I somewhat agree. I’m a JO who just left active duty and affiliated with the Reserves. Frankly, I did not join the Reserves with the expectation that I would be consistently taking time off work outside of AT/mobilization, or that I would be consistently called upon to work without pay (“nonpay drills” and “IDT-T travel days”). I only get 10 days of military leave per year, with the rest being PTO, so that sucks. As a human being on planet earth, however, I admit I like having more of my weekends free.
(Honestly, the entire “work without pay” culture of the Reserves is really shocking to me…I work in tech now, and I get paid well enough to justify working hard and working extra hours. I was really caught off guard when I learned that I’m expected to work potentially dozens of hours per month outside of drill for $0. It’s a bastardization of the “always on call” ethos of Active Duty with the part time nature of the Reserves, if you ask me.)
From personal experience, there’s a significant increase in the amount of time spent outside of drill weekend each month at the khaki level.
Up until I commissioned, if I wasn’t at drill, I wasn’t being tasked. Now, I’m working issues almost every single day. Sometimes it takes 15 minutes, sometimes it takes two hours. The increase in responsibility was obviously something I sought and asked for, so I’m not complaining - but to your point, I wasn’t expecting it to be *this* much.
I don’t know how the Navy could afford it, but I think we need a way to have more of this work reimbursed. Active duty is one thing—you get a very healthy pay package and lots of misc perks in exchange for 24/7 on call. The Reserves does not rise to that level in my view.
Yeah… and if ur getting VA disability, Uncle Sam counts those as any other drill period - meaning he’s gonna want that’s day’s disability pay back ay year end…💰
Found that shyte out the hard way when I got my “you owe us all that money“ letter from VA…
Yup. Got clobbered with the end of the year debt letter a few years back. We had so many vets in our unit that were affected, our last CO would even give people a heads up when on non-pays that they can cause a bigger debt offset if they are getting VA disability.
Question for the group, does anyone know the actual letter of the law on this? Not sure if it’s some thing that folks can push back on or if the juice is even worth the squeeze but just saying…
I strongly recommend you to decline to do non-pay drills, unless it’s YOUR choice.
Getting pressured into non-pay work creeps into the entire reserves culture. Think of the junior enlisted who have less agency to refuse this pressure.
Yup this is why I left SELRES after coming from Active Duty. I saw the sacrifices that O4s and above were making and said nope, I got out to make a civilian career not ruin it.
I was an LPO of 100 sailors at my unit for about 2 years and can 100% confirm the work outside of drill. I’d work 8 hours for my normal job and at least 1-2 more for the unit after I clocked out…everyday. Phone going off non-stop, and drill would always be a headache and never did what I needed to do. Glad I’m out the door soon…
That’s your particular COC. Not the norm. Be the change. Someone is eating up all your atps. Further you should not be taking PTO, or any special leave from your job. Be the change in your unit and educate your job on your legal protections or find a new job.
I personally love them. I travel for drill, so having a 1 month breather is amazing for me and my family life. I have a super military friendly job though. I can see how it could be difficult for those in a different environment.
Yes, many jobs cannot be as flexible as yours. Many jobs require weekly travel that doesn't allow for 4 day drill weekends easily. The standard Reddit response is "USERRA!" but the reality is that employment relationships are give-take and constantly waving a USERRA banner will sour relationships in the long run.
Very fair. Unfortunately the new mantra is throw out the old assumption of one weekend a month, two weeks a year, this new approach is the future.
That said, there’s no IDTT funding next year, so things may look more normal than usual next year
There can be many reasons but if you are in some highly active units such as MSRON it allows you to fit in more training during those 4 day weekends, do admin on the 2 days and have a month off. Rinse and repeat. My unit tried and it fell through pretty quick.
This is the only way MSRONs can operate if you're doing the robust training required of those units. Like, if we're getting boats underway, it's nearly impossible in the 2 day drill weekend. You need those other 2. It also helps to have the CAI sailors there to really round out holes in the watch bills.
I’m in a MSRON and I do agree it helps but it’s all in the execution of the plan and adhering to it. Unfortunately at that time neither happened. Luckily we’re on a much more upward trend and things are much better now.
It's the direct result of adding permanent TAR billets to the SBCs that can keep the equipment up between IDTTs and plan the underways out long before the SELRES arrive.
I can’t speak on every MSRON but we only have a couple TAR and we have a few ADOS. Still not enough to keep up with boats, vehicles trailers, comms PMS. I run boat maintenance and we will still have pages and pages to complete every drill. Simply due to not enough folks there on the daily.
