Guard/Reserve "One Weekend a Month"

[DeadCactus]

My experience in the Guard has very much fallen in line with the traditional 1 weekend/month and 2 weeks/year obligation that has historically been used to describe Reserve Component obligations. I have certainly had years where a school or particularly long annual training pushed me beyond the usual ~40 days on military service but this was not the expectation. That being said, I increasingly see conversations outside of this forum concerned that this has gone to the wayside. Many people talk of a new normal with frequent 3-4 day monthly drills and 3-4 week annual trainings if not more. Again, this doesn't match my experience and I have no idea how widespread this is in the general Guard and Reserve let alone how much it affects the Medical Corps.

I'm posting this so that people interested in the Guard or Reserve will hopefully come across it in their search of the forum and can be informed to ask their recruiters and potential units if this is something they need to be prepared for.

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[armytrainingsir]

My reserve experience mirrors your NG experience. Anything beyond that has been by choice.

 

[TheEarDoc]

Mine has not mirrored that. 4 weeks of DCC within 6 months of commissioning. Several 3 day BA's where I have to travel by plane to drill with my home unit. So for a 3 day drill if it's a F, S, S drill I burn 2 days of leave. If it's a S, S, M drill I burn 3 days of leave because it takes an entire day to fly out and sometimes fly back. Almost 4 weeks for BOLC phase II. 2 week add on training. Still participating in ECT which is 3 weeks as well.

I've burned all of my military leave and vacation leave in the VA and still had to go almost a whole week of leave without pay this year to commit to my trainings and meet drill obligations. Now if my supervisor was willing to work with me on compressed schedule for the 4-5 drills per year I travel and do not RST with a more local unit then I wouldn't burn up so much leave, but that's a roadblock.

Don't get my wrong I'm still loving that I joined up, but it's definitely been much more than 1 weekend a month 2 weeks a year. A lot more.

 

[armytrainingsir]

Mine has not mirrored that......

I think counting your first year that includes your DCC and BOLC is mentionable, but going forward, that is not something for which you will have to account.

Likewise, if your unit plans a bunch of 3 day drills, there will be some months you dont drill. 48 MUTAs is the limit.

I do agree hearing more about three week ADTs instead of the advertised 2 weeks. You can push back and just say no, albeit that is easier as you progress in rank.

 

[deleted480308]

I think counting your first year that includes your DCC and BOLC is mentionable, but going forward, that is not something for which you will have to account.

Likewise, if your unit plans a bunch of 3 day drills, there will be some months you dont drill. 48 MUTAs is the limit.

I do agree hearing more about three week ADTs instead of the advertised 2 weeks. You can push back and just say no, albeit that is easier as you progress in rank.

Yeah, none of the med officers in my area do the full maximum time

 

[TheEarDoc]

I think counting your first year that includes your DCC and BOLC is mentionable, but going forward, that is not something for which you will have to account.

Likewise, if your unit plans a bunch of 3 day drills, there will be some months you dont drill. 48 MUTAs is the limit.

I do agree hearing more about three week ADTs instead of the advertised 2 weeks. You can push back and just say no, albeit that is easier as you progress in rank.

Yeah DCC being snuck in at the last minute for me when I commissioned was kind of a surprise. It got a lot of folks. Also trying to get it done and BOLC and first phase of CCC all within the first 2 years of my contract.

 

[notdeadyet]

My Guard commitment amounts to a fair bit more than the one weekend a month/two weeks a year pitch.

For the Guard, your experience is going to be extremely state dependent. Some states are pretty lax and others are pretty high speed. It will depend a lot on local politics and budget. And most policies in the Guard (including Flexi-training for docs) is dependent upon approval from local command. The Needs of the Army always trumps anything else.

The threshold for activating Reserve and Guard got dropped to a low bar with OEF/OIF and we're seeing that play out in COVID. I have doc colleagues whose orders were cut for 6 months for the COVID mission (exceeding the 90 days boots-on-ground policy) due to the emergency nature.

I'm not dissuading anyone from joining. I've been in far past my initial commitment and am not planning on leaving anytime soon. But if keeping to a one weekend a month/two weeks a year work tempo is a biggie for you, don't join. YMMV.

 

[jurassicpark]

I'm posting this so that people interested in the Guard or Reserve will hopefully come across it in their search of the forum and can be informed to ask their recruiters and potential units if this is something they need to be prepared for.

Since I'm still in the scrolling phase and still in contact with the recruiters, at least n=1 my recruiters have been very upfront about this possibility. Right from the first conversation they brought it up. I will give kudos to the recruiters, they very much wanted me to know about the negative possibilities of joining, and always ask me to verify their BS (their words) with the colonel after each convo.

 

[deleted555445]

My experience in the Guard has very much fallen in line with the traditional 1 weekend/month and 2 weeks/year obligation that has historically been used to describe Reserve Component obligations. I have certainly had years where a school or particularly long annual training pushed me beyond the usual ~40 days on military service but this was not the expectation. That being said, I increasingly see conversations outside of this forum concerned that this has gone to the wayside. Many people talk of a new normal with frequent 3-4 day monthly drills and 3-4 week annual trainings if not more. Again, this doesn't match my experience and I have no idea how widespread this is in the general Guard and Reserve let alone how much it affects the Medical Corps.

I'm posting this so that people interested in the Guard or Reserve will hopefully come across it in their search of the forum and can be informed to ask their recruiters and potential units if this is something they need to be prepared for.

for the guard, it definitely appears to be state dependent. this year felt particularly bad, given multiple natural disasters and civil unrest, and my BN is preparing for XCTC so we're doing multiple MUTA 10's to prepare, not to mention longer AT this year followed by XCTC next year then JRTC the following year. i'm infantry so YMMV in a different branch, but i have definitely been cursing my recruiter for the whole 1 weekend/2 weeks thing. if climate change and national tensions settle maybe next year will be a little more relaxed, but neither seem to be trending in the right direction.