The ROA was founded on October 2, 1922, when several hundred officers, many of them combat veterans of World War I, first gathered with General of the Armies John J.

[citation needed] Also during this time, Reserve programs, which were to prove invaluable in the mobilization period of 1941 and 1942, became established on the foundations laid by the citizen-soldiers who had served in World War I.

When law created a separate Department of the Air Force, for the first time the nation had, in ROA, a Reserve association embracing all the Services.

This act established the objective of ROA: "...support and promote the development and execution of a military policy for the United States that will provide adequate National Security."

[3] ROA's Defense Education Forum (DEF) produces a series of programs featuring experts speaking to topics including homeland security, civil affairs, terrorism, continuum of service, USERRA, and civilian-military relations.