[This post is 65% venting... 35% pleading for help.]
I was 2xFOS'd and left the Navy last March.
I've since been hired by a regional and am flying for them.
I tried very hard to talk to my CTO and figure out how to do the Reserves... but since I was bouncing around the country for training at my regional (SanDiego/Dallas/Chicago) and I didn't know what part of the country the company would base me in (or when I could get off work since I was in flight training)... I couldn't pick a unit to affiliate with. I also had no idea how to pick a unit, and asked him how to figure out what units did what or needed what officers... but he wasn't very forthcoming with answers... his plan to place me in a unit at the current city I was staying at a hotel in and then find me a more permanent command/billet later sounded suspiciously like the old "Hey, just go into the Navy as an undesignated Seaman and then when you pick a rating, maybe Rescue Swimmer!, it will be something you'll know is right for you!!" then my CTO left his billet and was replaced by a Petty Officer who called me and started asking all the same questions, and out of exasperation he just put me in the IRR when I told him I had been living out of hotels for 6 months and didn't have a home-city yet.
There was a circle-jerk of "Log in to the website to find a command/billet you like!" / "You can't log in to the website until you are in the reserves and gained to a unit" / "Why haven't you chosen a unit? Log onto the site to find one that you like!" / "Sorry, you don't have access to that website."
All the military bubbas around me here at the regional are ex-Army. They seem to make the Army Reserves and National Guard seem like they are super easy to understand and better organized than the Navy does our reserves... Their hands were basically held throughout the transition process, whereas I was kicked off my ship on deployment and told to go home and figure it out... TAPS didn't cover how an Officer deals with the Reserves, and I'm at a loss. Send the flames if you feel it's warranted... I just naively expected to be welcomed and walked through the transition a little bit...
I admit to being woefully uninformed on how the Navy Reserves work, or how to find a billet that fits me in the community. However, now that I'm in the IRR... what/how do I do anything? At this point, I'm just working my ass off at the new company to start my next chapter. I don't need the reserves, but isn't it possible to do some type of online correspondence to have the year count towards a retirement later? How do I find these courses and take them? How time consuming are they?
Also... I apparently just made O-4 as a reservist?
I was 2xFOS'd and left the Navy last March.
I've since been hired by a regional and am flying for them.
I tried very hard to talk to my CTO and figure out how to do the Reserves... but since I was bouncing around the country for training at my regional (SanDiego/Dallas/Chicago) and I didn't know what part of the country the company would base me in (or when I could get off work since I was in flight training)... I couldn't pick a unit to affiliate with. I also had no idea how to pick a unit, and asked him how to figure out what units did what or needed what officers... but he wasn't very forthcoming with answers... his plan to place me in a unit at the current city I was staying at a hotel in and then find me a more permanent command/billet later sounded suspiciously like the old "Hey, just go into the Navy as an undesignated Seaman and then when you pick a rating, maybe Rescue Swimmer!, it will be something you'll know is right for you!!" then my CTO left his billet and was replaced by a Petty Officer who called me and started asking all the same questions, and out of exasperation he just put me in the IRR when I told him I had been living out of hotels for 6 months and didn't have a home-city yet.
There was a circle-jerk of "Log in to the website to find a command/billet you like!" / "You can't log in to the website until you are in the reserves and gained to a unit" / "Why haven't you chosen a unit? Log onto the site to find one that you like!" / "Sorry, you don't have access to that website."
All the military bubbas around me here at the regional are ex-Army. They seem to make the Army Reserves and National Guard seem like they are super easy to understand and better organized than the Navy does our reserves... Their hands were basically held throughout the transition process, whereas I was kicked off my ship on deployment and told to go home and figure it out... TAPS didn't cover how an Officer deals with the Reserves, and I'm at a loss. Send the flames if you feel it's warranted... I just naively expected to be welcomed and walked through the transition a little bit...
I admit to being woefully uninformed on how the Navy Reserves work, or how to find a billet that fits me in the community. However, now that I'm in the IRR... what/how do I do anything? At this point, I'm just working my ass off at the new company to start my next chapter. I don't need the reserves, but isn't it possible to do some type of online correspondence to have the year count towards a retirement later? How do I find these courses and take them? How time consuming are they?
Also... I apparently just made O-4 as a reservist?
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