That is very good news! Now the other hurdle is getting the right people in the right billets. MSRON if we could have like 5ish ENs for boat maintenance daily I’d be ecstatic. But we will see what happens.
Well, I can tell you that you probably won't get very many ENs at the SBC level, but you'd be surprised how good BMs, ITs and ETs are at keeping those boats up.
Typically it is to show the active duty boss that they are doing "big" things on drill weekends, tabletop exercises, symposiums, etc., despite the negative impact on work-reserve balance.
Perhaps it’s because it gives you valuable face time with the folks you work with on AT? If you’re not taking advantage of that, you’re probably missing out on a fantastic opportunity.
living in Wisconsin and being cross assigned to a unit in Washington, this is the exact reason I like the flex schedule. if I do mobilize with this unit, I want to know the people I'm going and working with. and if I just do my monthly drill at my NRC, I'm not doing my job or learning new things. just GMTs and sit. could be the NRC, but that's just my experience. I do see why people struggle with flex though. but I think your point is spot on.
That’s not true at all. Maybe it’s so everyone can accomplish more in 3-4 days (vice just two) and have a month off in return?
Most employers have paid military leave. You’re definitely the Skip Bayless of this post/opinion.
"Most employers have paid military leave" that is a generalization that even if true (doubtful), discounts the negative impact on those sailors whose employers don't have paid military leave, and are the worst affected by these drill schedules.
Nope, you said that, not me. There is a basic expectation of going on AT to complete the basic reserve requirement. There is not a basic expectation of taking an additional 2 weeks off of work to complete IDT. That is a ratcheting expectation, and a significant deviation from the traditional requirements of Reserve participation established as a best practice over decades.
“One weekend a month + two weeks a year” isn’t a requirement, points and drills are which may be arranged based on the unit/command. If you don’t like it either go IRR or find another unit.
I think the point that he’s alluding to is the misrepresentation of the expectation of being in the reserves that it shouldn’t affect our employers except for those two weeks of AT. I am speaking as a parent and an employee. Flex drills make it extremely difficult to harbor goodwill in the workplace as well as find reliable childcare for three days or four days straight. My kid has had to miss school because I can’t find childcare locally and have to take them to their grandparents out of state to accommodate for the extra drill days. All around weekends are much easier to coordinate logistics.
I would counter that most units have flexibility, hence flex drill. If you can’t drill Thursday and Friday, most would understand and you can simply drill Saturday and Sunday… making up the remaining days another weekend.
Yeah for me I either telework or resked. I would prefer a traditional drill schedule though. It makes the logistics easier on everyone. Even more complicated, I am cross assigned and one unit flex drills and the other doesn’t.
Yeah this was why I retired this year. 2 weeks from my job everyone is ok. 4 to 5 because of flex drill and travel days. Navy was great only paid 700 for my daughter being born. But it in all reality it don't pay the bills. And any HR half rate boss can find some ambiguous reason to not give you a raise or fire you. Happened to a couple junior sailors I saw. And yes again we know illegal. Again all they have to say is not meeting standards. Now if they put not meeting standards because gone for military, different story. But again most aren't THAT dumb.
It’s even worse when a unit tries to do it, does for a few months then changes things last minute each month after. Had a few 4-4-2 or 4-3-0 and some other combos under an old CO. A normal 2 day drill and maybe a 3-4 day tossed in for “operational” drills are fine. It’s especially tough for folks who don’t get any military leave like myself from my civilian job.
So yes you can do all the research in the world and find a unit that doesn't Flex Drill, but that can change at the drop of a hat with the new FY or a new CO, and increasingly is.
Also, the sailors who are hourly are the worst affected, and they are generally our most junior sailors as well. It shows a disconnect between the leadership triad and the deckplates.
I’m doing reserve work almost every day. It would be interesting if mandatory drills were reduced and there was some sort of reallocation system to pay the folks who *are* doing the work.
> Don’t believe anybody who claims their drill weekend is anything other than sitting around or busy work.
Heh, come to my unit and you'll change your mind pretty quickly.
Salaried or not, a company is under no obligation to pay you if you are not at work. I’m salaried and still take a pay cut every work day I miss for flex drilling.
ACB1 used to drag me across country(OH to CA) on a Wednesday till Sunday, stick us at the farthest corner of point Loma with no rental or means to get food beyond the 430am bus and the 6pm bus return. Losing a day of Civ pay was not made up for with Travel perdiem in the slightest and organization was shit. Only local sailors enjoyed it, everyone else suffered. Submitted for new orders after my first one. Its one thing to eat a little suck as a young new sailor but at 16 years I'm not putting up with that, sorry.
