subreservist
Well-Known Member
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2015/10/26/irr-review/74274560/
Another interesting article...enjoy!
Another interesting article...enjoy!
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Bringing IRR into the "Total Force"
- Thread starter subreservist
- Start date
Can IRRs screen for CAG? 
Had a brief conversation concerning that very fact...the execution of this could take a long time to figure out.
Good article. However the practical application of changing the IRR from a strategic reserve to an operational reservoir (when the military as a whole is getting rid of people) is complicated by such factors as no military medical, no dental, legal issues pertaining to callups, outdated security clearances, CAC card access, FUNDING, sometimes just finding people, etc.
The only way this goes forward is as a backdoor attempt to cull the IRR.
The only way this goes forward is as a backdoor attempt to cull the IRR.
This could be useful to fill certain technical billets... maybe ones we don't even have yet. Going to the Spratlys? Take a former USN w/ you for 6 wks - maybe someone who's done business in China or has studied something since. If they're some sort of staff corps active USNR, then the medical requirements are pretty slack. Sure, there's an inprocessing and an outprocessing, but you post the job on some board, people volunteer for it, and now we can show up the ChiComs w/ language skills (on top of all the other things, other than manning the rails, that we are way better then them at).
I know it sounds logical. That's why it'll never happen.
I know it sounds logical. That's why it'll never happen.
I think that's the concept. The article I read used the metaphor of independent contractors. Great idea, but as Flash said, will probably founder in the execution. One, the China SME in your example has to be 1) known to the Navy, and the Navy's notoriously bad at tracking skills and expertise across even the active duty side, and 2) willing and available to go back in uniform for six weeks. That's not to mention the infrastructure of calling up reservists has never been significantly altered, despite the huge numbers of them on active duty since 9/11. It's never a matter of "hey we could use Bob for this job, bring him back and give him some aquaflauge".
I predict they'll study this idea for six months and then the too-hard light will come on.
Yeah, also, I mean in that case the SME would, most importantly, speak Chinese. Btw, what're the memory items for "Too Hard Light ON (no secondaries)"?
If we can't do it for active or ready reserve guys it ain't going to happen for the IRR. There was a pair of LNO positions on the staff I was part of when mob'd that could have easily been filled by Navy reservists with the right skills sets, and they were but only by shuffling folks around after they got in country.
One of them was LNO to the electricity ministry, something scores of former nukes who work for power companies back home would have done great at and a perfect example of where a reservist could have been of enormous use. The guy who was filling the position when I got there had that exact background but had been placed there only after he got to the staff in a completely different billet. The guy who replaced him? A 747 cargo pilot who readily admitted that he knew nothing about his job. This was not an isolated example either, I was another one who got stuck doing something that had nothing to do with my military or civilian background. I still chuckle to this day every time I fill out the civilian skill set form, I don't think anyone ever bothers to look at them....ever.
One of them was LNO to the electricity ministry, something scores of former nukes who work for power companies back home would have done great at and a perfect example of where a reservist could have been of enormous use. The guy who was filling the position when I got there had that exact background but had been placed there only after he got to the staff in a completely different billet. The guy who replaced him? A 747 cargo pilot who readily admitted that he knew nothing about his job. This was not an isolated example either, I was another one who got stuck doing something that had nothing to do with my military or civilian background. I still chuckle to this day every time I fill out the civilian skill set form, I don't think anyone ever bothers to look at them....ever.
What Flash said.
We're not even very good at keeping track of strictly military quals, much less useful skills like the power plant SME Flash mentioned.
Another example I saw - NSW training local 'special forces' guys for small-boat patrols. Guys they got didn't know how to swim. There was an old pool on the camp (former Royal Navy base) but it hadn't been used in years and looked like Yoda's backyard. Turned out one of the Reservists on the camp staff was a pool guy in civilian life. He knew exactly what they needed (chemicals and whatnot) and what to do. Got the pool up and running and pristine in a week.
I know it would never in a million years have occurred to NAVRESFOR to put 'pool guy' in a civilian skill set database, but considering all the oddball civil-affairs things we get into nowadays... Having a local OIC be able to say, we have anyone in-theater who knows how to clean up and operate a swimming pool? and find the guy is demonstrably useful. Now expand that idea to being able to reach back into the IRR. It's not difficult to build and maintain databases, after all.
Whether the will and money are there is another question, of course. I could see such an "IRR skills database" as one admiral's pet rock that gets built up and then starved of interest and funding, withers and dies once he moves on.
We're not even very good at keeping track of strictly military quals, much less useful skills like the power plant SME Flash mentioned.
Another example I saw - NSW training local 'special forces' guys for small-boat patrols. Guys they got didn't know how to swim. There was an old pool on the camp (former Royal Navy base) but it hadn't been used in years and looked like Yoda's backyard. Turned out one of the Reservists on the camp staff was a pool guy in civilian life. He knew exactly what they needed (chemicals and whatnot) and what to do. Got the pool up and running and pristine in a week.
I know it would never in a million years have occurred to NAVRESFOR to put 'pool guy' in a civilian skill set database, but considering all the oddball civil-affairs things we get into nowadays... Having a local OIC be able to say, we have anyone in-theater who knows how to clean up and operate a swimming pool? and find the guy is demonstrably useful. Now expand that idea to being able to reach back into the IRR. It's not difficult to build and maintain databases, after all.
Whether the will and money are there is another question, of course. I could see such an "IRR skills database" as one admiral's pet rock that gets built up and then starved of interest and funding, withers and dies once he moves on.
Wow! So I get out of the reserves and into the IRR because I am DONE deploying. I kick back and find the least stressful job I can...pool guy...and get selected to deploy because I have pool skills. LOL
Well, yeah, there's that piece of the puzzle too. Just like mob'ing Reservists, they gotta be able and willing to go. Otherwise we get the RMP "internal draft" fiasco. Not sure how you fix that.
Do reservist really have to be willing to go? I know that on my last deployment with the guard people were stop-loss'd. Not going on the deployment was not an option unless you were able to work the system and become undeployable for some medical reason. I am hearing that may change with our next deployment.
subreservist
Well-Known Member
My understanding, as a SELRES that gets recalled to active duty, you can opt to transition from active reserves (and not deploy). The command is supposed to, essentially, give you a negative FITREP or some other type of admin "scar" to prevent the individual from ever coming back active reserve. They would then go to the next person on list to recall to deploy. If you were under some form of contract you would probably have to pay back some bonus, as well. This is under a voluntary wartime scenario.
If it's involuntary, where the POTUS has signed to get all reservists (active & inactive) in gear, "willingness" doesn't come into play. It's all about "able"!