Just joined Air Warriors and have been following this thread with interest. I did 5 years active and 20 SELRES. Moved to IRR because of job conflicts with having to jump on airplanes and take time away from work to get myself to drill. Did a bunch of NRTC courses the first couple of years (hey, I spend a lot of time in airplanes and it was something to do). But the problem was that after I did all the ones I thought I could learn something from (like Master of Arms, Mil Rqts, Storekeeper, Chaplain Corps, Evals & Fitreps), I was starting to get to courses that were very time demanding because they were so technical and which did little to enhance my knowledge as a Naval Officer or in my civilian career.
So, I made a proposal to the Navy that they add some additional NRTC courses that would help folks in their military as well as their civilian career. My payment was that I was on orders for 1 weekend a month, earning 1 retirement point a day. The Navy allowed me to write the first course, which was worth 4 points and was 4 assignments (75 questions each, all multiple choice, just like all NRTC courses) and was based on Six Sigma. Part of the proposal was that I was to base the correspondence courses on books from the CNO's Professional Reading Program, so that people could get the course book for free (or e-book). I was starting to write the next course, based on the CNO PRP book, "Cyperwar" when the Navy decided not to pursue my proposal.
Too bad, this was a great program which basically cost the Navy very little and which would have added some great training materials to help navy folks once they had maxed out the NRTC courses in their specialty.
But, now that I've read this thread, I think the Navy really just wants to minimize retirements out of the IRR. Like someone here already said, the Navy needs to figure out the mission of the IRR first.