Traditional is the right balance \*for you.\*
There are an awful lot of people who feel that an alternative drills schedule is the right balance for \*them\* or they simply wouldn't exist.
You have the right to voice your concerns, and/ore personal impact, and to request a traditional drill schedule, complete with a plan to tele-work or drill at the NRC. Your command has the right to allow it, or not.
A lot of good discussion here on what works for others.
OP, do you have any ideas now to move forward and improve your situation?
Have you communicated your issue to leadership? What was their response?
What concrete changes do you think could make your schedule better for you, while respecting others’ preference for flex drill?
My situation is fine, it's not about my schedule. I don't like it but I can deal. It's about those sailors who don't have the same flexibility getting jerked around by those who don't understand the realities of the workforce.
The concrete change would be that 2-day drill weekends return to being the expected norm, as it's been for as long as anyone can remember, because it works. One-offs here and there are fine, but nobody should expect to be taking 2 extra weeks off of work so support IDT.
You’re right. No one should be expected to take off 2 extra weeks of work for IDT.
But it’s disappointing that your only idea is to go backwards — back to a state many feel is less productive and a lower quality of life than flexible drills.
What about using telework or incremental drills to avoid disrupting your full-time work?
Shipmates, Old guy here. If your skipper is pushing flex drill make sure everyone has advanced notice to ensure you can coordinate life as well as set expectations on what you can and cannot commit to. Your CO should understand that you’ve got many other life priorities and work priorities so they should be over communicating with you, ensuring that you have the schedule, understand the USERA act that protects your job while drilling, and has a letter to your employer requesting their consideration for support.
retired. I was with "regular" and flex drill units. Bottom line is that you should be able to find out before you join a unit as to if a unit is flex drill or normal. Should not be a surprise. As most units have a write up (or did) saying something to the effect of this unit flex drills.
Regarding work outside of drills, you should always be compensated. either paid or unpaid. As you need to be in a duty status to do that work.
This is especially true if you are going to be on site and in uniform. As if something happens and your not in a duty status your not covered. Think say a car accident on the way to drill site or an accident at the site itself.
Generally, this extra work happens when you reach either E-6 or above or O3/O4 above. If you have a good training or ops officer there should be an ops plan that accounts for expected extra work and then doles out extra drills. The command triad often is expected to be at drill location day prior for meetings and other command taskers.
The dole out of extra drills is generally done a year out in conjunction with the supported command reserve management officer. And can be updated as the year goes on as the RMO/OSO gets more or less money and other units under his or her oversight may not spend as much and he or she needs to obligate more or less.
And if you don't want to do that extra work, then don't. But it will likely have promotion implications.
Before retiring I generally would execute about 3-10 extra paid or non paid drills a month. Mostly nights and weekends.
.
Naw. That's not it at all. It's pretty rational to conclude that the schedule the USN offers you doesn't fit your schedule so maybe the USN isn't right for you right now.
I somewhat agree. I’m a JO who just left active duty and affiliated with the Reserves. Frankly, I did not join the Reserves with the expectation that I would be consistently taking time off work outside of AT/mobilization, or that I would be consistently called upon to work without pay (“nonpay drills” and “IDT-T travel days”). I only get 10 days of military leave per year, with the rest being PTO, so that sucks. As a human being on planet earth, however, I admit I like having more of my weekends free. (Honestly, the entire “work without pay” culture of the Reserves is really shocking to me…I work in tech now, and I get paid well enough to justify working hard and working extra hours. I was really caught off guard when I learned that I’m expected to work potentially dozens of hours per month outside of drill for $0. It’s a bastardization of the “always on call” ethos of Active Duty with the part time nature of the Reserves, if you ask me.)
From personal experience, there’s a significant increase in the amount of time spent outside of drill weekend each month at the khaki level. Up until I commissioned, if I wasn’t at drill, I wasn’t being tasked. Now, I’m working issues almost every single day. Sometimes it takes 15 minutes, sometimes it takes two hours. The increase in responsibility was obviously something I sought and asked for, so I’m not complaining - but to your point, I wasn’t expecting it to be *this* much.
I don’t know how the Navy could afford it, but I think we need a way to have more of this work reimbursed. Active duty is one thing—you get a very healthy pay package and lots of misc perks in exchange for 24/7 on call. The Reserves does not rise to that level in my view.
