What's the status of IA Mobilizations in 2014?

[vxc961]

I'm IRR, but I get letters, emails or calls every few months asking me to go SELRES again, and citing that Mobilizations are way down, and that only XXX (I forget the number, sorry) were involuntary.

Well, I've got a buddy who just went SELRES from IRR, and was MOB'd w/in six months for an Individual Augmentee (IA) assignment. Another buddy got off active duty about two years ago, and is looking like he'll get involuntarily mobilized.

That's only two data points, but it got me thinking that maybe so many of the SELRES have *already* mobilized and are now in the 5-year hiatus (whatever it's called), which leaves a pretty small pool of folks to fill the IAs.

That's the theory I noodled up on my commute home at least. Anybody have any idea what the chances of an involuntary MOB for a "fresh" SELRES might be?

 

[Gatordev]

MOBs are out there, but they are significantly down from even last year. There's also folks that I know got MOB'ed and then got turned around either after NMPS or once in-country. Some of the new policy also breaks down who can MOB where, which may be affecting some of the numbers. One big change is for aviators, who can no only MOB in 13xx billets.

Depending on your perspective, the good/bad news is there is no RMP list anymore. Hurrah, no list...except now you could be MOBed at any time rather than knowing year to year. If a unit CO is doing his job, he'll already have an internal list which would hopefully be public to those on it.

 

[subreservist]

Well, the way it was briefed to us, the main reason (grain of salt) that the RMP list was disestablished was there was such a high rate of folks VOLUNTEERING to mobilize it was deemed unneccessary to invol when coupled with IA's billets reducing with the drawdown of troops from Afghanistan.

I haven't seen anyone in my unit invol that was not already identified off the last RMP list.

I see a ton of IA's in my inbox on any given week...sometimes updated or given that "Last call" tag. Going off my unit, things have calmed a lot and I'm not sure how the process would go if there was really a hard fill immediate IA. I would think the more specialized your designator, the higher chance of invol? But I think no list is good...it's good to know, but it's bad if you're sweating having to go for the entire year. At least now, it is put out there to give someone the chance to volunteer (it's just iffy how they decide to fill it if no one volunteers!)

 

[Flash]

I think the chances for an involuntary mob nowadays are remote and will remain so in the near future, with the big reduction in the number of IA's overall and a steady stream of volunteers there just isn't the need for them even though the reserves are taking over the vast majority of IA's.

 

[wink]

Just had a regional airline guy on my jumpseat. 15 years an enlisted selres AW (or whatever they are called now) and he has never been mobilized. Not even close, he told me.

 

[Sam I am]

IA's are real. I know 5 Aviators on IA...2 O-3's and 3 O-4's. Their qualifications: junior in their respective units, good performers who wouldn't reflect poorly on the source command, and most importantly they weren't O-5's with 20+.

 

[Gatordev]

Just had a regional airline guy on my jumpseat. 15 years an enlisted selres AW (or whatever they are called now) and he has never been mobilized. Not even close, he told me.

If he's been attached to a hardware unit and/or a SAU, he's been protected. Outside of the CNAFR claimancy (which I can't manage to spell according to Firefox), things get more dicey, but within CNAFR, the enlisted are generally protected (historically, anyway).

 

[Renegade One]

I'm IRR, but I get letters, emails or calls every few months asking me to go SELRES again, and citing that Mobilizations are way down, and that only XXX (I forget the number, sorry) were involuntary.

Anybody have any idea what the chances of an involuntary MOB for a "fresh" SELRES might be?

If you absolutely, positively don't want to pick up an IA billet…don't go SELRES. Choices have consequences.

 

[vxc961]

If you absolutely, positively don't want to pick up an IA billet…don't go SELRES. Choices have consequences.

I think this is 100% true. I'm a SWO (and IRR), but my buddy's an aviator in a SAU (I think). I guess the squadron has been told to cough up one body. Apparently the CO starts from the junior guy, asks him if he'll "volunteer", and if not he gets processed out. I think this is probably tallied as a "voluntary mobilization".

