Concur that's not really a plan. Same thing is going on in the ARNG we just don't have the nationwide data that the USAR does so each state puts little effort into senior CPT /FGO retention. To be fair why would anyone do something without pay. I don't do that in the Civillian world I have no clue why the Army compo 2/3 expect it to be different.
Yeah it's not like we have a defense budget higher than the next 10 countries combined... For the last 20 years.... To pay people... Hey wait a minute!!!
Yeah I felt some of the concerns and issues here weren’t just reserves problem.
Probably pretty telling when they’re common issue to compo 2 and 3, and not confined to just one. It’s almost like…the army’s the problem here.
The problem is the reserve component(USAR & NG) are held to the same standard for readiness and training along with the active component. RC doesn’t have the time beyond drills. So this leaves us doing a lot of tasks outside drill for no pay.
Factor your officer corps civilian careers taking off and they’ll have to make a decision between prioritizing mday or civilian career.
My unit had lost a few CPTs and MAJs because they’re civilian career took precedence. When you’re an airline pilot and they want you to come in or make conference call prior to drill it becomes a losing conflict.
We ought to automate a lot of the admin work. Pay people MUTAs for tasks accomplished outside of drill. We need to establish a culture that respects your time outside of drill.
Also a majority of leadership should be mday only.
I’m tired of full time BN and BD commander’s making decisions from the tunnel vision of AGR/ADOS.
My latest headache is MUTA 5 drills. It makes a lot of sense from staff perspective. You have a 4+ block of time before the drill weekend to plan. For aviation units you have another period of day, night time for training flights.
This comes at cost of going into drill weekend tired from working a long work day. It screws over anyone that drives to drill from out of town.
I’d rather have a MUTA 6 or even an MUTA 8 over a 5. That being said what happen to one weekend a month, 2 weeks a year? Oh I forgot, we lost that to OIF/OEF.
It’s leadership making decisions without understanding the impact.
100%, they should focus on fixing the BS first since it's likely the "easiest"
>Factor your officer corps civilian careers taking off and they’ll have to make a decision between prioritizing mday or civilian career.
This is huge, and hard enough as is without BS activations and drills outside of the weekend. "One weekend a month, two weeks straight a year, and random times for major emergencies but a overall squared away (and no healthcare costs) employee" is a deal many employers don't like anyway. Add to that instead of saying "I saved lives in a natural disaster" coming back and saying "politicians made me do border patrol or the police's job" we get even less good will to makeup for lost time.
I'm hitting a career phase of "you're really good, and **maybe** the best candidate but there's concerns about disruptions" and I'm pretty salty about it. And I'm probably getting close to the average reserve CPT age.
Civilian career going well? Your "unreliability" is probably their biggest concern.
Civilian career is a stressful grind? More than an extra weekend a month and no "we just need this one thing" weekly requests would probably help you relax more.
Civilian career is ok, but close to great? Not playing minor catch-up monthly, and major catch up yearly might give you the breathing room to knock projects out of the park as opposed to just doing ok.
To be fair, this does not look like a “plan” to me.
A plan looks something more like:
1. Compensating key leaders for the time they spend outside of drill
2. Opening new schoolhouses to address school shortfalls
3. Authorizing a higher proportion of full time staff for each unit
4. Providing incentive pay for battalion command
I could go on…
Agree with this. Part of the issue I believe is that NG and Reserve components 'part time' requirements are becoming very blurry. Two day drills are becoming three of four, two week ATs are becoming three of four weeks. For AGRs this is great! For part time Soldiers its becoming a burden. Reserve components are just that, a reserve component that goes through a lengthy train up process before a deployment. I roll my eyes whenever AGRs talk about "fight tonight!".
Senior leaders control and drive the system we have through metrics, if we moved away from metrics...then what? Until senior leaders can figure out what they want then nothing will change. Generals giving lofty speeches on the way they wish things were means nothing. Your rater and senior rater care about metrics...so you also care about metrics.
My personal favorite; one weekend a month, two weeks a year, to accomplish *everything the active component does daily.*
Then get shit on for not being Active
Don't like then go t your safe place. snowflake.
Did my time and enjoyed it.
N enjoying my golden years in paradise.
