Is 39 training days good enough for the National Guard and Reserves?

Ihave responded to this once before but I would like to add some more. Someone else mentioned spending entire UTAs for the APFT and other admin tasks. At the start of every FY, usually October drill everyone takes the APFT. In a unit with well of 100 soldiers, even though you spilt them between 2 days and maybe even two waves each day, with the amount of tested Soldiers and support staff need for the APFT over half the unit is tied up for over half of the weekend. Then we go to the next month, for us, it was PHA weekend. Another month of Administration only. I believe the units would be better served with Birth month based annual requirements. I understand getting the most bang for your buck and having sometimes entire BNs drill at one location and have the contractors show up for the PHA but are we really getting what we need. If each Soldier could get an extra day during their birth month, they could do the APFT, PHA, Records reviews, update DD93 and SGLV, Mandatory breifings and everything else in one weekend without stopping the entire unit. We have training units that could facilitate the APFT and medical to do a PHA. During your birth month you drill at one of 2-3 locations spread across the state and knock out everything. Give the Soldiers travel pay and it is amazing how many no longer have "work conflicts". Units would only be out a percentage of its Soldiers and training can continue. I believe you could truely get the most bang for the buck. As it is now, entire units get no METL training for at least 4-5 drills out of the year. I don't have all the answers but to answer the original question, if properly managed, 39 is tough but it can be done. I gave everyone a MUTA 6 for their birth month so it would be 40 days. At least it's even.

Sir all due respect, for my state in georgia in transportation we deploy more than any other state we have 60 days to train and prepare. There is nothing wrong with more training im all for it. But when we have a chance to mob up we are training atleast 0500 to 2200.

I personally am in an aviation unit and this 39 days of training I don't see how they figure on that. Now I agree with a lot of you that if an RC/NG soldier has a civilian career that corrolates to their MOS then yes they would be proficient in their specialty. I can also say that the new training paperwork that has to be completed just for one class is absolutely fricken ridiculous (7 pages thick ) oh and let's not forget about the different counseling statements that have to be done, oh BTW we have the inventories to do, and don't forget we have to prepare for whatever inspection. Like y'all stated administrative bull$#!&, I'll be honest since I was deployed back in 2012, I haven't touched an aircraft during a drill weekend except for maybe 5 times. So I know good and well that I am not up to the same standard for myself as I used to be so long story short, NO We don't have enough money or time to get the training that I feel like we need

The number of days isnt the real issue. Its been my experience the training distractors from BN and higher are the problems. I have done all traing schedules for the next TY, made all the necessary plans and reservations and req. just to have it all trashed because of some stupid on-line traing wasnt done or spend 6 months of drills wasted on SSD. I asked CSM, why we were wasting training time begging deadbeat Soldiers to do their SSD? All he was concerned about were percentages he could report to higher. I told him if the Soldiers cared then they would do it. I had mine done a week after it came out. This is just one example. There are a million more.

Having served for over 30 years in the Reserves and National Guard, I can honestly say that someone who I will not name does not know what in the h*ll he is doing. Forty-eight IDT periods a year with 15 days of AT days is the norm and our military should not be shorted. The Russians are now on our door steps trying to break in and the Chinese are not far behind. North Korea and Iran have missiles that can reach us. And the U.S. have a $20 trillion deficit that our political leaders want to raise even higher to pay for domestic programs - "The h*ll with National Defense and military spending."

Having served over 30 years in the Reserves and National Guard, I can honestly say that the President doesn't know what he is doing. Forty-eight IDT periods a year with 15 Active Duty days is the norm and should not be changed. The Russians are already at the front door and the Chinese are not far behind.

