AGR soldiers and their M-day duties.

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 19 May 2014 13:26:22 -0400

How do other units handle the M-day duties of their AGR soldiers. I have two AGRs soldiers assigned to my operations section, the Training NCO and the Readiness NCO. On drill weekends, they are often pulled away from their M-day duties to perform their AGR duties (as in the duties they are responsible for from their assigned position on the UMR) An example is submitting payroll, but there are many others.

How do other units handle this issue?

Response by CPT Brandon Christensen made May 19 at 2014 1:45 PM

CPT Brandon Christensen — Mon, 19 May 2014 13:45:46 -0400

Sir, is it becoming an issue for the company? Reason I ask is that is what our Readiness NCO and Training NCO do and it seems to work our well for our company.

I think we found a good balance for them. We don't have the expectation that they have to drop all their AGR duties on the weekend, but don't expect them to ignore them all during the weekend.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made May 19 at 2014 1:48 PM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 19 May 2014 13:48:45 -0400

I had to educate myself on what M-Day was, new terminology arises all the time.

When I was the training/operations NCO in my last unit this was a common thing to happen every month. I had one BN CDR give the officers a drop dead date of say weds prior to request any info from me that they might need during the weekend. That way I could have it all pulled and ready for them eliminating a lot of the pulling if me back into the office.
My counter part was a mil tech doing S1 during the week and was the S4 come BA weekend. She got to the point where she'd refuse to even answer an S1 question on BA weekend. It was a matter of the BN CDR having to step in and remind the BN that on the weekend she is only to go S4 business.
We did an excel sheet showing where various actions were in the process and put together binders for each of our section heads to eliminate the pull on us. Sadly there is no completely getting away from it but it can be minimized.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made May 19 at 2014 7:56 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 19 May 2014 19:56:18 -0400

The best units I have worked in require AGR Soldiers to perform there MDay assignments (PSG, CO, etc.) and not their AGR ones (Readiness NCO, Training Officer, etc.). Most AGR assignments do not exist during deployment and those that do are mirrored (Supply Sergeants). But I have seen it both ways. If it is a problem, have your AGRs reassigned to less pertinent MDay jobs (NBC NCO, HQ PSG, Asst S2, etc.). Though I realize that isn't always possible.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 20 at 2017 6:42 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 18:42:20 -0500

Wow, I'm a couple years late on this one, but I guess better late than never...

I'm a Readiness NCO and one of three PSG's for my infantry company. To give you some firsthand input, here's how I run things: First formation- My platoon gets my time, I get the ball rolling and ensure my Squad Leaders know their mission for the next 1-2 hours. After first formation, I spend (usually) about an hour sending up the company PERSTAT, briefing my 1SG and CO on any readiness/training concerns they need to know about right away, and addressing emergent issues. The rest of the drill, my platoon gets my time until approximately 1200 or 1300 on Sunday (depending how when we get back in from the field), where I turn the platoon over to my senior Squad Leader and I hit up pay/AWOL letters/misc readiness and admin crap with the goal of having a signing party with the Commander around 1500 or so. During this time, I make sure I step away from my desk a few times to spot check that my guys are doing the right thing (they almost always are)... and to help my LT find his way back to his desk, you know how that goes, they wander sometimes! :)

I ALWAYS make sure I am at final formation to conduct any hails and farewells in my platoon and my final safety brief, etc. Its a balancing act. The biggest things, you gotta multi-task, and you gotta learn when to say no and when to say yes.

Do I get pulled away from my platoon? Yes, it happens, but usually not for more than a few minutes and usually just for guidance on how to handle something. But the ONLY people who I allow to do that are the Commander and 1SG. The other PSGs and Soldiers can wait until Sunday at 1400 or later to talk to me about Readiness crap.

Your full-timer should have a battle rhythm established for his/her Monday-Friday job, and a separate one for IDT weekend.

Hope this helps.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 16 at 2017 12:13 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 16 Mar 2017 12:13:37 -0400

I just read, I'll find the legal reference later, that an AGR "may" be required to attend drills, which insinuates that they "may" not even actually have to be there. By that line of reasoning, seems it should follow that their M-Day duties should simply be an extension of their AGR duties if they are required by their AGR status to show up.

Response by SSG Corry Struve made Nov 12 at 2018 3:18 PM

SSG Corry Struve — Mon, 12 Nov 2018 15:18:49 -0500

Sir, AGR’s have a hard roll which will usually clash with their M-day roll. What I have seen is they hold a slot of PSG but a senior M-Day soldier within their PLT ends up managing the position due to their AGR duties taking up most of their time. They have command of the PLT but they entrust great responsibility and trust in whoever the individual selected is will follow their guidelines and report back to them with any problems and it is a great learning for the representative as well. I have great respect for AGR,s due to them being the backbone of the unit ensuring it’s continuous function. They are the 1SG and commander representative ensuring everything functions smoothly on and off duty.

Response by SGM Thomas Terebesi Sr made Nov 12 at 2018 5:45 PM

SGM Thomas Terebesi Sr — Mon, 12 Nov 2018 17:45:20 -0500

I was AGR for 27 years. Of those 17 years I was a readiness NCO In a Sginal Battalion. The right answer is the AGR soldier should perform duties of the postion on the UMR during UTA. That being said the AGR soldier must assist the command in any matters they can as a full time employee.