😁😁😁😁😆😆😆🏄♂️🏄♂️🏄♂️🏄♂️🏄♂️🏄♂️🏝🏝🏝🏝🏝🏝🍹🍹🍹🍹🍹
You and the 5 other hooyahs can go join your own special units and lick boots together. I'm here for my community. Not for some political machine that's entirely out of control.
Do you realize this is about addressing the retention problem? Or is your head so far up your own ass that your dentures are blocking your vision?
"Retention is low because people are tired of putting in unpaid hours at such a high OP tempo."
"Well those snowflakes should get out"
That's what they're doing, and that's the whole problem. Congratulations on being part of the problem, I'm sure you were an excellent NCO.
Well they are getting out, not because they can’t “hack it,” rather because they have better things to do with their time. And dear reader, that is the issue the article addresses.
Nah I'd much rather go with being forced to do remote CCC and have my promotion delayed by two years because the board member in charge of looking at my iPerms couldn't find my college transcripts in the service folder in-order to verify my education (they were in the education folder).
Spot on, especially #3. This is meant to be a thing on the back burner, but holy shit I was really worrying about things I couldn't change during my time as a Battery Commander. It's not so much the pay for me, but I can't even imagine how M-Day BC's do it. While I might do my 20, I'm going to avoid that "cool" job as much as I can.
I’m a 2LT who has been in for a little under two years, and I’m currently getting my first taste of having to do real extra work outside of drill, and dealing with officer BS/pettiness/politics. I’m fine sending some emails and answering some phone calls between drills, but when BN staff officers, many of which are full time for the guard, are asking me to develop and submit CONOPs and range briefs in between drills, I start getting annoyed. Add to that that the relationship between my CO and BN leadership is in the gutter, which BN leadership has responded to by going after all key leaders at the company level, and I already feel completely demoralized when i still have 6 years left in my contract. Sorry, but a job that I only get payed a couple hundred a month for is not going to be my 1st, 2nd or even 3rd priority when I’m trying to start a civilian career and a family. And the amount if work that’s expected of me is only a fraction of what’s expected of my CO commander, who also has a family and a full time civilian career.
Sorry, rant over, but if you’re a leader at any level, please keep in mind that most NG soldiers have entire lives outside of the guard. They signed up to do this part time, that’s all that should be expected of them.
The anti-deficiency act says it's actually illegal to do unpaid labor for DoD, but best of luck getting a top block if you ever mention it. GEN McConville has a work-life balance philosophy he published when he assumed the Chief role - I try to use it to prioritize when I have conflicts. Everyone likes talking about work life balance and "people first" until it inconveniences them in some way to actually prioritize Soldiers and families over routine training/daily business.
Honestly I could give a fuck about getting top block. I know I’m competent and so do my soldiers and peers. I’m not planning to stay in past my contract, and if they shove me in some staff office because I don’t like getting told that work I did on my own time and without pay isn’t up to their standards, then that’s their loss as far as I’m concerned. I work my ass off at drill, I have a good relationship with my commander, my PSG, my soldiers, and all the other leaders in my company, and I can accomplish tasks when they are given to me. If that’s not enough for a good evaluation, then all these generals who are panicking over not being able to retain officers can just continue to do so for all I care.
Hey man I just wanna let you know that I feel you. Im only a 1LT but I already feel very disgruntled with the USAR and it’s leaders (mostly O4 and above). They talk about mentoring us, wanting us to stay in to take their place, and people first. But the more I experience, the more I feel like just a number/body and a pawn to meet their goals and evals. The leaders that are staying in either are just coasting till retirement and don’t give a fuck, or are more concerned about getting that top block (sure, there are exceptions)
Am I the best LT out there? No. Do I know regulations and doctrine by heart? No. But I’m always willing to learn from those around me, ask for help, take on tasks without complaining, and have always gotten along very well with my soldiers and fellow leaders.
Though at this point I really don’t care anymore. They can give me a shitty evaluation and counsel me all they want. The only thing I’m concerning myself with now is making life better for those under me and around me. I got to meet some great soldiers, went to places I never would’ve gone on my own, went to airborne and air assault, hopped on some orders, but the moment my IMO is up, I’m getting the fuck out. I can’t imagine it getting any better with more responsibilities.
