What is some advice you would give a Jr. Army Reserve Officer looking to leave service?

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 06 Aug 2022 03:43:48 -0400

My friend expressed to me that they are looking to leave, or at least take a break from military service. They have been in the Reserves 10 years, and an officer for 5 of them. They have not felt their time has been rewarding lately or well spent, and are feeling burned out. They are considering trying to move into the IIR, and are looking for advice on how to do this, pitfalls, and any other guidance or noted you can provide.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 6 at 2022 3:54 AM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 06 Aug 2022 03:54:08 -0400

I am retired but I knew a friend who had a hell of a time trying to go into the Inactive ready reserved because he didn't know he was in a ready force X unit.

If you are in a ready force X unit, it is twice as hard to go into the IRR.
Contact

He is a friend of mine who is still in. He went into the IRR for a while. Hopefully he will answer you if you select him. He is back in the army reserve right now. Not sure if he still is on rallypoint.

Bottom lineup front: Even if commander signs off on going into the IRR, the DOD civilians at the Regional support Command will sit on it unless you call them almost every day.

Maybe others here can give guidance. Hopefully Major Alvarez answers here.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 6 at 2022 5:22 AM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 06 Aug 2022 05:22:28 -0400

I would ask them what is making them want to leave, specifically, because I can’t tell you how many people I’ve heard of or know who got out and it didn’t take long for them to come back in. But if they are set on going IRR, they’ll just have to stay on top of it. The Readiness Division (formerly Regional Support Command), as LTC Private RallyPoint Member mentioned, can take a while to process those requests. The truth of the matter is the grass isn’t always greener, and I would express that to them. The USAR as a whole is short on Officers, so there are plenty of opportunities out there to serve in positions that are more fulfilling. For example, our S2 OIC didn’t have a lot going on S2-wise, because we’re in garrison. He’d only be busy if we went to the field every month. So I advised him to take HHC command because he may not otherwise get the opportunity to command as an MI Officer. Putting him in command was like putting a duck to water. He’s killing it, and stays engaged. Sometimes that’s all people need. I hope this helped.

Response by Lt Col Charlie Brown made Aug 6 at 2022 5:50 AM

Lt Col Charlie Brown — Sat, 06 Aug 2022 05:50:45 -0400

any advice?

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 6 at 2022 7:21 AM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 06 Aug 2022 07:21:39 -0400

I had a BDE Commander once tell us "If you need to go IRR for a couple of years to take a knee and recoup, do it. Then, come back recharged." So, could be a rest in IRR is needed. Or, perhaps a change in venue to another unit. Either way, I'd express to them that if they intend to fully leave, they need to be sure of their decision. Many folk have gotten out at the half way point then regretted it and came back. I did. As for IRR, they need to speak with their Commander as it's a request packet that needs to be completed

Response by Maj John Bell made Aug 6 at 2022 11:34 AM

Maj John Bell — Sat, 06 Aug 2022 11:34:43 -0400

If you love what you do, the money will be enough. If you hate what you do, there will never be enough money.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Always look for repeatable side hustles.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 6 at 2022 11:46 AM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 06 Aug 2022 11:46:38 -0400

1. If the individual is burt out, then a break is better than resigning/quiting.
2. IRR transfer may be difficult, if the inital obligation has not been completed.
3. VOL IRR Transfer packet includes: 4651, 4187, and exit counselings by retention and commander. He will need a strong justification letter - 'burnt out' probably won't get a CG signature.
4. Another option is a TPU transfer. Maybe your friend just needs a different environment. Each unit and command differs in training and resposibilities. I have been in units where I'm running around crazy all weekend and others where we just sit around and talk.

Response by Lt Col Jim Coe made Aug 6 at 2022 12:16 PM

Lt Col Jim Coe — Sat, 06 Aug 2022 12:16:35 -0400

My daughter’s experience may be instructive. Entered ANG right after high school. Trained in supply. Served About 10 good years making E5. Meanwhile on the civilian side worked her way from convenience store clerk to BSN RN. She resigned from the Guard.

Fast forward 10 years. Daughter realizes she will need some retirement plan in less time than she thought when she was 30. Also completed MSN and NP. Decides to apply to Reserve

Response by PFC Edgar Mosier made Aug 7 at 2022 5:46 PM

PFC Edgar Mosier — Sun, 07 Aug 2022 17:46:03 -0400

Go for any Service Connectability... It could be too late when you actually need it.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 7 at 2022 8:30 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 07 Aug 2022 20:30:57 -0400

So 10 years is a lot to walk away from. He's got more behind him than in front.

Next, The USAR is not the USAR is not the USAR. I'll hit my magic 8 year commissioned window next year. I plan on sticking it out for 20, but before I landed in this latest unit I was ready to just walk away. To the point if I didn't get out of my RFX unit (400 miles away) I had no problem just letting all my personal performance metrics go sideways.

Anyway............... our service obligation is equally sufficed if we are run into the ground making great personal sacrifices or if we twiddle our thumbs each Battle Assembly doing nothing more thank keeping up our LHI and On Line training up to date.

