Reservists/Guardsman PLTs: What do you do to manage your time, complete tasks, and juggle your civilian life between UTAs?

CPT Chris Loomis — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 12:14:00 -0500

Response by 1LT Nick Kidwell made Nov 5 at 2014 12:36 PM

1LT Nick Kidwell — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 12:36:32 -0500

CPT Chris Loomis - I made sure that when it was "family time," that is was definitely family time. On deployment, I made sure that I stayed in contact with my wife as much as I could.

As far as civilian career is concerned, that pretty much went on hold as soon as I had the WARNO.

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 5 at 2014 12:35 PM

SGM Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 12:35:38 -0500

I used to serve on active duty as an NCO and on the weekends as Reserve Officer on drill and special projects. Still managed to work at the national level of many patriotic groups, complete degrees in evenings, and so on by connecting like things with like events....a drill became a story and a chance to train others, that became useful in my job at FORSCOM working with Guard and Reserve soldiers to understand what it was like for them, in turn that affected policy and procedures, which I also used in my degree program to write about sociology and communication....in other words, look for one action that has more than one application. Work on three (or more ) projects at at time so one is always being completed which is very motivating.

Response by SMSgt Paul Ringheiser made Nov 6 at 2014 2:13 PM

SMSgt Paul Ringheiser — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 14:13:48 -0500

Fortunately a lot of my career was concurrent. Army civilian, Air Force Reserve - both were Fire Protection as an officer or instructor. I also paralleled them as a State Fire Instructor and FEMA evaluator. Looking back it is hard to remember being that busy. It didn't seem it at the time. In retirement it is nice to be able to say, that doesn't work for me. (translated: No!)

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 6 at 2014 6:43 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 18:43:45 -0500

It's a delicate balance. One weekend a month is an understatement to all the prep work you do for the next quarter between planning and making sure your platoon is taken care of. One of the most important things is to give your employer your drill schedule and AT orders (or at least dates) that you'll be gone. Be upfront about your commitment and complete as many tasks as possible before you leave to prevent your coworkers from picking up the slack.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 7 at 2020 3:22 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 15:22:24 -0400

As a FLL answering email and phone call outside of drill weekend is a necessary evil to stay informed. Same with some events that require extensive planning and OERs or NCOer's. I draw the line at doing training meeting slides or C and S slides and calling in on my valuable time off. If the unit wants to pay me for it then by all means I will call in or work on stuff outside of drill weekends and or AT or being on orders. Idenify tasks that are essential to completing your units mission or necessarybto have success at drill and limit those to essential activities only when on your own time. Be very clear with your CoC that you may not make that call in or do the task dreamed up by the statement "it would be nice if xxxx was done prior to this event". Simply put there are Essential tasks and not so essential task. Prioritize the ones that you must do and try to get as many done during actual paid time. Personally I have no issiues missing something that is not in my rater or senior raters priority list when I'm not in a military status. You will discover that line for yourself. Be aware it may cost you something on an eval. Its your career so take risk where you choose to. My basic philisophy is that I have no problem doing routine things for my soldiers in non duty time. Anything else I may or may not get to until I'm back in a paid status. If its really important your unit will put you on orders or in some sort of paid status to make sure its gets done. If not then it can probabley wait. Personally I try to look after my soldiers but I go with what pays me the most money and normally thats my job which take priority over Army tasks on my time. If your on orders or drill thats not your time so maximize it and work hard. You would be suprised what can be done on a drill weekend when clear goals are the priority.