Does the Army Reserve need better "Customer Service"?

2015-06-03T22:41:32-04:00

This question was prompted by more than a handful of instances in which I've witnessed soldiers in the USAR encounter dead ends in terms of obtaining POCs for various issues. Issues ranging from pay to obtaining copies of records to assistance with getting information when inaccurately reported and adversely affecting education benefits, etc. seem to be difficult to takle during a battle assembly weekend.

Countless times I've personally struggled to reach the full time staff regarding issues assocatied with their respective shops only to get a dismissive response and no way to escalate or contact someone else for answers. Many a time I have been told (by varying individuals) "I have no idea what you're talking about" or "Oh, I lost that document/file/have no idea what you're going to do about that or who you should talk to".

Are the experiences I've witnessed isolated in nature? Or is the workload of a full-time staff spread thin and a vaguely knowledgable RPAC commonalities for reservists everywhere?

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 3 at 2015 10:43 PM

2015-06-03T22:43:12-04:00

PFC(P) Private RallyPoint Member, let me answer that as a Military Technician.
Customer service is not hard. What is hard is doing it on BA weekends. We are all in the Army too, and are prohibited by our work rules to work on civilian business while in military status.
We are perfectly fine helping any of our Soldiers during the week. It is our purpose for being.

On a drill weekend, your POC is your first line leader. He or she is supposed to be made aware of your issues prior to you going to the FTUS anyway. There are many reasons for this, but what is probably most relevant in the situation you describe is that they should be the ones following up and seeing to it your issue is resolved.
Run into a busy and/or lazy UA? That's why there are more links in the chain-of-command. By the time something like this gets to the First Sergeant level, I will stand on some dude's desk until the problem is solved.