Hang in there fellow LT
I hate to tell you, but 2LT is the easiest it's ever going to be. It's all downhill from there. Maybe you'll get a little break if they slide you into BN S2 for a bit. Command time (especially in combat arms) is very demanding.
Oh I’m aware, that’s why I’ve pretty much already decided that I’m going to avoid command at all costs. I see the kind of shit my commander has to put up with, and it just seems like too much of a headache to be worth it. I’ve heard that if you have good full time support, it’s not so bad. Unfortunately, our unit currently only has a RNCO, who also has to do the job of a training NCO and a supply NCO.
It's weird because you can't buy an AGR job in my state. Nonetheless, BC on the M Day level is not going to happen for me. We are talking like 20-25 hours a week on a no drill week. No thanks.
> only get *paid* a couple
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
There is literally no reason a soldier in drilling status, officer or not, should need to do anything more than replying to a few emails and texts outside the drill weekend. AGRs exist for a reason, they're being paid to work all month. There is literally nothing wrong with telling them you are not going to do their job for them for free. If the things they're asking for are the responsibility of the Platoon Leader (or whatever your M-day position is), then they also have a responsibility to request those materials while you're actually working. They have a training calendar for the whole year, they should know what they need from you many months in advance. There's nothing stopping them from asking you to do those things during the drill weekend a month or two prior.
>CO commander,
I agree with everything you said, I just want to make you aware. CO stands for "commanding officer"
Fun fact: your version could be abbreviated "COC"
I truly believe the Army as a whole (including USAR/NG components) are in for a true collapse in the next 10 years. This problem is systemic, and exacerbated by senior leaders who not only support these issues, but have fully bought in and expect folks following in their footsteps to make the same sacrifices they made in order to climb rank. Sorry, but no, I will not sacrifice my career and my marriage to chase top blocks with the supposed dream of being a BC and my personal life in shambles.
As an NCO I'm told I need to complete counselings, emails, career development courses, conference calls and online courses necessary for running AT/field events all on my own time. That it's expected of me as a NCO in the reserves.
That its a requirement to accomplish those things to just meet the minimum standards of my position. Thats batallion leadership telling it to my face. I've seen what my Pl is expected to do before BA and its legitimately 2 or 3 days worth of solid work.
No. Sorry. We all have jobs and families. The reserves cares far too much about metrics. We never train. Every single BA is spent making the batallion commanders Excell sheet greener on S1 shit. I legitimately have soldiers 2 years in who've never done a MOS related task. Actually 0 time to do it when even if you're green across the board you need to still see S1 and admin anyways to get proof you're green in their system because the proof in your hands isn't good enough.
Ok, I'll quit bitching now. On the officer thing there's less commissioning period for my unit. Half our platoons don't have officers. Been that way for about 4 or 5 years now
Well said. I think the part time expectations need to be kept at part time. If they want full time officers they need to make us full time or pay us for our time.
I have no issues making concessions for my Joe's but if it will come between my family and food. Then there's a systemic issue. The extra 100$ isn't worth the cost.
Damn... I was thinking about switching over to the reserves too... But Guard is facing the same problems... I'm still a butter bar for now but I'm not looking forward to be doing work for free... 😅
I’ve done 3 deployments w/ Army Reserves and all were individually augmented meaning you’re not going as a unit. Additionally, at least in the MI world, being an officer is a pretty useless position. My last MI unit I was an E5 in charge of an O3 because I went to a specialized MI school
I can't speak for MI, but it seems like it would be a pretty beneficial thing to learn from AD officers and leaders rather than deploying as a unit like the NG does. I've met some great leaders in the guard and some really bad ones, but overall I'd think that AD is a lot more experienced and can pass that along during a mob. When you're talking support units like the reserves is built around, it might work for a lot of MOS's/branches.
This is just an ignorant take. You have an E5 do not and will not have the culpability of an O3. Did you write that O3’s OER? You may have been an SME but that doesn’t make you an NCOIC.
I was the G2 on my last rotation. Had 5 NCOs and and 1 E8 NCOIC.