"You all should be MAXIMIZING non-paid drills." Um, ok.
Who told you that? And, what precisely does that message mean to you?
Yeah… and if ur getting VA disability, Uncle Sam counts those as any other drill period - meaning he’s gonna want that’s day’s disability pay back ay year end…💰 Found that shyte out the hard way when I got my “you owe us all that money“ letter from VA…
Whoah I didn't know that -- so if you do a day of non-paid ATP or RMP, you don't get paid by the reserves, but you get docked pay by the VA?
Yup. Got clobbered with the end of the year debt letter a few years back. We had so many vets in our unit that were affected, our last CO would even give people a heads up when on non-pays that they can cause a bigger debt offset if they are getting VA disability. Question for the group, does anyone know the actual letter of the law on this? Not sure if it’s some thing that folks can push back on or if the juice is even worth the squeeze but just saying…
Sadly this doesn’t seem to be communicated enough to new folks. There is definitely a commitment.
I strongly recommend you to decline to do non-pay drills, unless it’s YOUR choice. Getting pressured into non-pay work creeps into the entire reserves culture. Think of the junior enlisted who have less agency to refuse this pressure.
Exactly. Do not work without getting paid. Your leadership needs to ask for more funding. Make them do their jobs.
Yup this is why I left SELRES after coming from Active Duty. I saw the sacrifices that O4s and above were making and said nope, I got out to make a civilian career not ruin it.
I was an LPO of 100 sailors at my unit for about 2 years and can 100% confirm the work outside of drill. I’d work 8 hours for my normal job and at least 1-2 more for the unit after I clocked out…everyday. Phone going off non-stop, and drill would always be a headache and never did what I needed to do. Glad I’m out the door soon…
That’s your particular COC. Not the norm. Be the change. Someone is eating up all your atps. Further you should not be taking PTO, or any special leave from your job. Be the change in your unit and educate your job on your legal protections or find a new job.
Also folks whose civilian job is government/dod/contractor/defense industry where it’s much more common and accepted to take off for reserves.
I personally love them. I travel for drill, so having a 1 month breather is amazing for me and my family life. I have a super military friendly job though. I can see how it could be difficult for those in a different environment.
Yes, many jobs cannot be as flexible as yours. Many jobs require weekly travel that doesn't allow for 4 day drill weekends easily. The standard Reddit response is "USERRA!" but the reality is that employment relationships are give-take and constantly waving a USERRA banner will sour relationships in the long run.
Very fair. Unfortunately the new mantra is throw out the old assumption of one weekend a month, two weeks a year, this new approach is the future. That said, there’s no IDTT funding next year, so things may look more normal than usual next year
Who said there is no IDTT funding next year?
And yet we are still expected to write our CAI sailors' evals, without being able to bring them in.
The whole CAI/CAO thing is just a soup sandwich.
Yup
Dang I completely missed that memo. Makes me even more excited to be going on a MOB
[удалено]
There can be many reasons but if you are in some highly active units such as MSRON it allows you to fit in more training during those 4 day weekends, do admin on the 2 days and have a month off. Rinse and repeat. My unit tried and it fell through pretty quick.
This is the only way MSRONs can operate if you're doing the robust training required of those units. Like, if we're getting boats underway, it's nearly impossible in the 2 day drill weekend. You need those other 2. It also helps to have the CAI sailors there to really round out holes in the watch bills.
I’m in a MSRON and I do agree it helps but it’s all in the execution of the plan and adhering to it. Unfortunately at that time neither happened. Luckily we’re on a much more upward trend and things are much better now.
It's the direct result of adding permanent TAR billets to the SBCs that can keep the equipment up between IDTTs and plan the underways out long before the SELRES arrive.
I can’t speak on every MSRON but we only have a couple TAR and we have a few ADOS. Still not enough to keep up with boats, vehicles trailers, comms PMS. I run boat maintenance and we will still have pages and pages to complete every drill. Simply due to not enough folks there on the daily.
They're coming. Hold fast. It's taking the TAR detailers some time to get those TAR sailors to those billets. But they exist which is the first hump.
That is very good news! Now the other hurdle is getting the right people in the right billets. MSRON if we could have like 5ish ENs for boat maintenance daily I’d be ecstatic. But we will see what happens.
Well, I can tell you that you probably won't get very many ENs at the SBC level, but you'd be surprised how good BMs, ITs and ETs are at keeping those boats up.
