VTU Guam remote gouge

[Hair Warrior]

1. If you are a fully qualified EDO (and SWO) with 8+ years of active service you should have no problem making O4. Check the community brief and board precept for O4 reserve line selection results for your designator, though.
2. The Navy direct commissions a handful of reserve ENS EDO annually - often with no prior military service. Many get there with help from this website. They need to get qual’d while learning Navy. If you want, I imagine you could probably spend the rest of your career just teaching unqualified EDO JOs about EDO PQS stuff and the Navy in general. You’ll probably end up with a DH job as an O4.
3. Mobilizations are way down. Non-vol IA mobs are completely gone in FY23. If you don’t care about making O5, you could just homestead where you are locally and ride it out. Note, you probably don’t want to drill at a NOSC if you can avoid it. The NOSC is really just there for your admin and medical. Other than that, the NOSC has no operational mission.

There are other fun things to do in the Navy Reserve. You can do AT at sea. You can go to a unit that routinely supports OCONUS exercises. You can volunteer for ADOS or mob on ZipServe. You can redesignate at O4 to something else and try a whole new career path. It’s really whatever you make of it. Just be sure to check your ASOSH and retirement point calculator. I know a lot of CDRs and CAPTs USNR who are intent on taking back to back to back ADOS as much as they can to collect BAH and max out their points capture, right up until they day they will be forced to retire. If you do the bare minimum for the entirety of a reserve career, be aware your pension check might reflect that.

 

[AllAmerican75]

1. If you are a fully qualified EDO (and SWO) with 8+ years of active service you should have no problem making O4. Check the community brief and board precept for O4 reserve line selection results for your designator, though.
2. The Navy direct commissions a handful of reserve ENS EDO annually - often with no prior military service. Many get there with help from this website. They need to get qual’d while learning Navy. If you want, I imagine you could probably spend the rest of your career just teaching unqualified EDO JOs about EDO PQS stuff and the Navy in general. You’ll probably end up with a DH job as an O4.
3. Mobilizations are way down. Non-vol IA mobs are completely gone in FY23. If you don’t care about making O5, you could just homestead where you are locally and ride it out. Note, you probably don’t want to drill at a NOSC if you can avoid it. The NOSC is really just there for your admin and medical. Other than that, the NOSC has no operational mission.

There are other fun things to do in the Navy Reserve. You can do AT at sea. You can go to a unit that routinely supports OCONUS exercises. You can volunteer for ADOS or mob on ZipServe. You can redesignate at O4 to something else and try a whole new career path. It’s really whatever you make of it. Just be sure to check your ASOSH and retirement point calculator. I know a lot of CDRs and CAPTs USNR who are intent on taking back to back to back ADOS as much as they can to collect BAH and max out their points capture, right up until they day they will be forced to retire. If you do the bare minimum for the entirety of a reserve career, be aware your pension check might reflect that.

Good to hear about being able to homestead. I wouldn't mind traveling to Charleston to do my AT and drill time. I love it down here and it's an easy drive from home. They're also looking for EDOs and I would make the transition as a fully qualified EDO and SWO with 11+ years of service. At this point, especially if I get FOS'ed twice on AD, I'm not sure how "Joe Navy" I'm going to be. My main concerns for even affiliating with the Reserves are to get any kind of pension at all, maximize my use of medical benefits, and guarantee my daughter gets my GI Bill.

I'm hoping that doing the Navy part time and being able to have more opportunity for fun missions will reinvigorate me. How exactly do I find those kinds of OCONUS exercises? I'm not really interested in getting MOB'd for any extended amount of time (45+ days).

 

[Hair Warrior]

Re: timing

So if you have 8-9 years left, homesteading would maybe look like going A-B-A between the two closest geographic units that logically could use a EDO/SWO/URL type in them.