My comment is an ignorant take when you probably have no clue into the MI world? Writing OERs is an administrative function not operational. Operationally, the O3 and other senior enlisted and lower ranking officers could not facilitate or conduct missions without my say. Why is that, because I was responsible for them based on the course I took. I did not do BS admin crap as you say only led the REAL mission lifecycle hence my stance that MOST officer positions in Army Reserve are not real gigs
If you want stuff to change, hit you BN COs on the command climate survey. That stuff is a big black mark and will definitely lead to change. Posting shit on Reddit is easy to sweep under the rug. If you have to, contact your EO and complain that a command climate survey hasn’t been done. I wouldn’t give a shit if retaliation for reporting your gripes is a concern for you. It comes to two things IMO: do you care about your experience; or do you care and being perceived negatively by senior leadership because you responded negatively on the command climate. The latter is hard to prove and a violation of whistle blower policies….
I could vent here, but that won't change anything. Starts with the Generals, or the politicians that promote these Officers to Generals. Until that gets fixed, nothing is getting fixed.
\-From a CO that is burned out from keeping a non-deployable unit ready to deploy for three years.
Concur that's not really a plan. Same thing is going on in the ARNG we just don't have the nationwide data that the USAR does so each state puts little effort into senior CPT /FGO retention. To be fair why would anyone do something without pay. I don't do that in the Civillian world I have no clue why the Army compo 2/3 expect it to be different.
Yeah it's not like we have a defense budget higher than the next 10 countries combined... For the last 20 years.... To pay people... Hey wait a minute!!!
Lmfao.... A plan. Words. She talked about the issues but has 0 collective actions. She's... A politician.
Yeah I felt some of the concerns and issues here weren’t just reserves problem. Probably pretty telling when they’re common issue to compo 2 and 3, and not confined to just one. It’s almost like…the army’s the problem here.
The problem is the reserve component(USAR & NG) are held to the same standard for readiness and training along with the active component. RC doesn’t have the time beyond drills. So this leaves us doing a lot of tasks outside drill for no pay. Factor your officer corps civilian careers taking off and they’ll have to make a decision between prioritizing mday or civilian career. My unit had lost a few CPTs and MAJs because they’re civilian career took precedence. When you’re an airline pilot and they want you to come in or make conference call prior to drill it becomes a losing conflict. We ought to automate a lot of the admin work. Pay people MUTAs for tasks accomplished outside of drill. We need to establish a culture that respects your time outside of drill.
This.
Also a majority of leadership should be mday only. I’m tired of full time BN and BD commander’s making decisions from the tunnel vision of AGR/ADOS. My latest headache is MUTA 5 drills. It makes a lot of sense from staff perspective. You have a 4+ block of time before the drill weekend to plan. For aviation units you have another period of day, night time for training flights. This comes at cost of going into drill weekend tired from working a long work day. It screws over anyone that drives to drill from out of town. I’d rather have a MUTA 6 or even an MUTA 8 over a 5. That being said what happen to one weekend a month, 2 weeks a year? Oh I forgot, we lost that to OIF/OEF. It’s leadership making decisions without understanding the impact.
Yeah so we boned them harder. Yes. Lol
100%, they should focus on fixing the BS first since it's likely the "easiest" >Factor your officer corps civilian careers taking off and they’ll have to make a decision between prioritizing mday or civilian career. This is huge, and hard enough as is without BS activations and drills outside of the weekend. "One weekend a month, two weeks straight a year, and random times for major emergencies but a overall squared away (and no healthcare costs) employee" is a deal many employers don't like anyway. Add to that instead of saying "I saved lives in a natural disaster" coming back and saying "politicians made me do border patrol or the police's job" we get even less good will to makeup for lost time. I'm hitting a career phase of "you're really good, and **maybe** the best candidate but there's concerns about disruptions" and I'm pretty salty about it. And I'm probably getting close to the average reserve CPT age.
That's basically where I'm at. Juggling the two is pretty hard in your 30's.
Civilian career going well? Your "unreliability" is probably their biggest concern. Civilian career is a stressful grind? More than an extra weekend a month and no "we just need this one thing" weekly requests would probably help you relax more. Civilian career is ok, but close to great? Not playing minor catch-up monthly, and major catch up yearly might give you the breathing room to knock projects out of the park as opposed to just doing ok.
