Posted on Jun 14, 2016
SPC Bonny Stillhitched
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Asking to help my husband along the way. I served, but enlisted. So some of this is foreign to me.

Back story.
My husband was passed over for MAJ in his primary zone at the last board. He doesn't have anything derogatory in his file, just had no ACOMS to show, either. Rather than take my advice, turn tail and run from ROTC land like hell, he stayed the course and they worked him like a dog...still no ACOM (I can't remember the new name) to show for the board. Reality set in for him. He dropped his AGR packet for the board convening this month the day he got his OER.

Husband contacted DLA (Defense Logistics Agency) and they sound not only promising, but also short-handed where he wants to go. The problem is they cannot secure him a position without an exit date from active Army.

Here is where it gets tricky. We expect his his above zone board to convene next month. If pattern continues like it has in the last couple years, results could be as late as March coming out...but we are planning for December to be safe. After some meticulous math on my part, networking, asking questions, etc., he realized his chance of getting selected AZ are grim and riding on that means missing out on other opportunities to salvage the second half of his career. So, we agreed that he needs to resign from active duty to try to take this DLA position. Yes, I'm aware they deploy frequently. Yes, I can handle it like I have in the past...by putting on my big girl panties and driving on. It is what we both want and is what is best for us.

The problem is the race to the board results. I've been told different time frames for Unqualified Resignations and, frankly, do not know enough about them. I will first say, a double passover trumps every other action, automatically gives him a designated final out date, and makes the chances of active reserves almost zero. Correct me if I'm wrong on any of that. I've also been told resignation takes 6 to 12 months, but can somehow take as little as 3. So, how do we go about shortening this time frame and getting a final out date so he can secure a DLA active reserve slot? If his final out date is before the board results come out, we are golden. If not, reservist and civilian life it is.

Also, talk to me about UQRs. Is this a full resignation of commission? Is he required to stay the course to keep his commission in the reserves or can he do a UQR and transfer? I know there's a smooth way to transfer from one to another, but information is sparse on the process.

I'm a realist who prepares for everything. After the loss of identity I dealt with when I hung up my uniform, the last thing I want is for my husband to not go out on his own terms. I want to help him as much as I can through this process and be prepared for whatever is thrown our way.
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Lt Col Jim Coe
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I've been retired for over 20 years and from the Air Force, but I also worked as an Army Civilian from 2007 to 2013. I do "feel your pain" because I retired after my first pass over to Colonel.

The likelihood of making any officer grade above the zone is very small. In the Air Force it would have taken a very senior officer (3 or 4-star) writing something in your OER essentially telling the promotion board that the previous boards got it wrong. Hubby can hang for the ABZ board if he wants, but I don't see anything in your story that would indicate that he has a chance of making Major.

It's time to get real about the rest of your lives. The Army has clearly said he doesn't have a pathway to a successful career. I don't know why and you story doesn't tell me. I don't think simply not having a Commendation Medal makes the difference, but I'm not in the Army today. I think there's more to the story and you two need to deal with it realistically. He needs to resign his commission and move into civilian life. (I'll let others talk about the type of resignation and how long it takes.) Don't worry about joining the Reserve Component. Find a good job in the private sector or as a government civilian. (Being in the Reserve Component can actually limit access to some government jobs.)

I worked in the private sector for 16 years before becoming an Army Civilian. I interviewed many people for jobs with the government contractor company I worked for and for the Army. I've read hundreds of resumes also. Here's some advice for your husband:
-Decide what you like doing to make money and pursue work in that area. (You may need to take a stop-gap job in another field while you go to school or prepare to relocate.)
-Make family decisions. Normally the course in life that's best for your family, is the best decision.
-Do not mention being passed over in your resume and try to avoid it in interviews. It's not unusual for people to get out of the service as a Captain. Some employers may do some calculation on dates of service and wonder if he was passed over (I always did), but most won't care.
-He should use his GI Bill benefits to get additional education in his chosen field of work thus making him more attractive to a wider range of employers
-He must use his final separation move wisely. He doesn't have to move immediately after separation. Check the rules.
-Read the information in Rally Point and other sources on how to write a resume and how to interview.
-Network. He should be active in professional and social organizations in his chosen field of work. Lots of people find jobs because of who they know. Your network may not get you the job, but they may be able to help you target the places to apply.

I wish you and your husband the best of luck. I hope he finds gainful employment in a field he truly loves.
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SPC Bonny Stillhitched
SPC Bonny Stillhitched
8 y
Sir,

The issue is there is nothing in his background that should cloud his career. His movements in his Captain years is what has affected him. My husband wanted to branch Infantry in college. He branched Logistics. I'm not sure how the Air Force does it, but in the Army, you have preference for branch. Most males choose Infantry and often get their second choice.

