Reserves
Reserves
Posted on Jul 23, 2025
How do Bad Years (reservist) get reconciled when no fault of the TPU soldier?
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What do I mean by no fault of the soldier? Yep, I mean exactly that. Were it not for my semi regular funeral details I’d have only 49 points for the year.
If I were a new Reservist and not looking out for my own hide I’d be screwed, and there would be no documentation or any counseling given to me to protect the USAR system from only giving me 49 points when I attended every single BA and scheduled training event.
It can easily happen:
1) Our annual points accumulation is the anniversary we enter service. So we all have a different rolling 12 month period we need to accumulate our points.
2) I personally game this system. I try to schedule things like schools and longer training events to straddle my anniversary so I get points in two separate years.
3) The unit I left had my AT exercise in my final month of my rolling 12 months.
4) The unit I transferred to DID NOT HAVE AN AT. I ended up getting my AT days given to me a few days at a time for “home station”, but only AFTER half the fiscal year had gone by and command figured out what was going to happen with our AT situation.
5) The unit’s actual MUTA calendar back loaded all the MUTAs in the second half of the FY. For example there was a 10 MUTA in the FIRST month of my rolling 12 month point year.
Follow? So what happened is my last year was shorted an AT, and was shorted a bunch of MUTAs for the current FY and ended up getting shoved into the later half of my rolling 12 month period.
So yea……. Next year I’ll have a heavy point year with points (it will have nearly a years worth of MUTA’s and my AT days in the second half of my 12 month cycle), but in the meantime the previous year only had 49 points of MUTA’s and member points.
Now, again, this is not an issue. I did enough military funerals to push me into the 80’s. So I’m good.
But 80’s is the LOWEST I’ve ever been in any given year. Which is what caused me to audit my annual points calculation.
I understand soldiers can be excused from AT’s and waive the right to MUTA’s and AT’s and be warned the consequences of getting a bad year. That did not happen in my case.
I understand a bad year point wise isn’t really a bid deal discipline wise unless the chain of command follows up with adverse actions (such as documenting fail to attend BA and AT). If no one cares, having only 49 points in a year only matters to getting a 20 year retirement letter. It is not a flaggable situation by itself.
So that all said……………. How might I protect myself and my future soldiers (particularly new/Jr soldiers) from otherwise doing all the right things, but getting a bad year, and the USAR and all chain of commands not having a counseling statement or career mentoring documentation to protect itself from an IG or Congressional complaint from a solider.
Basically, how do I protect my old self, from a future young version of myself? I can’t know the point accumulation situation of all incoming subordinates and the USAR is all over the place when it comes to MUTA, BA, and AT planning. If every single USAR unit did one 4 MUTA’s (one weekend) a month this wouldn’t be an issue with 15 member points. Heck, even an entire AT could be missed and still make 63 points.
If I were a new Reservist and not looking out for my own hide I’d be screwed, and there would be no documentation or any counseling given to me to protect the USAR system from only giving me 49 points when I attended every single BA and scheduled training event.
It can easily happen:
1) Our annual points accumulation is the anniversary we enter service. So we all have a different rolling 12 month period we need to accumulate our points.
2) I personally game this system. I try to schedule things like schools and longer training events to straddle my anniversary so I get points in two separate years.
3) The unit I left had my AT exercise in my final month of my rolling 12 months.
4) The unit I transferred to DID NOT HAVE AN AT. I ended up getting my AT days given to me a few days at a time for “home station”, but only AFTER half the fiscal year had gone by and command figured out what was going to happen with our AT situation.
5) The unit’s actual MUTA calendar back loaded all the MUTAs in the second half of the FY. For example there was a 10 MUTA in the FIRST month of my rolling 12 month point year.
Follow? So what happened is my last year was shorted an AT, and was shorted a bunch of MUTAs for the current FY and ended up getting shoved into the later half of my rolling 12 month period.
So yea……. Next year I’ll have a heavy point year with points (it will have nearly a years worth of MUTA’s and my AT days in the second half of my 12 month cycle), but in the meantime the previous year only had 49 points of MUTA’s and member points.
Now, again, this is not an issue. I did enough military funerals to push me into the 80’s. So I’m good.
But 80’s is the LOWEST I’ve ever been in any given year. Which is what caused me to audit my annual points calculation.