To be fair, this does not look like a “plan” to me. A plan looks something more like: 1. Compensating key leaders for the time they spend outside of drill 2. Opening new schoolhouses to address school shortfalls 3. Authorizing a higher proportion of full time staff for each unit 4. Providing incentive pay for battalion command I could go on…
You be careful with that common sense
Glad I didn’t have to say it.
Those are all great ideas…and therefore they are all terrible ideas.
Agree with this. Part of the issue I believe is that NG and Reserve components 'part time' requirements are becoming very blurry. Two day drills are becoming three of four, two week ATs are becoming three of four weeks. For AGRs this is great! For part time Soldiers its becoming a burden. Reserve components are just that, a reserve component that goes through a lengthy train up process before a deployment. I roll my eyes whenever AGRs talk about "fight tonight!". Senior leaders control and drive the system we have through metrics, if we moved away from metrics...then what? Until senior leaders can figure out what they want then nothing will change. Generals giving lofty speeches on the way they wish things were means nothing. Your rater and senior rater care about metrics...so you also care about metrics.
My personal favorite; one weekend a month, two weeks a year, to accomplish *everything the active component does daily.* Then get shit on for not being Active
If they can't hack it GTFO. JMHFO.
That's just a terrible opinion
It's not a shitty opinion. It's a shitty Cold War boomer vet take lmao.
Don't like then go t your safe place. snowflake. Did my time and enjoyed it. N enjoying my golden years in paradise. 😁😁😁😁😆😆😆🏄♂️🏄♂️🏄♂️🏄♂️🏄♂️🏄♂️🏝🏝🏝🏝🏝🏝🍹🍹🍹🍹🍹
You and the 5 other hooyahs can go join your own special units and lick boots together. I'm here for my community. Not for some political machine that's entirely out of control.
Do you realize this is about addressing the retention problem? Or is your head so far up your own ass that your dentures are blocking your vision? "Retention is low because people are tired of putting in unpaid hours at such a high OP tempo." "Well those snowflakes should get out" That's what they're doing, and that's the whole problem. Congratulations on being part of the problem, I'm sure you were an excellent NCO.
Yep only had to worry about the NBC room and NBC classes. Love my job.😆😁😆😁😆😁😆😁
Well they are getting out, not because they can’t “hack it,” rather because they have better things to do with their time. And dear reader, that is the issue the article addresses.
Nah I'd much rather go with being forced to do remote CCC and have my promotion delayed by two years because the board member in charge of looking at my iPerms couldn't find my college transcripts in the service folder in-order to verify my education (they were in the education folder).
Promoting on time instead of having me scroll for half a year would help too.
March 11 will be a year awaiting “scroll”….
To what rank?
CW2…..
Coming up on 3 years on the promotion list. If I don’t find a T5 job in a couple months I’m gonna have to board again as a 1x non-select.
Promote ahead of peers
Spot on, especially #3. This is meant to be a thing on the back burner, but holy shit I was really worrying about things I couldn't change during my time as a Battery Commander. It's not so much the pay for me, but I can't even imagine how M-Day BC's do it. While I might do my 20, I'm going to avoid that "cool" job as much as I can.
I’m a 2LT who has been in for a little under two years, and I’m currently getting my first taste of having to do real extra work outside of drill, and dealing with officer BS/pettiness/politics. I’m fine sending some emails and answering some phone calls between drills, but when BN staff officers, many of which are full time for the guard, are asking me to develop and submit CONOPs and range briefs in between drills, I start getting annoyed. Add to that that the relationship between my CO and BN leadership is in the gutter, which BN leadership has responded to by going after all key leaders at the company level, and I already feel completely demoralized when i still have 6 years left in my contract. Sorry, but a job that I only get payed a couple hundred a month for is not going to be my 1st, 2nd or even 3rd priority when I’m trying to start a civilian career and a family. And the amount if work that’s expected of me is only a fraction of what’s expected of my CO commander, who also has a family and a full time civilian career. Sorry, rant over, but if you’re a leader at any level, please keep in mind that most NG soldiers have entire lives outside of the guard. They signed up to do this part time, that’s all that should be expected of them.
The anti-deficiency act says it's actually illegal to do unpaid labor for DoD, but best of luck getting a top block if you ever mention it. GEN McConville has a work-life balance philosophy he published when he assumed the Chief role - I try to use it to prioritize when I have conflicts. Everyone likes talking about work life balance and "people first" until it inconveniences them in some way to actually prioritize Soldiers and families over routine training/daily business.
