve and the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. These consist of civilians who enlist or engage in the reserve forces.
	Reservists must undergo periodic training and are also liable to be called out for mandatory periods of permanent service. They can also volunteer to perform additional duties or undertake periods of full-time service. Under section 367 of the AFA 2006 reservists called out for permanent service or in full-time service are subject to service law at all times, otherwise they are only subject to service law when training or performing their duties. The main types of service in the reserve forces are set out below:
mandatory training for a set period each year (see sections 22 and 23 of the RFA 1996);
full-time service commitments, that is, a voluntary commitment to serve full-time for a set period on similar terms to members of the regular forces (see section 24 of the RFA 1996);
additional duties commitments, that is, a voluntary commitment to perform extra duties at set times (see section 25 of the RFA 1996);
voluntary training and other duties (see section 27 of the RFA 1996);
mandatory permanent service when called out under a call-out order or other powers in the RFA 1996 (see Parts 4 to 6 of the RFA 1996).