Re: active orders

For finding orders, ZipServe is probably the easiest way to find ADOS/ADT. OCONUS exercises occasionally show up here. My community (IWC) has a separate portal with additional opportunities advertised. Another method is seeking out reserve units with an OCONUS mission, e.g. NATO, SOUTHCOM, PACOM, etc. Getting in good with an active unit who wants your time is probably the best way to get a solid ADOS/ADT, because you can tailor and negotiate the orders to your liking (assuming it also works for them). Technically, you can cut orders short even after you take them, but that’s not optimal if they’re expecting you to fulfill the time period. For AT, you typically owe your “supported command” your first AT each FY, but you can also do another AT (E-AT funds permitting) or ADT of your choosing, usually.

Re: Joe Navy

The brand new non-prior ENS EDO is not going to want or need you to be Joe Navy. They just want to hear your sea stories, rules of thumb, customs, courtesies, whatever helps them acclimate to the Navy. It could be as simple as showing them how to do DTS, telling them what life is like aboard ship, or discussing the different roles and responsibilities of Chiefs/LPOs/DIVOs. You’ll find you have a lot to offer since you have a decade on active side.

Re: FOS

I know officers who had 2x FOS active, then got picked up for O4 on their first look as a SELRES. I wouldn’t worry about it.

Re: making O5

If you don’t care about O5, you can skip a lot of the time-consuming/cumbersome activities that many O4s pursue, e.g. 2N1 qual or JPME I and II. Just be aware that an O4 pension and an O5 pension are different monetarily.

 

[AllAmerican75]

Re: timing

So if you have 8-9 years left, homesteading would maybe look like going A-B-A between the two closest geographic units that logically could use a EDO/SWO/URL type in them.

Re: active orders

For finding orders, ZipServe is probably the easiest way to find ADOS/ADT. OCONUS exercises occasionally show up here. My community (IWC) has a separate portal with additional opportunities advertised. Another method is seeking out reserve units with an OCONUS mission, e.g. NATO, SOUTHCOM, PACOM, etc. Getting in good with an active unit who wants your time is probably the best way to get a solid ADOS/ADT, because you can tailor and negotiate the orders to your liking (assuming it also works for them). Technically, you can cut orders short even after you take them, but that’s not optimal if they’re expecting you to fulfill the time period. For AT, you typically owe your “supported command” your first AT each FY, but you can also do another AT (E-AT funds permitting) or ADT of your choosing, usually.

Re: Joe Navy

The brand new non-prior ENS EDO is not going to want or need you to be Joe Navy. They just want to hear your sea stories, rules of thumb, customs, courtesies, whatever helps them acclimate to the Navy. It could be as simple as showing them how to do DTS, telling them what life is like aboard ship, or discussing the different roles and responsibilities of Chiefs/LPOs/DIVOs. You’ll find you have a lot to offer since you have a decade on active side.

Re: FOS

I know officers who had 2x FOS active, then got picked up for O4 on their first look as a SELRES. I wouldn’t worry about it.

Re: making O5

If you don’t care about O5, you can skip a lot of the time-consuming/cumbersome activities that many O4s pursue, e.g. 2N1 qual or JPME I and II. Just be aware that an O4 pension and an O5 pension are different monetarily.

Thanks for the info, dude. I'll look into ZipServe and take a gander.

Re: O5 and money: Honestly, I'm not sure it's gonna be a big deal. I have a technical masters, am performing a job that translates directly into the real world, and have civilian engineering work experience. I've already had some companies try to poach me and my current boss is trying to convince me to get out and come work for him as an upper-level GS. The big benefits I'm concerned with are medical insurance and GI Bill for my daughter.

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

Thanks for the info, dude. I'll look into ZipServe and take a gander.

Re: O5 and money: Honestly, I'm not sure it's gonna be a big deal. I have a technical masters, am performing a job that translates directly into the real world, and have civilian engineering work experience. I've already had some companies try to poach me and my current boss is trying to convince me to get out and come work for him as an upper-level GS. The big benefits I'm concerned with are medical insurance and GI Bill for my daughter.

Reserve tricare is still a better deal compared to most civilian insurance options that employers offer. I think it’s like ~$260 a month.

Also don’t forget about collecting / applying for a VA disability.