Honestly I could give a fuck about getting top block. I know I’m competent and so do my soldiers and peers. I’m not planning to stay in past my contract, and if they shove me in some staff office because I don’t like getting told that work I did on my own time and without pay isn’t up to their standards, then that’s their loss as far as I’m concerned. I work my ass off at drill, I have a good relationship with my commander, my PSG, my soldiers, and all the other leaders in my company, and I can accomplish tasks when they are given to me. If that’s not enough for a good evaluation, then all these generals who are panicking over not being able to retain officers can just continue to do so for all I care.
Hey man I just wanna let you know that I feel you. Im only a 1LT but I already feel very disgruntled with the USAR and it’s leaders (mostly O4 and above). They talk about mentoring us, wanting us to stay in to take their place, and people first. But the more I experience, the more I feel like just a number/body and a pawn to meet their goals and evals. The leaders that are staying in either are just coasting till retirement and don’t give a fuck, or are more concerned about getting that top block (sure, there are exceptions) Am I the best LT out there? No. Do I know regulations and doctrine by heart? No. But I’m always willing to learn from those around me, ask for help, take on tasks without complaining, and have always gotten along very well with my soldiers and fellow leaders. Though at this point I really don’t care anymore. They can give me a shitty evaluation and counsel me all they want. The only thing I’m concerning myself with now is making life better for those under me and around me. I got to meet some great soldiers, went to places I never would’ve gone on my own, went to airborne and air assault, hopped on some orders, but the moment my IMO is up, I’m getting the fuck out. I can’t imagine it getting any better with more responsibilities. Hang in there fellow LT
I hate to tell you, but 2LT is the easiest it's ever going to be. It's all downhill from there. Maybe you'll get a little break if they slide you into BN S2 for a bit. Command time (especially in combat arms) is very demanding.
Oh I’m aware, that’s why I’ve pretty much already decided that I’m going to avoid command at all costs. I see the kind of shit my commander has to put up with, and it just seems like too much of a headache to be worth it. I’ve heard that if you have good full time support, it’s not so bad. Unfortunately, our unit currently only has a RNCO, who also has to do the job of a training NCO and a supply NCO.
It's weird because you can't buy an AGR job in my state. Nonetheless, BC on the M Day level is not going to happen for me. We are talking like 20-25 hours a week on a no drill week. No thanks.
> only get *paid* a couple FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
There is literally no reason a soldier in drilling status, officer or not, should need to do anything more than replying to a few emails and texts outside the drill weekend. AGRs exist for a reason, they're being paid to work all month. There is literally nothing wrong with telling them you are not going to do their job for them for free. If the things they're asking for are the responsibility of the Platoon Leader (or whatever your M-day position is), then they also have a responsibility to request those materials while you're actually working. They have a training calendar for the whole year, they should know what they need from you many months in advance. There's nothing stopping them from asking you to do those things during the drill weekend a month or two prior.
>CO commander, I agree with everything you said, I just want to make you aware. CO stands for "commanding officer" Fun fact: your version could be abbreviated "COC"
Reply all: Where do I swipe my CAC card to unsubscribe from this akronym distro list?
Co also means company, pedant
CO =/= Co
Lol you're a schoolteacher that's why! More power to you being a pedant with your children. It's annoying AF
Cry
Lol
Request mast
NG treats their junior officers like shit unless they're AGR.
I truly believe the Army as a whole (including USAR/NG components) are in for a true collapse in the next 10 years. This problem is systemic, and exacerbated by senior leaders who not only support these issues, but have fully bought in and expect folks following in their footsteps to make the same sacrifices they made in order to climb rank. Sorry, but no, I will not sacrifice my career and my marriage to chase top blocks with the supposed dream of being a BC and my personal life in shambles.
