The Future of the Army Reserve - Discuss

[danno]

The DF isn't going to recognise skills:
(A) it doesn't need
(B) there is no proof of

Eg doctors, engineers, tradesmen, EMTs, fitness instructors, paramedics, software programmer etc

Wasnt the post of Military Judge recently filled from RDF.

[trellheim]

Wasnt the post of Military Judge recently filled from RDF.

indeed. We have financial auditors, logistics experts, artic drivers and carpenters and that's just a fast 4.

[Goldie fish]

Wasnt the post of Military Judge recently filled from RDF.

His membership of the RDF was coincedence.

[danno]

indeed. We have financial auditors, logistics experts, artic drivers and carpenters and that's just a fast 4.

Very true,but there must be more to the reserve than simply a pool for CSS numbers,if that is to be the role then advertise and recruit accordingly.The lack of any targeted recruitment(or any at all) is more indication of the lack of direction/raison d etre of the reserve.The MA/gen staff dont really give a detailed rationale as to why it is to have the reserve and as such the whole concept drifts about.Simply to have a reserve because every army has one can also be said about the brass band!

[DeV]

Wasnt the post of Military Judge recently filled from RDF.

Who has to resign his RDF commission to take the job.

[Truck Driver]

Who has to resign his RDF commission to take the job.

Correct. Because the holder of the post must be a member of the PDF, rightly or wrongly. Would be a first for a full Colonel to demoted back to Capt on completion of an appt, even if the regs existed for it to happen

[Come-quickly]

Very true,but there must be more to the reserve than simply a pool for CSS numbers,if that is to be the role then advertise and recruit accordingly.The lack of any targeted recruitment(or any at all) is more indication of the lack of direction/raison d etre of the reserve.The MA/gen staff dont really give a detailed rationale as to why it is to have the reserve and as such the whole concept drifts about.Simply to have a reserve because every army has one can also be said about the brass band!

We also have a lot of civvy skillsets that should be allocated to Corps/Appointments instead of for instance nurses serving as riflemen because "Ah shure it's better craic".


One challenge for the MA in making an effective reserve is in structuring the army to make use of skills.

For example the ADF air force uses reservists as int analysts, the guys I met all seemed to be lawyers in civvy but their military job was largely bomb damage assessment.

I give that example as it shows you don't need a direct correlation of jobs to find highly useful and effectively pre-packaged skill sets.

[Truck Driver]

We also have a lot of civvy skillsets that should be allocated to Corps/Appointments instead of for instance nurses serving as riflemen because "Ah shure it's better craic".


One challenge for the MA in making an effective reserve is in structuring the army to make use of skills.

For example the ADF air force uses reservists as int analysts, the guys I met all seemed to be lawyers in civvy but their military job was largely bomb damage assessment.

I give that example as it shows you don't need a direct correlation of jobs to find highly useful and effectively pre-packaged skill sets.

And if I remember correctly, the TA website has a questionnaire which when answered, matches applicants' civvy skillsets with an appropriate appointment in the TA

[paul g]

But After all the money spent on that report and 3 years in the making, are they seriously suggesting that an Irish Defence Force Reserve couldn't do what all four other comparative nations are doing? Or at least recommend progressive changes to bring the RDF in line with them?

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To be frankly and brutally honest, the vast majority of the RDF doesn't have the training or discipline to carry out the range of domestic tasks carried out by reservists in other countries, for myriad reasons, but the most important is training.

While units located near PDF units are lucky, the vast majority of RDF units are in remote village hall type settings, where access to weapons training is non existent. There is no centralized recruit training, so individual training is varied to say the least, some RDF personnel are very highly trained, and motivated, but they’re not the vast majority of the force. There is a massive turn over of recruits, and the formation of little empires. And the people who have fought hardest to retain this set up and prevent change are the RDFRA.

Now that was fine for the FCA days , who sole purpose was to provide a local security force, honour guards for St patricks day and corpus Christi , prevent lads in rural communities joining the IRA for excitement and the vast majority of whom were armed with lee enfields. But those days are past.

Now I’m not slagging off reservists, and again I’ll be brutally frank and honest, up to about ten years ago, the vast majority of the PDF were incapable of operating in conjunction with NATO armies. At the end of 2001, the government wanted to send the Ranger wing to Afghanistan, a la East Timor, Colin Mangan went as far as to say to the newspapers that it was just a matter of days before they went, and the offer got turned down because the ranger wing lacked the experience of training with and operating their own long range patrol vehicles. The result was the acquisition of the F-350SORV and now Acmat TSV and the AW-139, improved training of SF units and brought it up to the necessary standard as seen in Chad.

Same with the Mowag, the PDF were more or less locked out of new Peace keeping missions from about 1995 onwards because they lacked the APCs and associated training necessary to take part, they were limited to logistics or M.P roles in IFOR and SFOR initially.

The mowag gave the PDF access to the same type of armored vehicles used by every other European army. And there was a renewed emphasis on training, especially collective training. Before that and the training that went with it infantry deployments to IFOR and SFOR were out of the question.

The thing about VFM is that all the money is going to go on training days instead of a grat that often went to the unfit and the incapable, there will be fewer locations, and hopefully the resulting force will be smaller and better trained, and the key thing is attract former memnbers of the PDF to the force. More imprtantly hopefully VFm will provide the structures to the RDF that will assist its members in attaining the standards necessary to operate effectivly as a modern military force. i know several TA members who went to iraq and Afghanistan, but they were all former regulars.

And a little bit of a reality check might be in order, the PDF are a modern capable force comparable to other European armies, but getting there took a lot of time and effort, sacrifice and the destruction of lots of PDF mini empires and standing on toes. But there was a realistion by the Department, the M.A. along with RACO and PDFORRA that the politicians weren't going to give them anymore money, that without overseas they were finished, and they weren't going to get overseas until as an organisation they upped their game and met the standards set out by NATO and the UN especially on training. The RDFRA need to realize that if they want to be taken seriously by anybody in power they need to do the same.

[Come-quickly]

I know a fair few chaps "over the water" and they point out that many of the guys on tour with the most operations experience are TA but they weren't necessarily TA when they started getting those tours under their belts.

I know one bloke who retired from the army at 30 (having enlisted in the good old days at 15) who is now in a reserve element and has done another four deployments (including training and operations) since he "retired" from the regular army about three years ago.

Because of his particular experience and skillset he was a major asset (not neccessarily a gucci one) who know feels better used as a reservist because he's being attached purposefully to whatever regimental BG is operating in conjuction with his area of expertise.

[trellheim]

Good post Paul .... I take exception, again, with the Grat. It's not a reward it's a per-diem sub where the diem is a year.

[apod]

Good post Paul .... I take exception, again, with the Grat. It's not a reward it's a per-diem sub where the diem is a year.

Jesus mate get over it.It's gone.I will lose six days leave and see all my allowances cut by 10% If CP2 gets voted in.It sucks but the alternative is worse.Same situation with ye.Swing up the arms and get on with it!!!

[trellheim]

If CP2 gets voted in.It sucks but the alternative is worse.Same situation with ye.Swing up the arms and get on with it!!!

Something to do while waiting for the reassignment !

[trellheim]

PS first runners are out the gate

[DeV]

For some it is financial, for some it is principle, for me it is both!

Financially may not be able to pay to get to training due to the lose of grat, that covered the fuel for maybe 1/3 of the year to get to training, any yet they are looking for a 25% increase in the minimum time we give over the next 3 years.

To the PDF it is equivalent in principle of MSA being got rid of. That is to compensate for time lost with family etc.

The 10% cut in wages goes against the single force concept.