Posted on 06/25/2005 4:58:34 PM PDT by Libloather
Process for Reserve, Guard to enter regular Army has been streamlined
By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, June 25, 2005
Brig. Gen. Sean Byrne, the Armys director of personnel management, right, swears in Sgt. Maj. Terry Grezlik, the first soldier to make the reserve-to-active switch under the Armys new policy.
ARLINGTON, Va. Army National Guard and Reserve soldiers who have been mobilized for the war on terror can use a new streamlined entry process into the regular Army.
On June 17, Army officials announced that they are eliminating the long-standing practice of having mobilized reserves soldiers quit the reserves and then apply for the Army all over again if they want to become regular soldiers, according to Lt. Col. Katrinia Pierce, Chief of the Army Integration Policy Branch.
That process requires full demobilization, a trip to one of the Defense Departments 65 Military Entrance Processing Stations to undergo the same exams as any other potential applicant for the U.S. military.
The prospect includes filling out 11 forms most of which mobilized reservists have already completed taking a medical exam (also a requirement for deployment), and a minimum of three months for the Army to process, Pierce told Stripes on Friday.
Despite this process, the Army has been receiving 13 to 20 applications from reservists whose deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan convinced them they wanted to make the Army a full-time career, Pierce said.
But many other reservists who might have made that switch were ultimately discouraged by the tedium, Brig. Gen. Sean Byrne, the Armys director of personnel management, said Friday, before swearing in the first soldier to benefit from the streamlined policy, Sgt. Maj. Terry Grezlik.
Weve had a large number of soldiers coming to us and saying, Ive been mobilized I want to continue to serve in an active status but its just too hard to get it done, Byrne said.
Based on that groundswell, Byrne said, he decided to streamline the process, and placed Pierce in charge of developing the policy.
Mobilized Army reservists must wait until they are within six months of their projected demobilization (release from active duty) date, Pierce said.
Reservists who have out-processed from the demobilization site but are on leave en route to their parent unit also may apply, as long as the application reaches Army Human Resources before the end of their leave, Pierce said.
The exception to the six-month rule is reservists who are now on active duty, and who have more than 18 years of military service on their records.
Those soldiers can apply to switch to the regular Army at any time after they are officially mobilized, Pierce said.
The new policy applies only to mobilized reservists, however. Reservists who are still on reserve status, however including those with 18 years or more in the service still have to use the old get out to get in procedure if they want to join the active Army, Pierce said.
To apply:
Fill out form DD-368, request for conditional release www.usarc.army.mil/naad/conditional_releases.htm or ftp://pubs.army.mil/pub/eforms/pdf/d368.pdf.
Attach a recommendation from your commander
Mail forms to USA HRC, Attn: Sgt. Maj. Clifton/SSgt. Johnson, Alexandria, VA 22332-0471
Pierce said that personnel officials intend to process the forms within 15 business days.
Ping. . .
I think this is good news. I'm sure the MSM will try to spin it into bad news, but we've got a lot of mobilized reservists who are proud to serve and who want to keep at it.
You would think...
In many cases, the reserves are being mobilized more frequently than the regular Army. There is a USAR Civil Affairs unit near my house. They have deployed 4 times in the last 5 years. Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq
That sounds like my Civil Affairs unit -- they've had 4-5 mobilizations in the last few years.
However, CA units are very small and highly specialized, with an unusual mission. It would be a mistake to generalize CA deployments to other parts of the reserves. Other units have much different experiences than CA.
The recruiting shortfalls are overblown by the MSM. With retention being so high, the active army doesn't have problems filling most slots at this time. A lot of the doom and gloom hype you hear is just propaganda.
With the emaciation of the active duty military under the Klintoon administration, however, the role of the Reserves and Guard has changed forever. We were mobilized in 2002 for Iraq and we are back in the rotation for 2006. While we were away, our BN had about 100 soldiers join and they are on trainup for Afghanistan as we speak.
as some FRiends and I have said since our deployment:
"... and yet we win wars."
Are you from Indiana by any chance? They had some of the few battalions that I recall being mobilized for Iraq in 2002. There were probably some other BN's mobilized at that time that I've forgotten.
I don't know if I can agree with your statement that the role of the Guard and Reserve changed recently. Reserve troops have been used to fight all our wars since the 1600's -- no real changes there.
You would think...
Yeah, I see your point. I guess the active forces have usually had some prejudices against reserve forces -- that may be part of the issue. Also, moving experienced folks from the reserves to active shuts off some promotion opportunities for those already on active duty (and takes away strength from a reserve unit too) -- that may be part of the issue as well.
Basically, troops can move from active to reserves -- it just takes a good deal of paperwork.
As it is, most troops lose a ton of time-in-grade and time in service when they go from reserve to active. Their time gets 'compacted' and someone with 6 years of reserve time gets that converted to under a year of active time.
I wasn't aware of that. This article describes the new method for going into the active forces from reserves for mobilized reservists -- hopefully under this new procedure, the problem you describe has been fixed.
For other Army personnel announcements, go here:
I'm smelling the coffee brewing in the chief mess again...hehehe
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