Patriot Drills....no.

[Gatordev]

Ah, the whole "Fleet Reserve" thing factoring in. Makes sense.

Didn't know if this was some boondoggle the retiree crowd was keeping to themselves. How would that play with SELRES doing it as their CIV job? I know the NOSC I was going to drill at had real issues with me working in Dubai, Saudi and Russia, but couldn't produce anything saying I was prohibited from it. (I stayed IRR mostly due to this, and expecting me to do at least 10 hours a week Admin crap. For free)

There's plenty of SELRES who work out of the country.

Depending on what the billet is, you may have to do work during the week, but Patriot Drills are not the answer. If they don't have additionals, you shouldn't be working for free (for the most part...).

 

[Flash]

Ah, the whole "Fleet Reserve" thing factoring in. Makes sense.

Didn't know if this was some boondoggle the retiree crowd was keeping to themselves. How would that play with SELRES doing it as their CIV job? I know the NOSC I was going to drill at had real issues with me working in Dubai, Saudi and Russia, but couldn't produce anything saying I was prohibited from it. (I stayed IRR mostly due to this, and expecting me to do at least 10 hours a week Admin crap. For free)

It would depend on your particular unit/NOSC but I have found working as a government civilian at a place where military experience is common it makes things a lot easier at both ends. And my NOSC is not only big but filled with folks who do the dual-career thing as a reservist and govie and/or contractor. As long as you are making your commitments they shouldn't have issues but having been in the reserves a little while I am not surprised at some of the stupid that happens.

As for cracking the code getting a flying gig at NASA I don't know how to get your foot in the door there or if you need a secret decoder ring, I just knew about the WB-57 guys third-hand and the processes to get them to Afghanistan and flying.

 

[MasterBates]

There are things like "write own FITREP" and maybe some evals or help with a STA-21 package that I could see doing on my time.

But the Reserves only pay me when I show up, I'm not paid for 24/7/365.

And those 10 hours would be doing powerpoints and liquidating travel claims. Yeah. That's what I want to do, 2 more hours of computer work for Uncle, For Free, after working a 12-14 hour shift on an oil platform.

Not happening. I'm on the "flying job, or coloring books to get a good year" plan. Just trying to find a flying job that doesn't need me to have an Airline Pilot sked, which it seems VR an VTs want, unless you are "local". Not to threadjack, but I work a sked that can be very conducive to flying 6 days a month, but 'not airline pilot' was the common bad feedback on both boards.

(Nevermind I can SEE NAS Corpus, and am under the TACAN Z 13R approach to NGU. I'm pretty much at RYNOL)

 

[Gatordev]

There are things like "write own FITREP" and maybe some evals or help with a STA-21 package that I could see doing on my time.

But the Reserves only pay me when I show up, I'm not paid for 24/7/365.

And those 10 hours would be doing powerpoints and liquidating travel claims. Yeah. That's what I want to do, 2 more hours of computer work for Uncle, For Free, after working a 12-14 hour shift on an oil platform.

No one here is telling you the contrary. Why can't you do those things during your drill weekend? They can task you with all kinds of things, but at the end of the day, you're being paid for 16 hours worth of work a month (plus additionals if you can get them, which it sounds like you can't). If you're a CO or OIC, yeah, you'll put more time in, but otherwise, you're probably still going to make O-4.

 

[MasterBates]

My inability to promote is legendary. (yes, I even got passed over in the reserves, but that was more due to them losing my reserve oath at PERS-XX, than anything else)

 

[MasterBates]

A non sarcastic answer to you Gator is, I don't know. (bring on the green slime)

When I was talking to the "local" (190 miles away, but all interstate) NOSC, I talked to the CO (OIC? 9 months ago, kind of fuzzy now), and I was told what the expectation was.

2 weekends a month, 3 weeks ADT, and about 10 hours a week unpaid admin work from home or on the road (telework friendly stuff).

I politely told the man that I was not going to do that, and spend my only free time at home doing work for free. I'd stay late in the regular Navy to do stuff, but I never did any work at home besides maybe get a uniform ready or study NATOPS.

If there was a closer NOSC to either my house or office, I'd consider playing the reindeer games for the retirement, but with that much driving back and forth, the money and time is not worth it. Considering my civilian job will have me on the road 280-300 days this year as it is.