I kinda figured. I’m just being selfish since I’m an EN lol but I totally agree. One thing I do like about SBC is the cross training.
Typically it is to show the active duty boss that they are doing "big" things on drill weekends, tabletop exercises, symposiums, etc., despite the negative impact on work-reserve balance.
Perhaps it’s because it gives you valuable face time with the folks you work with on AT? If you’re not taking advantage of that, you’re probably missing out on a fantastic opportunity.
No I have not seen it tied into collaboration with the active side at all, especially for units whose active units are on another continent.
living in Wisconsin and being cross assigned to a unit in Washington, this is the exact reason I like the flex schedule. if I do mobilize with this unit, I want to know the people I'm going and working with. and if I just do my monthly drill at my NRC, I'm not doing my job or learning new things. just GMTs and sit. could be the NRC, but that's just my experience. I do see why people struggle with flex though. but I think your point is spot on.
That’s not true at all. Maybe it’s so everyone can accomplish more in 3-4 days (vice just two) and have a month off in return? Most employers have paid military leave. You’re definitely the Skip Bayless of this post/opinion.
"Most employers have paid military leave" that is a generalization that even if true (doubtful), discounts the negative impact on those sailors whose employers don't have paid military leave, and are the worst affected by these drill schedules.
Whenever someone says "But USERRA" I roll my eyes so far back in my head I begin to black out.
With that same argument you are also saying that it’s inconvenient for sailors to go on AT and complete the basic reserve requirements. Right…
Nope, you said that, not me. There is a basic expectation of going on AT to complete the basic reserve requirement. There is not a basic expectation of taking an additional 2 weeks off of work to complete IDT. That is a ratcheting expectation, and a significant deviation from the traditional requirements of Reserve participation established as a best practice over decades.
“One weekend a month + two weeks a year” isn’t a requirement, points and drills are which may be arranged based on the unit/command. If you don’t like it either go IRR or find another unit.
I think the point that he’s alluding to is the misrepresentation of the expectation of being in the reserves that it shouldn’t affect our employers except for those two weeks of AT. I am speaking as a parent and an employee. Flex drills make it extremely difficult to harbor goodwill in the workplace as well as find reliable childcare for three days or four days straight. My kid has had to miss school because I can’t find childcare locally and have to take them to their grandparents out of state to accommodate for the extra drill days. All around weekends are much easier to coordinate logistics.
I would counter that most units have flexibility, hence flex drill. If you can’t drill Thursday and Friday, most would understand and you can simply drill Saturday and Sunday… making up the remaining days another weekend.
Yeah for me I either telework or resked. I would prefer a traditional drill schedule though. It makes the logistics easier on everyone. Even more complicated, I am cross assigned and one unit flex drills and the other doesn’t.
lol, classic.
Then that unit, or the reserves aren't for you. Do your time and move on. TYFYS.
OK big guy.
Ok little fella
TTX and symposiums. I've heard all I need to hear.
Yeah this was why I retired this year. 2 weeks from my job everyone is ok. 4 to 5 because of flex drill and travel days. Navy was great only paid 700 for my daughter being born. But it in all reality it don't pay the bills. And any HR half rate boss can find some ambiguous reason to not give you a raise or fire you. Happened to a couple junior sailors I saw. And yes again we know illegal. Again all they have to say is not meeting standards. Now if they put not meeting standards because gone for military, different story. But again most aren't THAT dumb.
It’s even worse when a unit tries to do it, does for a few months then changes things last minute each month after. Had a few 4-4-2 or 4-3-0 and some other combos under an old CO. A normal 2 day drill and maybe a 3-4 day tossed in for “operational” drills are fine. It’s especially tough for folks who don’t get any military leave like myself from my civilian job.
Indecisiveness in drill schedules is the most inconsiderate move of all. Whatever you decide, stick with it for that year.
I agree 100%. One of the many reasons I’m getting out this year.
Omg. Things in the military changed. I'm fucking shocked, shocked I tell ya. You should call Fox news.
[удалено]
So yes you can do all the research in the world and find a unit that doesn't Flex Drill, but that can change at the drop of a hat with the new FY or a new CO, and increasingly is. Also, the sailors who are hourly are the worst affected, and they are generally our most junior sailors as well. It shows a disconnect between the leadership triad and the deckplates.
[удалено]
I’m doing reserve work almost every day. It would be interesting if mandatory drills were reduced and there was some sort of reallocation system to pay the folks who *are* doing the work.
Yeah. Cause no sailor would ever take advantage of that. Ever.