He fell in love with Logistics and knew it would transition into a great post military career. He became very good at it through his Lieutenant years. But his heart was with working directly with soldiers. So, he chose heavy maintenance and line units. He served some extra time at the company level, leaving less room for broadening assigbments. Further, I was Aviation. There were only so many installations the Army would allow me to PCS to. In our first three years married, we lived under the same roof about six months. So, Fort Hood was our best option for staying together. Here, he was deployed with one brigade. I deployed to Afghanistan while he deployed to Iraw. No issues. When he returned, they sent him to CAV land and he did 20 months of command time. At the time he did command, that was actually longer than what was normal (12 to 18 months). I read through his command climate surveys. His soldiers absolutely loved him. I got out of the Army while he was in command so when I put my civilian shirt on, I spent some time at his work. He was highly approachable and we'll loved. Still, he was competing with other Infantry officers with an Infantry branched senior rater. Unfortunately, the ACOMs my husband worked hard for never came. They were passed out by way of the good old boys' club. During his deployment, he was in a senior MAJ slot as a junior Captain. His rater even acknowledges he did the job better than he expected, but not as well as his he needed. On his very first O3 OER is one single "Satisfactory" check block, rather than left justified "Exceeds." One single block not left of center on every single OER. His rater even acknowledged it was not derogatory, but intended to motivate my husband to do the absolute best he could. A challenge.

The comments in his packet says a number of times statements like, "Top 30% of all officers I have ever rated." "Promote immediately." "Unlimited potential." Unfortunately, every senior rater he's ever had has given him the 49% rating rule and he just has not been able to secure the ACOMs that his packet reads he deserves. 6 OERs in his CPT time. One non left of center block (during the time when they weren't kicking anyone out and when raters had no idea what the system would evolve to). No administrative actions. No negative anything otherwise. Tons of ARCOMs, a solid number of awards for a non prior service officer. He has never so much as been denied an award. Needless to say, his packet for active reserves is solid. What he lacked was broadening time and that's why they sent him to ROTC. He requested to stay in Texas because I had just commissioned as a police officer in the state and my civilian career was taking off. So, ROTC it was over a slot at NTC in Fort Polk. Again, stellar write ups, no ACOM.

But let's look at the board. The board reviews 15k O3 packets. 2 minutes is what they have for each. Reading is a luxury. They look at the blocks, look for the ACOMs, put a packet in one of three piles, and move to the next. Write ups don't mean a thing to them. That's not the case in the reserves. Active officers in the reserves are often looked positively upon because they are already generally eons above their peers that have always been reserves. That being said, he intends to go weekend warrior at bare minimum. After 10 years, he is not going to let them take away his entire retirement. As it stands right now, if he retires at 20 as a weekend warrior for the rest of his career, he will still be looking at 32.5% of his retirement when he turns 59. Why would he give even that up? 3 deployments between the two of us...he's earned it. 32.5% is still around $2000/month in our senior years. That's a big deal on a senior salary.

He's also working on his Master'suite in Logistics and has his DML. Next block to check is his Lean Sigma Six and PMI-SP certs. He's no idiot, he's far from a slacker. What he is is a genuinely good guy who drove on with the mission rather than worry about the political side of his career.

That said, civilian life is plan C and D. I'm looking for information on an expedient transition. DLA is also an excellent civilian career and my husband can Logistics circles around people. But he has a goal to complete first. Finish his time with the Army. Show DLA he is an asset to them, then transition to one of their civilian jobs after his 20.

Not everyone has that one thing they are hiding. Sometimes genuinely good people fall through the cracks. Rest assured, I would be completely open with you if there were something that should be holding him back. I'm a cop. I'm offensively honest, rough around the edges, and damn politics because they get in the way of the truth. But he is, no exaggeration or bias, one of the most hard working men I have ever met in my life. Considering I'm a farmer's daughter and he was born and raised in the city, that is saying something.

What I am looking for in this question is how to expedite the resignation process and/or how to get him one of those DLA slots they have several of in his choice area.

As for our last Army move, we don't plan to use it at all. We love where he is. I'm transferring departments next month and we plan to settle permanently there.
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COL Vincent Stoneking
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Some really great questions here. I am not qualified to give detailed answers on all of them, but can hit on a few.
1. Yes, above the zone is looking really grim. Unless it is clear that the branch under selected the last several years, especially without a string of ACOMs in the file or other special qualifier (only Officer in the force with X special skill, etc), I would rationally assess an AZ selection probability as being 0% for planning purposes.
2. An unqualified resignation is exactly that. "I no longer wish to be in the Army. Bye." As soon as it is approved, you are a full-on civilian. If there is some remaining service obligation, it gets a little tricky, but from your scenario, it doesn't appear that is a factor. I would recommend separation/transfer to the IRR as the superior path - much more flexibility.
3. As far as shortening the separation process, the easiest way to do that would be to NOT compete for the board AND have a bona-fide job offer in hand. Not thinking that is your ideal COA. (0% for planning purposes is different from 0%...)

Not really sure about the DLA "active reserve" thing - is that a mobilized tour, an AGR thing? etc? They are very different beasts. Without better understanding of that, I can't say anything coherent.