 

[Gatordev]

You probably talked to the CO. I'm curious as to which NOSC (I can look it up online if you tell me the city).

It's probably 3 weeks of "AT" and not ADT. That's actually not guaranteed, either. Just 12-17 days, although if you get your dates in at the beginning of the year, you can do up to 29. And if he was going to pay you for 2 weekends a month, he'd have to pay you with additionals. Even in a hardware unit, no one expects you to work 10 hours a week unpaid (even if you're the CO). I'd tell him to pack sand, as well, but I'd probably do it in the form of telling him what I would expect for working that much (RMPs, ATPs, additional ADT, etc) rather than just burning the bridge.

I'll probably split the thread here in a minute....

 

[MasterBates]

It was Cheyenne, WY. I looked up a couple of the JOs there on LinkedIn, and asked "is this for real" before saying no. Just pushing paper for that much time frankly don't interest me. I can work an extra weekend (we always need guys to work weekends here) and pocket more than I will drilling in comp pay and get one of the days back in comp time.

According to a 11xx and 13xx I talked to, yes, it was for real. Two drill weekends a month, one mando, one "strongly encouraged", and 3 weeks vice 2 week AT. The 13xx was trying to get into a hardware unit (as am I) and the 11xx was trying to get into a different NOSC. They both live between Denver and Cheyenne, so they have a bit more options close by.

Mileage to nearest NOSCs
180 Cheyenne
279 Billings, MT
292 Denver (Buckley AFB)
354 Ft Carson, CO

 

[Gatordev]

It may sound like I'm trying to argue with you, but it's really just for education's sake...

If the NOSC is able to pay you for twice a month, bully for them, but that also means they have extra money to spend on you, which isn't a bad thing. I have a feeling some of that is a sales pitch. Also, saying they want 3 weeks of AT is a bold statement. They can say that now, but they may not be able to say that in May. And they certainly can't say that in July (historically, anyway).

One last thing... You can't think of drilling as a means to earn money now. Some people can make that work, but if you have a steady job elsewhere, that's not why you're drilling. It's for the payoff later. Yes, it might not be worth your time now to pick up that "extra" weekend, but it pays off down the road when you're making more than the guy who retired at 20 off active duty as the same rank you did.

 

[MasterBates]

Yeah. With 12 years AD, I'd get a pretty decent USNR retirement, even doing the bare mins from now to 20. This year has been brutal at work between being bought by a bigger company, and now being sold by said bigger company, to an even bigger company. and having to go overseas multiple times on less than a day's notice, because I'm one of the few experienced engineers left with all the merger stuff going on. (plus side, I've gone from Noob to second most senior Engineer in less than a year)

So with what free time I have had, driving to Cheyenne was not high on my list. Work HAS to let me drill, they have no choice, but if I'm going to be pissing off middle management by drilling, I want to do something I enjoy.

 

[phrogpilot73]

Did you talk to anyone from 84?

 

[MasterBates]

When I was on terminal I talked to a person from here who is at 84. They wanted a year Mob payback right out of the box.

 

[MasterBates]

Have not talked to them recently. Should look into it again, but if it's still a 18 month plus stint between RAG and "Payback" that's a bit rough to suck up and try to maintain upward mobility in the civ sector.

 

[Fog]

The SELRES is great when you're in a hardware squadron. If you're staff, it can be great if you're close and/or they want & need you. I was lucky in that after leaving the cockpit was able to work for CARGRU (SD, Constellation & Independence) and then CINCLANTFLT, Norva. Generally. the farther from an active-duty NAS or homeport your unit, the more likely your unit will push paper and conjure up makework.

 

[Gatordev]

-84 got de-MOBed, so you may find it's not the same deal. You would have to go on ADT to come out to HSC-3 for the RAG though. A squadron doesn't have the power to MOB someone, and now that a lot of that money has gone away...you get the idea.

All that said, you may find -84 not interested for other reasons. They're not really letting the REGNAV -60B guys playing much and lately haven't wanted LAMPS FTS. -85 just recently took a -60R guy, but he had a ton of current quals and the time to dedicate to them to get up to speed.

Obviously it's worth asking, but just letting you know what I hear.