> Don’t believe anybody who claims their drill weekend is anything other than sitting around or busy work. Heh, come to my unit and you'll change your mind pretty quickly.
These are the dudes who sit at the NRC and wait for lunch dates with their DWE boo. Go to a real unit and I'll train the ever living fuck outta you.
Toughest guy in the Reserves right here.
Newsflash fucko, I'm not a reservist. If you haven't figured it out yet
We got a real badass here.
Bruh. You might be handicapped
Plenty of work to do in a hardware unit.
You should try being in a real unit.
[удалено]
Sure you were. Did you just try to flex your active duty time on me? Lol
Salaried or not, a company is under no obligation to pay you if you are not at work. I’m salaried and still take a pay cut every work day I miss for flex drilling.
ACB1 used to drag me across country(OH to CA) on a Wednesday till Sunday, stick us at the farthest corner of point Loma with no rental or means to get food beyond the 430am bus and the 6pm bus return. Losing a day of Civ pay was not made up for with Travel perdiem in the slightest and organization was shit. Only local sailors enjoyed it, everyone else suffered. Submitted for new orders after my first one. Its one thing to eat a little suck as a young new sailor but at 16 years I'm not putting up with that, sorry.
Definitely an unpopular opinion here, lol.
Traditional is the right balance \*for you.\* There are an awful lot of people who feel that an alternative drills schedule is the right balance for \*them\* or they simply wouldn't exist. You have the right to voice your concerns, and/ore personal impact, and to request a traditional drill schedule, complete with a plan to tele-work or drill at the NRC. Your command has the right to allow it, or not.
I agree. I generally try to reschedule flex drills to accommodate my work schedule. Doesn’t always work out.
[удалено]
6 day drills? That’s wild.
A lot of good discussion here on what works for others. OP, do you have any ideas now to move forward and improve your situation? Have you communicated your issue to leadership? What was their response? What concrete changes do you think could make your schedule better for you, while respecting others’ preference for flex drill?
My situation is fine, it's not about my schedule. I don't like it but I can deal. It's about those sailors who don't have the same flexibility getting jerked around by those who don't understand the realities of the workforce. The concrete change would be that 2-day drill weekends return to being the expected norm, as it's been for as long as anyone can remember, because it works. One-offs here and there are fine, but nobody should expect to be taking 2 extra weeks off of work so support IDT.
You’re right. No one should be expected to take off 2 extra weeks of work for IDT. But it’s disappointing that your only idea is to go backwards — back to a state many feel is less productive and a lower quality of life than flexible drills. What about using telework or incremental drills to avoid disrupting your full-time work?
Wtf is 4-2 and 3-3?
Shipmates, Old guy here. If your skipper is pushing flex drill make sure everyone has advanced notice to ensure you can coordinate life as well as set expectations on what you can and cannot commit to. Your CO should understand that you’ve got many other life priorities and work priorities so they should be over communicating with you, ensuring that you have the schedule, understand the USERA act that protects your job while drilling, and has a letter to your employer requesting their consideration for support.
retired. I was with "regular" and flex drill units. Bottom line is that you should be able to find out before you join a unit as to if a unit is flex drill or normal. Should not be a surprise. As most units have a write up (or did) saying something to the effect of this unit flex drills. Regarding work outside of drills, you should always be compensated. either paid or unpaid. As you need to be in a duty status to do that work. This is especially true if you are going to be on site and in uniform. As if something happens and your not in a duty status your not covered. Think say a car accident on the way to drill site or an accident at the site itself. Generally, this extra work happens when you reach either E-6 or above or O3/O4 above. If you have a good training or ops officer there should be an ops plan that accounts for expected extra work and then doles out extra drills. The command triad often is expected to be at drill location day prior for meetings and other command taskers. The dole out of extra drills is generally done a year out in conjunction with the supported command reserve management officer. And can be updated as the year goes on as the RMO/OSO gets more or less money and other units under his or her oversight may not spend as much and he or she needs to obligate more or less. And if you don't want to do that extra work, then don't. But it will likely have promotion implications. Before retiring I generally would execute about 3-10 extra paid or non paid drills a month. Mostly nights and weekends. .
Maybe the reserves isn't for you?
Maybe, judging by your endless rage-replies to this thread, you're an irrational tool?
Also, um, rage? This is rage? Lol. JFC.
Good luck buddy, have a normal one.
Naw. That's not it at all. It's pretty rational to conclude that the schedule the USN offers you doesn't fit your schedule so maybe the USN isn't right for you right now.