I get it. I spent 27 months in command of an RFX QM unit with 160 PAX and 50M+ in equipment as a 1LT, and then find out that someone in command of an HHC or Det. gets the same career broadening credit. WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also....... nowadays one only needs PME and not to be flagged to make promotions among peers. Who cares if you promote early if it doesn't change your end retirement rank anyway. Don't run yourself into the ground getting to a place sooner everyone else gets to anyway.

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What command taught me was to utilize Army Information Systems and FIND those choice easy positions and not to step into wet cement.

Read between the lines. If a vacancy looks good, then search vacancies by UIC and see how many slots they are trying to fill. Look them up in FMSWeb. What is their MTOE and what is the Mission?

Basically............... EACH AND EVERY UNIT that has a mission/METL, and the equipment and personnel authorized to conduct said mission is READY FORCE X. You can call it whatever you want. You can call it nothing for that matter. When things go sideways the units that can be pushed forward the soonest are those with soldiers and equipment on hand to execute a mission.

Visit the unit before at a BA before you transfer. Do it even off the books (non RST) and just visit and asked around.

Use the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) as a tactical career maneuver. When one enters IRR make sure they go in there GREEN ACROSS THE BOARD. It will provide less hassle when trying to get back in.

Once in the IRR you now have a breather, and are in a much stronger position to go ANYWHERE you want. There will be no resistance on the current command side, and there will be no administrative delays on the receiving end. If the vacancy is there, you are Branch and rank qualified and not Flagged for anything (remember, enter the IRR unflagged) then POOF retention will make the placement.

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I was ready to call it quits. The overall sacrifice just was unrealistic. Being in the USAR is not supposed to run us into the ground year after year after year, and change training schedules on us with only a few days notice. Yea, the USAR can pull the military service card for employers but that card should only be played for national security events. It's abused A LOT.

Anyway.............. chill units are out there. Chill is defined not by chain of command, but by the METL and authorized equipment and personnel. On can still get a Gun-Ho commander of a TDA unit, and no matter how aggressive they might want to be with OpTempo they are never going to get the funding for it as a TDA unit.

My first year as a CPT I made the most money in the USAR (outside of a deployment) with COVID restrictions. I never left the house, and the Virtual nature of training and duties allowed me to stack on all sorts of on-line authorized work without ever leaving the house and melding my civilian and USAR obligations without having to do only one or the other.

In fact, I knocked out CCC it it's entirety from On-Line foundation course work to Phase 1 and Phase 2 without ever leaving the house.
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Finally........... at the end of the day we all owe the USAR to be MOSQ, 48 MUTA's and an Annual Training, to keep up with ACFT and our medical readiness. THAT'S IT. Promotional advancement is in our own hands. Some units are more forgiving in how we serve these obligations and give greater degrees of adjustments to meet these obligations. Other units are draconian in how we meet these obligations and change training schedules at the last moment causing civilian friction for time and work obligations we already went to a great deal of sacrifice to align based on original training schedules.

Keep in mind........... even the most chill and forgiving of units has it's limits. What I mean is don't get LAZY with meeting these obligations. Opportunities are not always "IDEAL". So if a window of opportunity to fill an USAR obligation WIHTOUT civilian conflict arises JUMP ON IT. Don't put it off because you might want to do something else that can be moved left or right. You might not get another chance, or the next chance might come at greater cost.

TDA = in an environment where I chose choose between multiple AT missions I choose the one with the least pain to my civilian obligations. The unit might come back and ask me to do another mission but guess what, I burned up all my AT funding. Without my begging and pleading to go on an additional mission it just isn't going to fly.

RFX = in an environment where I choose between multiple AT missions I choose the one with least pain, and knock out my AT obligations. RFX unit comes back and says they need bodies to fill a mission and they say I have to go. I say I already used my AT, and they say, Oh that's OK we can get waivers and funding for more money and ADOS to make it work.

Pick your unit wisely lest get stuck in a vortex of OpTempo.

Response by SFC David Reid, M.S, PHR, SHRM-CP, DTM made Aug 30 at 2022 6:14 PM

SFC David Reid, M.S, PHR, SHRM-CP, DTM — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 18:14:34 -0400

The grass is not as green as you think, it'could be crab grass.I suggest that you first examine why you joined the reserves in the first place? What are you passionate about? What are you looking for outside of the reserves. These are some of the questions to should consider asking within yourself.In today's landscape a bird in the hand is worth than 10 in the bush.

Response by MAJ Michael Cummings made Sep 6 at 2022 9:18 AM

MAJ Michael Cummings — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 09:18:18 -0400

If he goes into the IRR there are ways to still get points for good years. I did it myself while I was working overseas for a couple of years. Beats having to do them in the end of he decides to retire at some point.

Response by COL David Turk made Sep 18 at 2022 11:03 AM

COL David Turk — Sun, 18 Sep 2022 11:03:46 -0400

I’ve been out for awhile, and things have changed significantly over the years. The avenue I took when resigned my RA commission was to accept a (then) “Mob Des” slot (changed to “IMA”). My civilian job hours precluded the time required in a TPU. If an available option, I’d check out the IMA (Individual Mobilization Augmentee) program.