The main thing is to be really clear when talking about separation from active duty, transfer to the IRR (or other reserve status), and resigning. They are often casually referred to interchangeably, but are vastly different things. The only time I would drop an unqualified resignation is if I wanted to sever ALL relation whatsoever with the military going forward. It's sorta the nuke. In your/his situation, what would be wanted is a transfer to some reserve status.
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SPC Bonny Stillhitched
SPC Bonny Stillhitched
8 y
Thank you for clearing up the UQR. It was definitely getting clouded.

DLA is more along the linesame of AGR. Reservist officers are activated to serve in 1 to 3 year positions with DLA. They deploy frequently all over the world. Their primary mission is to move things for the military. Some deployments are short, some are lengthy. What we do know is they are seeking Logistics officers somewhat desperately to fill these slots.

He definitely does not wish to several all ties with the Army. How does he go about requesting transfer to the regular reserves? We don't want his packet to be considered by the board because we know the odds that are stacked against him. Yes, they cut too deep on his year group. But by the trends and my extensive math solution, I have learned this. There are 86 AZ packets being considered in his branch this coming board. We know of at least 4 who dropped their resignation packets immediately following last year's results and two more who were already transitioning out. 80 guaranteed applicants. We figure there are at least a few more in there that have taken steps to exit. Of those 80, about 10% have 3 or 4 ACOMs out of 5. Why didn't they get picked up over officers with only one or two? The best guess is they do have something derogatory in their file that stopped their career. Considering the numbers, we are looking at 72. Last year's board trend resulted in around 20% AZ. We think the number will be somewhere in that ballpark because they cut the '05 and '06 year groups deeper than they expected with the OSBs a few years back. The golden number we think will be picked up out of that total 80 is around 15, give or take 1. That said, we still don't want to take the chance of being top 15 of the 70 real candidates remaining in the pool, especially with no ACOM to show.

How does a reserve transfer work? Let's say DLA wants him as an AGR officer (and they have O4 slots). I read the email and it seems they really are interested. How do we get big Army on board with allowing him to quickly make that move? It seems there should be a faster process for cases like this where he won't even be taking off the uniform. Being a vet myself, I doubt this is a simple process unfortunately.
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COL Vincent Stoneking
COL Vincent Stoneking
8 y
SPC Bonny Stillhitched - I would dig into the details about the DLA gigs. From what how you describe, it sounds a lot like a Tour of Duty (TOD) voluntary mobilization, which is different from AGR. Soldiers on TOD mobilizations are reservists who volunteer for a tour, serve that tour, and then return to their reserve status. That is what I a m doing right now. AGR is essentially (though not technically, and it gets really complicated - beyond by ability to explain well) an "active duty reservist, " working towards a 20 year AFS retirement.

You really need an Officer retention specialist/Career manager (which I am NOT) with experience with reserve systems to advise you on specifics. Assuming that the DLA gigs are TOD mobilizations, what you would want to do, conceptually, is:
1. Separate from active duty/transition to the IRR (any reserve status would get the job done, IRR has the fewest headaches in my experience. Preferably prior to the board convene date - this automatically yanks his packet, meaning he does not officially get passed over.
2. Once in the IRR (or other reserve status), apply for the TOD opening. With proper planning, this may be a "by name opening", meaning it is visible only to CPT Joe Stillhitched.
3. Report in and go to work! There is always a little pain in making this happen, and right now they will likely make him spend a week at either Bliss or Bragg inprocessing....
4. Once the tour eventually ends - they are usually for one year, renewable for two more - he would then transition to a more traditional reserve status, or hang out in the IRR.

So, I have never been an AC Soldier (RC my entire career) and don't have a lot of insight on how to make #1 happen in the most expedient and headache free manner. I see 12 months tossed around often, but I see no logical reason that it couldn't be done in 90 days. Again, I am speaking beyond my competence here so expert advice should be sought. Were I king for a day, a simple letter stating "MSO is up and I no longer want to be on active duty. Sincerely," would suffice. But I doubt that's the case.
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CPT Signal Officer
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Sir, thanks for the info. I'm in a similar situation as the OP (only one ACOM, MAJ board coming up). I hope things work out for them.
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SPC Bonny Stillhitched
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Update on us. My husband did get passed over AZ but I had a weird feeling he would be extended if he chose. He laughed at my premonition and had to say "honey, how the hell could you predict that?" a week later. He got extended 3 more years with the opportunity to promote.

However...and a big however it is, on his way from one place of work to another one morning he got hit by a 5 ton truck on his motorcycle. 2 surgeries, 130 plus doc appointments, and 17 months later and he will never be the same. PTSD, TBI, sleeping problems, hardware in his ankle, surgery to repair his left hand, and imminent back surgery, he is being medically retired in May/June. Not exactly how we planned for his career to come to a close, but he's alive. He's put together like Humpty Dumpty but he's alive.
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