First Drills Back

[BMC_07]

Finally got the call from the NRC - I’ve been waiting about a month to finally be gained after taking my oath of office. They are rescheduling my SELRES drills for June to two upcoming weekdays to facilitate DEERS/ID Cards and be able to better focus on my onboarding. Works well with my real life schedule (firefighter) so I have no worries there.

Couple of questions -

Besides BOHICA, any advice for navigating the NRC life until APPLY?

What is the APPLY Board all about? My entire time in the reserves prior was with HM-15 so my NRC/NOSC exposure was pretty limited, mostly to the two mobilatizations to HM-15 AC UIC. So I’m pretty new to the real reserves.

Any way to get an O-5 into a hardware billet again (I’m guessing no, but maybe there’s a magic back channel from a Wing Staff position to occasional flying)?

Any possibility for NEPLO billet? Being a FF/Paramedic, disasters are kind of my jam now.

Just need 3 years to 20, and willing to drop back to VTU, but I’d love to keep the healthcare going if I can. My city government plan is pretty crap compared.

Thanks for any and all advice.

Blaine

 

[snake020]

What is the APPLY Board all about? My entire time in the reserves prior was with HM-15 so my NRC/NOSC exposure was pretty limited, mostly to the two mobilatizations to HM-15 AC UIC. So I’m pretty new to the real reserves.

Sounds like you are IAP. Once you promote to O-5 in the Reserve, you lose the entitlement for local unit/cross assignment orders via JOAPPLY and have to complete for billets nationally via the APPLY board. If you fail to get selected for a billet, you have a short window to re-apply through the post board assignment (PBA) process which are the leftover billets. If you still fail to come away with a billet, you will be placed in the VTU (unpaid status where you drill at the NRC for points only) and generally will have to wait until the next year's APPLY board to get a SELRES billet.

 

[MIDNJAC]

I've got a copy of the instruction for the senior APPLY board, if you need it. Concur with snake above. You could certainly reach out about NEPLO, but I believe those are at least coded as O-6 jobs. I know a lot of things in the reserves can be 1 up, 1 down, so maybe you'd have some luck there. Seems like it would be a good fit for you, and it would certainly get you over the fence to 20.