But you're right Renegade, I think if you're SELRES, you should expect to be mobilized. I think the rub is that I know many who'd love to MOB with their unit, but see it as a waste to do an IA somewhere.

 

[vxc961]

Just looked up my last email from a recruiter...in the stats, it said there were only 31 involuntary MOBs last year, which seems pretty. I suspect there were many more "voluntary" involuntary MOBs.

 

[Gatordev]

I think this is 100% true. I'm a SWO (and IRR), but my buddy's an aviator in a SAU (I think). I guess the squadron has been told to cough up one body. Apparently the CO starts from the junior guy, asks him if he'll "volunteer", and if not he gets processed out. I think this is probably tallied as a "voluntary mobilization".

It gets a little more complicated with CNAFR's current business rules (since he's in a SAU). If it's not a Firescout det, it's not an VOL MOB. It sounds like that particular CO has a method that he's using to identify his "internal" unit list. I'd argue that's a tough way to ID people, since the junior people are also the ones usually protected, but that's how he's rolling with it. What the CO is doing is giving a courtesy heads up to a member so he has the chance to go IRR before he gets tagged, which is usually appreciated by the member.

But you're right Renegade, I think if you're SELRES, you should expect to be mobilized. I think the rub is that I know many who'd love to MOB with their unit, but see it as a waste to do an IA somewhere.

That's the price of being a SELRES...you're there to be MOB'ed. That said, on the aviation side, they've tried to "fix" some of those weirdo MOBs outside of the designator and (as I mentioned earlier) all 13x5 dudes can only get MOB'ed for 1300 MOB's.

 

[Gatordev]

If you absolutely, positively don't want to pick up an IA billet…don't go SELRES. Choices have consequences.

Just a few "points of order" here... First, it's not an IA. It's a mobilization. MOB's can include flying gigs and direct support of the mission you're already trained to do, so it's not the conventional IA that the active side generally experiences. Also, you can go SELRES and not get MOB'ed. Ever. There's processes in place that allow the member to make that happen. It's not the normal SELRES career, but it's possible.

That said, if you want to go SELRES and retire, then yes, plan to MOB. As I said, that's why you're there.

 

[Renegade One]

Just a few "points of order" here...

Points of order accepted. Move that the minutes of the meeting should reflect the corrections.

 

[vxc961]

To be clear, I'm not saying "man, what a raw deal that you're in the reserves and you get mobilized!" I fully understand that's what the reserves are for. All I'm saying is (gasp!) there might be a little false advertising regarding the chances of being MOB'd if you go SELRES.

 

[subreservist]

There are a lot of different avenues with this...

I recognize, as aviators, you guys may have a slightly different practice for reserve units dedicated to aviators. My unit represents CNE CNA 6th fleet, which is a mashup of all types of designators and the CO has typically been a 13XX type and there a bunch of 13XX in my unit. If he used an internal list, it wasn't visible to me. From what I could tell, it was done strictly by the RMP list, with callups handled by the NOSC.

Worst case, if called up, you can still decline and go back IRR...supposedly, you are to get a negative fitrep and ideally wouldn't get to come back SELRES again, but that would be based on how well that's enforced.

What I have seen some do, and what I intended to do, as well, before RMP got disestablished...if you knew you were on the list and decided you didn't want to risk going somewhere you didn't want to go (i.e. Afghanistan), you could jump the gun and look for a voluntary MOB ahead of time. I would see MOB's in Norfolk, Tampa, Millington, Bahrain...any of those I would've put in for and been ok with it. Of course, by jumping the gun, you would never know if you would not have been called up at all...because, once called, they already have you picked for a particular billet and there isn't a discussion on "hey, can I do this MOB billet over here?".

So far, I really think they are filling most billets with true volunteers. VADM Bruan, chief of reserves, gave us a brief on reserve manning and stated, in addition to the drawdown of MOB billets, they are also looking to reduce the FTS/SELRES manning levels by a couple of thousand...mainly directed to SEEBEEs.