It could all depend on the unit and it's primary mission. I spent 42 years in the ARNG and NAVAIRES and have some experience to draw upon. In my enlisted service in the ANRG (6 years) I was a Watercraft Operator, licensed at the 40 level. I can state from that experience we most certainly were ready for war and our war time mission, in all aspects shy of communicating, a skill which while fine regarding commercial shipping and channels we did not practice with a high degree of regularity on the tactical side that would be needed in wartime. I was very well versed with our issues being in communication with our Readiness Group advisors in the Marine field locally here at Fort Lewis. Following the 1st Gulf war I flew back from DC to Seattle (Fort Lewis) by shear chance with the Commander of the Provisional Heavy Boat unit from that war. In the course of our conversation he let it be known to me that he personally had put the nix on the 1118th Transportation Company (Landing Craft-ARNG WA) being brought to theater. His objection was "their lack of professionalism, having been their evaluator before the war I saw it first hand". What he was most irked about was their familiarity with each other and the use of first names by NCOs with officers and senior NCOs. I listened to his complaints and asked him if he knew the background of the unit. When he said no I told him about a National Guard unit having the same members not for one, two or three years, but for 10, 20 and sometimes even 30 years. I told him about the 1SG who owned a local automotive franchise that had 5 LTCs working for him in the "real world", it was an eye opener to him, he had no idea of the make up or background of the ARNG yet he parroted many of the RA dislikes going back to Leslie J. McNair, Marshall, Ike and Bradly. I did not tell him until we deplaned that I had been a member of that BN the 1118th was in, he had thought I had just completed a CDR's course at Eustiss. The unit's marine licensing level and sea time was well above any RA LCM MARK VIII unit. Holding multiple WO specialties (3 890A/913A/920A) I had a bit of expertise in many fields & I got to see first hand how well the ARNG did when deployed to Theater for OIF and in some instances, how poorly, but as the CFLCC Theater Missile and Ammunition Technician I also got to see how ill equipped some of the RA soldiers were to handle bulk issues of Class V and Class V unique issues, as well as how often the RA units commented on how glad they were to find a ARNG maintenance unit when in need vice a RA maintenance unit. The most repeated comment was how the ARNG maintainers most always just cut to the chase and said "just tell us what's wrong, we'll fix it for you" and did not put them through the usual administrative Goat Rope. Pretty high compliment but then any who have been in the ARNG know that is one of our strengths. I got in more than one heavy discussion with one of my RA counterparts in the Ammunition field over how well trained our soldiers were, I am saying that tongue in cheek here too BTW. After rolling out of the NTC and running the Field ASP for my BDE's rotation I flew direct to Theater and upon deplaning and arriving at our RSOI camp was told drop your gear, get your troops, and go get our Ammo, right into the mix and once again, right into the dirt with the troops which as a CW5 your don't usually see ( I got to do a lot of that, and will say it was fun to be in that aspect of soldiering until Big Army caught up with me and back to echelons Corps and Above I went). The first night we were there placing our ammunition into the field ATP I observed a unit from 1st CAV preparing to issue TOW Missiles for training at Udari. Their rough terrain fork lift they had the tines with 9 crated missiles about 7 feet off the ground when the load slipped off the tines and hit the ground, hard. The crew picked it back up and was loading it on a truck when I stopped them and asked them if they knew what had just happened, to a man they said "yes, we dropped those missiles" and did not have a clue how egregious that action was for safety and was still going to issue them for use. I patiently walked them and their Captain, impatiently waiting, through all the ramifications the dropping of missile or rocket from a height over 24 inches had on the survivability of the tracked vehicle crew or aircraft crew that were the intended users. All of them, with the exception of the officer, were ammunition soldiers........go figure. At any rate, they did the right thing once they were made aware but my point is that is the wrong time to being learning....which points to a greater gulf in the education of our soldiers. In NAV AIR our take on the RC at the time was much different than the Army and ARNG, we had much higher levels of Full Time Manning, which enabled us to go aboard a carrier for an Operational Readiness Inspection and get outstanding grades but.......our FTM was very high, close to 40%. That too may be the "fix" in some ARNG units, selected increase in FTM for units that need more certifications. I think the First Army Boss is on to something good in asking about this.........hopefully he will get good answers........if we are to be a tactical multiplier for the Army given the trends of the last 14 years then some radical paradigm changes are needed and some who cringe at change are going to balk at providing meaningful input.

Not by a long shot

For highly technical/tactical jobs , No it is not. For the rear echelon types yea it works.

It depends on the type of unit. When I was in Cav, it was ok. It's not hard to do recon and fire support missions every month because they are relatively simple. Now that I'm in a HIMMARS firing battery, it's different. 39 days is not enough time to stay proficient in this MOS. Most drills don't even have us practicing our mission. There are already some NG units that are full time active duty. I think more units or possible some MOSs, especially technical ones, should be full time, even in the NG by default. Just my two cents.