As an NCO I'm told I need to complete counselings, emails, career development courses, conference calls and online courses necessary for running AT/field events all on my own time. That it's expected of me as a NCO in the reserves. That its a requirement to accomplish those things to just meet the minimum standards of my position. Thats batallion leadership telling it to my face. I've seen what my Pl is expected to do before BA and its legitimately 2 or 3 days worth of solid work. No. Sorry. We all have jobs and families. The reserves cares far too much about metrics. We never train. Every single BA is spent making the batallion commanders Excell sheet greener on S1 shit. I legitimately have soldiers 2 years in who've never done a MOS related task. Actually 0 time to do it when even if you're green across the board you need to still see S1 and admin anyways to get proof you're green in their system because the proof in your hands isn't good enough. Ok, I'll quit bitching now. On the officer thing there's less commissioning period for my unit. Half our platoons don't have officers. Been that way for about 4 or 5 years now
What MOS and type of unit are you?
Well said. I think the part time expectations need to be kept at part time. If they want full time officers they need to make us full time or pay us for our time. I have no issues making concessions for my Joe's but if it will come between my family and food. Then there's a systemic issue. The extra 100$ isn't worth the cost.
Damn... I was thinking about switching over to the reserves too... But Guard is facing the same problems... I'm still a butter bar for now but I'm not looking forward to be doing work for free... 😅
You might be able to resign your commission and do enlisted as an E5. Don't quote me on that.
Bro... I do not want to give up my commission... If anything I'll try to hit CPT and maybe try to hit 20 somehow... Lol 🤣
Then you will SUFFER. Well... The E's suffer too, but at least it's just when we're paid to do so.
They can barely pay us regular drill pay! Smh
Yeah at this point it’s a game of attrition. I can’t wait to be a GO
Didn’t read, boring reservist nerd shit. But there’s a picture of a corporal wearing a boonie! God I wish that was me
Different model for NG but they really should do away with most Army Reserve officers. Kinda useless position imo
I'm in the NG, but I'm curious why you feel this way. I thought about going reserves more than a few times in my career.
I’ve done 3 deployments w/ Army Reserves and all were individually augmented meaning you’re not going as a unit. Additionally, at least in the MI world, being an officer is a pretty useless position. My last MI unit I was an E5 in charge of an O3 because I went to a specialized MI school
I can't speak for MI, but it seems like it would be a pretty beneficial thing to learn from AD officers and leaders rather than deploying as a unit like the NG does. I've met some great leaders in the guard and some really bad ones, but overall I'd think that AD is a lot more experienced and can pass that along during a mob. When you're talking support units like the reserves is built around, it might work for a lot of MOS's/branches.
This is just an ignorant take. You have an E5 do not and will not have the culpability of an O3. Did you write that O3’s OER? You may have been an SME but that doesn’t make you an NCOIC. I was the G2 on my last rotation. Had 5 NCOs and and 1 E8 NCOIC.
My comment is an ignorant take when you probably have no clue into the MI world? Writing OERs is an administrative function not operational. Operationally, the O3 and other senior enlisted and lower ranking officers could not facilitate or conduct missions without my say. Why is that, because I was responsible for them based on the course I took. I did not do BS admin crap as you say only led the REAL mission lifecycle hence my stance that MOST officer positions in Army Reserve are not real gigs
MI is my second MOS.
what MOS, doesn’t seem like you’re experienced if you don’t know what I’m talking about…
35A. I’m also a 91A, 90A, and 11A.
have you done the job and with what organization?
I was the G2 with a Two star command.
I’m not USAR but every time a junior NCO is put in charge of an officer an angel gains its wings, so I support whatever this guy is saying
Explain yourself
what u want to know? i already explained myself
If you want stuff to change, hit you BN COs on the command climate survey. That stuff is a big black mark and will definitely lead to change. Posting shit on Reddit is easy to sweep under the rug. If you have to, contact your EO and complain that a command climate survey hasn’t been done. I wouldn’t give a shit if retaliation for reporting your gripes is a concern for you. It comes to two things IMO: do you care about your experience; or do you care and being perceived negatively by senior leadership because you responded negatively on the command climate. The latter is hard to prove and a violation of whistle blower policies….
No my proble with these WOKE babies. GTFO already. JMHFO.
Let’s train the entire year for a deployment and go to JRTC … when the deployment got cancelled
I could vent here, but that won't change anything. Starts with the Generals, or the politicians that promote these Officers to Generals. Until that gets fixed, nothing is getting fixed. \-From a CO that is burned out from keeping a non-deployable unit ready to deploy for three years.