Check out state veterans benefits too.

 

[Hair Warrior]

Also don’t forget about collecting / applying for a VA disability.

The higher your VA check, the lower your drill pay, FYI.

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

The higher your VA check, the lower your drill pay, FYI.

Explain pls

 

[Hair Warrior]

Explain pls

Should I take Drill Pay or VA Compensation?

The ultimate choice about drill pay versus VA compensation is really up to you, but remember that there are resources to help you make an informed decision.

veteran.com

 

[RJS]

Reserve tricare is still a better deal compared to most civilian insurance options that employers offer. I think it’s like ~$260 a month.

Also don’t forget about collecting / applying for a VA disability.

Check out state veterans benefits too.

Quick question to the Tricare: How does Tricare work if your spouse is Active Duty? Is this something that I can opt out of?

 

[Hair Warrior]

Quick question to the Tricare: How does Tricare work if your spouse is Active Duty? Is this something that I can opt out of?

If your spouse is AD, you get free Tricare from him/her since you are the dependa.

Tricare reserve select is opt-in only. It’s very obvious when you sign up that you are enrolling.

 

[MIDNJAC]

I'm looking at making the switch soon myself. What should I be aware of?

Hah, I'm sure Nittany (and others) will have some good pointers. I'll say I've been SELRES for 2.5 years now, and I feel like I'm still learning the language/ropes. The reserve experience and daily/weekly/monthly/annual rhythm will also vary widely depending on what type of unit you go to, and even within the same broad category, there is variance between different communities/platforms as well.

 

[Hair Warrior]

my current boss is trying to convince me to get out and come work for him as an upper-level GS. The big benefits I'm concerned with are medical insurance

Didn’t catch this earlier, but if you are a GS (eligible for FEHB) you are prohibited from enrolling in Tricare reserve select. I’ve had both in life, but they were so far apart in time that I don’t have a good comparison. And anytime you are on ADT/ADOS/mob for >30 days you automatically get free Tricare active duty for you and dependents.

 

[MIDNJAC]

Didn’t catch this earlier, but if you are a GS (eligible for FEHB) you are prohibited from enrolling in Tricare reserve select. I’ve had both in life, but they were so far apart in time that I don’t have a good comparison. And anytime you are on ADT/ADOS/mob for >30 days you automatically get free Tricare active duty for you and dependents.

And as a boldface, for all those new to the reserves, realize that the auto-switch doesn't happen both ways. When those orders end, you need to be manually re-activating TRS. For some reason, DEERS and by extension Tricare, assume that you have just unaffiliated with the military entirely when those orders end. You are a ghost in their system. This almost bit me the first time when I didn't know, and has nearly left some other friends with big bills when they had something go down shortly after coming off long term orders and not restarting TRS.

 

[AllAmerican75]

Didn’t catch this earlier, but if you are a GS (eligible for FEHB) you are prohibited from enrolling in Tricare reserve select. I’ve had both in life, but they were so far apart in time that I don’t have a good comparison. And anytime you are on ADT/ADOS/mob for >30 days you automatically get free Tricare active duty for you and dependents.

Not sure if I'm gonna go GS. I'm not sure if it's going to make sense for my family or not. But I have heard that FEHB aren't a bad deal at all, just not as good as Tricare.

And as a boldface, for all those new to the reserves, realize that the auto-switch doesn't happen both ways. When those orders end, you need to be manually re-activating TRS. For some reason, DEERS and by extension Tricare, assume that you have just unaffiliated with the military entirely when those orders end. You are a ghost in their system. This almost bit me the first time when I didn't know, and has nearly left some other friends with big bills when they had something go down shortly after coming off long term orders and not restarting TRS.

Good to know. Thanks for the heads-up.

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

Not sure if I'm gonna go GS. I'm not sure if it's going to make sense for my family or not. But I have heard that FEHB aren't a bad deal at all, just not as good as Tricare.


Good to know. Thanks for the heads-up.

Better opportunities in the outside world.

Though I must admit once you can get into the GS world you’re set with moving up that way.