I understand soldiers can be excused from AT’s and waive the right to MUTA’s and AT’s and be warned the consequences of getting a bad year. That did not happen in my case.
I understand a bad year point wise isn’t really a bid deal discipline wise unless the chain of command follows up with adverse actions (such as documenting fail to attend BA and AT). If no one cares, having only 49 points in a year only matters to getting a 20 year retirement letter. It is not a flaggable situation by itself.
So that all said……………. How might I protect myself and my future soldiers (particularly new/Jr soldiers) from otherwise doing all the right things, but getting a bad year, and the USAR and all chain of commands not having a counseling statement or career mentoring documentation to protect itself from an IG or Congressional complaint from a solider.
Basically, how do I protect my old self, from a future young version of myself? I can’t know the point accumulation situation of all incoming subordinates and the USAR is all over the place when it comes to MUTA, BA, and AT planning. If every single USAR unit did one 4 MUTA’s (one weekend) a month this wouldn’t be an issue with 15 member points. Heck, even an entire AT could be missed and still make 63 points.
Posted in these groups: 
Reserves
Retirement
Reserves Retirement
Posted 5 mo ago
Responses: 10
Short answer - they don't because it is a simple yes/no evaluation. If the Soldier has 50 or more points, it's counted as a good year. If they don't, then it isn't. Accumulate 20 good years and you're eligible for a retirement based on the total points you've accumulated, regardless if they were accumulated in a 'good year' or a 'bad year'.
You can protect yourself and your future Soldier by first counseling them so they understand from the start how their points are going to be tracked in the system and what a 'good year' means to them. Foot stomp that how the years are calculated for them will be individualized based on when they joined the military (i.e., their RYE date).
One way to easily track what's in the system for them is to have them show you their LES - in the remarks section it will show their total performance for the year with UTAs, Annual Training, etc. Of course, the gold standard is to have them download the latest points statement (DA5016 for USAR or NGB 23B for ARNG) from IPPS-A (through the unit or online*).
Additionally, educate them to make up drills instead of being excused for their absence.
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* IPPS-A online - https://hr.ippsa.army.mil/psp/hcpdc/?cmd=login
You can protect yourself and your future Soldier by first counseling them so they understand from the start how their points are going to be tracked in the system and what a 'good year' means to them. Foot stomp that how the years are calculated for them will be individualized based on when they joined the military (i.e., their RYE date).
One way to easily track what's in the system for them is to have them show you their LES - in the remarks section it will show their total performance for the year with UTAs, Annual Training, etc. Of course, the gold standard is to have them download the latest points statement (DA5016 for USAR or NGB 23B for ARNG) from IPPS-A (through the unit or online*).
Additionally, educate them to make up drills instead of being excused for their absence.
----------------------------
* IPPS-A online - https://hr.ippsa.army.mil/psp/hcpdc/?cmd=login
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PO1 Carole Speese
Also pay attention to the fiscal year when trying to reschedule drills...can't reschedule a drill from Oct into November as that is a different fiscal year. For "points" you use your "Anniversary" year.
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The USAR point system is messy and often ignored until problems arise. Protect yourself and your soldiers by demanding regular point updates, teaching how the rolling 12-month system works, pushing for evenly spaced MUTAs and early AT planning, having soldiers track points, and documenting all efforts to fix issues.
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You transferred to a new unit with a different schedule, you get the schedule from them (as is the case in any transfer) and figure out if you’re gonna be good at your rye
There’s actually more problems with transfers where the soldier doesn’t realize the new schedule will put them over until they don’t get paid for a drill because they exceeded 48 before the end of the FY.
Good RNCOs look at this with every new gain.
The biggest headache I had was dealing with mday commanders every JUL-AUG wanting to check the whole payroll to make sure everyone gets a “good year”, and having to explain to them that’s something I track monthly as most soldiers do not have a rye date that coincides with the FY.
There’s actually more problems with transfers where the soldier doesn’t realize the new schedule will put them over until they don’t get paid for a drill because they exceeded 48 before the end of the FY.
Good RNCOs look at this with every new gain.
The biggest headache I had was dealing with mday commanders every JUL-AUG wanting to check the whole payroll to make sure everyone gets a “good year”, and having to explain to them that’s something I track monthly as most soldiers do not have a rye date that coincides with the FY.
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