Transition to an "Operational Reserve"

I've heard a lot of rhetoric and have participated and been a part of what is being called the new Army Reserve- the Operational Reserve.

From what I can gather the Operational Reserve means that reserve soldiers can expect to continue to play a greater role in Active Duty rotations, deployments, training missions and the likewise. The social contract we have as soliders/employer's of Reserve component solders gets tossed out and replaced with... one weekend a month, plus distance learning, plus phone calls and e-mails every week and 21-28 day rotations and deployments just as often as A/C counterparts.

so, with all these additional concessions solders and employers are being expected to make will there be an expansion of pay/benefits/entitlements to accommodate our added commitment to align with the A/C force we are being asked to participate with on a "more than strategic reserve level"

some differences to note

- Leave, A/C soliders get 30 days leave +weekends + 3/4 day weekends, if you add up every working day that's (365-weekends (104) holidays (11) safety days (3) -leave (30).. that works out to 217 days per year the regular A/C soldier works) an example of a RC soldier works a regular job M-F with 2 weeks PTO.. that works out to 365-104-10-14 now add in 24 days of weekend drill and you get 261 days of utilization,, why am I saying all this? every time the army puts reservist's on 21/28 day orders we are getting skimped on leave/BAH.. and we better train every single one of those days because the A/C is already watching our utilization. Just remember we do this in our free time and effectively work 50 more days per year than our counterparts.

- OES, No opportunities to go to additional A/C schools have surfaced as a result of this. will there be more opportunities to attend schools to maintain careers?

Retirement- will we get TSP matching? will we get reduced retirement benefit age? the deployment reduction is laughable, if we deploy JUST AS MUCH as A/C why cant we get retirement at 20 YOS? value proposition right now is a rip-off

Computers- will our computers at the reserve centers ever work?

altered drill schedules: will we get latitude to change the structure of BA's to accommodate schedules or expand the IMA program? right now those programs exist but slots are virtually non-existent

Health Care: the army is using us more, shouldn't they take on a bigger portion of the cost-share? they are assuming we carry employer coverage- which we do but the basic coverage remains the same.

VA home loans: why do A/C get a lower funding rate on a VA home loan? is a reservist higher risk? why does that risk margin fall back on me to fund?

AGR: This is the sweetheart deal of the Reserve's but is plagued with poor performers, will this program ever get changed structurally? if we are so good at coordinating with A/C now why cant it be a A/C duty assignment? good AGR can make or break a unit and it's usually the latter.

It seems to me that the only beneficiary of becoming a strategic reserve is the A/C who can use and abuse us at 1/10 the cost.. at the end of the day we are tired.. sick of working weekends and doing training to "check the block" something needs to change in the value proposition to benefit the solider or I would predict a mass exodus in the short term because once you utilize your GI bill and VA benefit there's really no reason to stay.

There are some positives but its a short list

- Veterans' preference when hiring - marginal benefit because promotions are slower

- 2X pay for drill days

- education benefits

and that's it


Thought's on the matter? the reserve has and will continue to have retention concerns- but I think some of the underlying causes of it are pretty evident. It's time the A?C recognizes the R/C mission and expands it but also makes it worthwhile to continue to serve in that capacity and the bottom line is they need to pony up the cash to get the talent to make it possible.