The Future of the Army Reserve - Discuss

[Truck Driver]

Define relevant for an NSR officer candidate

As defined in Administrative Instruction R5 Murph

[DeV]

Who all hold a relevant degree?.....so a degree is now required to be commissoned from the ranks in NSR?

No you need to be a NCO or hold a degree/other useful qualification

[hptmurphy]

As defined in Administrative Instruction R5 Murph

I don't have acces to R5 hence the questions!!!

[Truck Driver]

I don't have acces to R5 hence the questions!!!

Ahhh yes - bugger, I forgot

[trellheim]

An excellent announcement from @DF_COS that Colonel Brian Cleary has been appointed to oversee the #RDF. The Association is looking forward to working with him in his new capacity 🇮🇪 @defenceforces @PeterOHalloran1 @dfpo

what * and why ? out of all the myriad things needed - this ? My Unit commander oversees me and gives me standards to meet .... that is the best thing about the 2012 reorg .... did CS4 get changed while I was out having a smoke ?


https://twitter.com/DF_COS/status/1017796487504416768

[DeV]

Could be in addition?

Not sure if this is a good or a bad thing!

Could it mean stuff like R5 & Admin Instructions etc will be looked at, is it a more strategy view to enable development of the RDF

[Bravo20]

A quick Google search indicates that he is/was D Arty. I suppose with only 2 regiments to oversee he has plenty of time on his hands for the RDF. Maybe he will look after the reserve for 2 hours on a Tuesday and Thursday and a field day every month.

[DeV]

Isn’t D/Arty and D/Cav something like D/ISTAR?

[Fantasia]

He is D CS & ISTAR

Excellent operator!

[Truck Driver]

A quick Google search indicates that he is/was D Arty. I suppose with only 2 regiments to oversee he has plenty of time on his hands for the RDF. Maybe he will look after the reserve for 2 hours on a Tuesday and Thursday and a field day every month.

Think he's ex Wing too

[trellheim]

Does anyone have any idea what this is for ?

[Exile]

Reservists on border duty again is my guess..

[trellheim]

Reservists on border duty again is my guess..

Somewhat more detail than that there horse .... If you have something like that to say then put out something worth talking about.

For example here's a controversial one : Should applicants for the RDF be required to serve their 3 years TOE before becoming eligible for PDF GS or Cadetship ? ( Not as a condition of entry, they would be free to enter the competitions if not RDF members at all )

[na grohmití]

Could it be that the CoS (who has been a fan of the reserve since he was a trooper in 5th Cav) has seen that the reserve is broken in its current format, and needs someone at high level to fix it?
In the 80s we had no problem recruiting or retaining, but the force was poorly trained, and practically useless. Nowdays we have a well trained small force, who cannot recruit or retain in the numbers required to operate as envisaged.

[hptmurphy]

Could it be that the CoS (who has been a fan of the reserve since he was a trooper in 5th Cav) has seen that the reserve is broken in its current format, and needs someone at high level to fix it?
In the 80s we had no problem recruiting or retaining, but the force was poorly trained, and practically useless. Nowdays we have a well trained small force, who cannot recruit or retain in the numbers required to operate as envisaged.

Pay them on the UK TA model....

But you have to fix PDF pay first!

[DeV]

Could it be that the CoS (who has been a fan of the reserve since he was a trooper in 5th Cav) has seen that the reserve is broken in its current format, and needs someone at high level to fix it?
In the 80s we had no problem recruiting or retaining, but the force was poorly trained, and practically useless. Nowdays we have a well trained small force, who cannot recruit or retain in the numbers required to operate as envisaged.

There has never been a shortage of people to recruit, the problems are:
(a) getting sufficient numbers (and concentration) through to atteststion
(b) retaining them through recruit training
(c) retaining them thereafter

For example, a saw a picture somewhere online in the last couple of weeks of approx 15 RDF recruits on their FTT the other week representing about 4 units across 2 Bde - they were actually the 2017 intake.

My formation plan to have those from the 2018 intake (and a small number left over from 2017) as 2*s before Christmas AFAIK. The closing date was on 4 June and already approx 30 have passed their fitness assessment and interview.

Somewhat more detail than that there horse .... If you have something like that to say then put out something worth talking about.

For example here's a controversial one : Should applicants for the RDF be required to serve their 3 years TOE before becoming eligible for PDF GS or Cadetship ? ( Not as a condition of entry, they would be free to enter the competitions if not RDF members at all )

Well for cadets to qualify for the bonus for the September/October 2018 entry you have to have been an effective member since 1 Jan 2017

[na grohmití]

The numbers suggest otherwise.

[trellheim]

Well for cadets to qualify for the bonus for the September/October 2018 entry you have to have been an effective member since 1 Jan 2017

Too many people join and go straight to the PDF . they are many times the best and most switched on people. While I appreciate the PDFs gain ( and in general the State does not lose ) this doesn't help me in the RDF when all you have is the numbers being mentioned above.

[DeV]

The numbers suggest otherwise.

Really?

https://www.google.ie/amp/s/www.iris...103%3fmode=amp

[Shane_J]

We seemed to have a good number of recruits in training on the square for our last parade night. Felt good. Mix of new intakes plus recruits going on FTT shortly. That's got to be something positive.

[trellheim]

We seemed to have a good number of recruits in training on the square for our last parade night. Felt good. Mix of new intakes plus recruits going on FTT shortly. That's got to be something positive.

to step away from the negative for a moment I have had keep-it-going from COS,1xDCOS, ACOS , GOCs and directors and thats in the last few months ; once we get numbers out of the kill zone things should start improving if sense is kept. I do think we need to check direction though if we are going to grow properly , CS4 and career structures are not fit for purpose especially Sgts and junior officers . For our PDF colleagues - there is no rotation at all so you can see NCOs in position for 20 years and officers holding to a particular location in hope of a vacancy

[DeV]

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/harne...dylan-hennigan

Interesting

[trellheim]

It was an article in this months an Cosantoir. He aint the only one helping in that area

[Audax]

"In August 2017, the opportunity arose to attend a weeklong cyber security course - the International Cyber Security Summer School (ICSSS17) - run by the NATO NCI Agency in The Hague, Netherlands, along with partnering institutions such as Europol, the Dutch Defence Cyber Command, academic institutions and technology companies. I was the youngest participant of 60 international students on the programme, but could only do so in a civilian/student capacity as Reservists cannot yet travel overseas in an official capacity."

This says it all. Very interesting article though it seems that 'single force concept' doesn't stretch as far as giving specialist reservists the same training opportunities/supports as their PDF counterparts. It seems hard to justify this overseas ban on reservists especially as it applies to RDF specialists who presumably don't get exposure to much specialist training here in Ireland. I would imagine that the best cyber security courses don't take place here! I would have hoped that the RDFRA would have something to say about this , but i'm not holding my breath...

[trellheim]

You are making a huge and incorrect assumption that the PDF are responsible there. Look upwards from there my friend.