RDF Security Clearance

[REX]

[Mod: Split from "British Army Security Clearance & the RDF"

How long would one be waiting between the security clearance and the continuation of the process of recruitment, roughly?

My next door neighbor was recently sworn into the RDF, after waiting from January until August for the Garda Vetting Unit to complete his clearance.

[Goldie fish]

That is very unusual.

[Truck Driver]

My next door neighbor was recently sworn into the RDF, after waiting from January until August for the Garda Vetting Unit to complete his clearance.

Sounds familiar....

That is very unusual.

Unfortunately not.

While I was involved in the Trg Pln in our unit (now doing a different job ), we found it
heartbreaking, the length of time some of the security checks were taking.

Can recall a year or two ago, recruits that we had kicked off paperwork for, we were
scrambling to get them kitted out in time for their Mod 2 Recruit Camp in July of that
year. Massive delay between the Garda Security checks and the red tape at Bde level
before we finally received Army Numbers for them, and hence, could kit them out.

Seems to me that the delays have lengthened since the Gardai centralised the
vetting procedures in Thurles. Probably not entirely all to do with the Gardai, but
definitely a factor. When vetting was done at the local station of the prospective
recruit, the clearances did seem to come back faster, IMO....

EDIT:
Having re-read Rex's post..... are you saying that although the Garda check took nearly
8 months, it then took the Bde from August until January to get their finger out ???
Another 5 months ???? :confused:

Not THAT is problematic, and if I was in that unit, I'd definitely be banging down the
door of the RDF Bde OC to ask what the hell is going on. Don't s'pose anyone you
know is a golfing buddy of the GOC... ??!!!

[REX]

EDIT:
Having re-read Rex's post..... are you saying that although the Garda check took nearly
8 months, it then took the Bde from August until January to get their finger out ???
Another 5 months ???? :confused:

Well, by the time the clearance had come through, the young lad had missed the recruit Plns which occurred during the summer. He was sworn in in September, not that recently I suppose, but as he had begun his Leaving Cert year his parents would not let him take the extra week off after mid-term break to do the Recruit camp on then.

The RDF Cadre staff were pulling their hair out trying to get him sorted out but the forms went missing twice in the Vetting Office in Thurles. In the good old days your local Garda took the forms to check local lads looking to join, job done in a week and because the numbers involved were quite low each time no one was over stretched.

Now with central vetting, an already busy office has another load put on them, one which is probably given a relatively low priority

[Truck Driver]

....He was sworn in in September, not that recently I suppose, but as
he had begun his Leaving Cert year his parents would not let him take the extra week off
after mid-term break to do the Recruit camp on then

Still an unacceptably long cycle time from signing up to swearing in....

And Pat Herbert in his "Update From Directorate Of Reserve Forces" in the latest
RDFRA newsletter is wondering why:

...among the challenges facing the force is the issue of recruitment and retention

Your friend's issue should be raised with RDFRA and up the military chain

The RDF Cadre staff were pulling their hair out trying to get him
sorted out but the forms went missing twice in the Vetting Office in Thurles.
In the good old days your local Garda took the forms to check local
lads looking to join, job done in a week and because the numbers involved
were quite low each time no one was over stretched

Can bet if it was security vetting for, say, a paediatric nurse position, there would
have been blue murder (no pun intended) if this carry on had happened

Now with central vetting, an already busy office has another load put on them,
one which is probably given a relatively low priority

.... and therein lies the problem. DOD needs to decide if they want a Reserve Force or not,
and if so, put the security vetting of prospective recruits at a par with that for PDF recruits,
thus ensuring that the vetting procedure would be speeded up somewhat. As a matter of
interest, does anyone know what the current cycle time is for security vetting of
prospective recruits to the PDF ? Please, no smart arse comments along the lines of
"... but there's a recruitment ban in place" , etc.....

[Steyr Fan]

Last Feb we sent away paperwork for 14 potential recruits (all mad to get in, get on & get goin). By June, no word back on any of them. Had to break the bad news that they would not be going on camp, which we had used to encourage them to stay, and they stayed. It was very dissappointing to say the least to have to do this.

By Oct, clearances had arrived.

When enquires were mad, we found out that with the centralise vetting, all Bde applications are sent in block for cleaance. If any 1 (ONE) of those applications were incomplete, or inaccuarate, then ALL applications were sent back to Bde.

This is one of the reasons many have ceased parading. ANd not just potential recruits; the recruiters & instrructors are getting fed up doing all the donkey work, visiting schools, workplaces, ect, getting bods in, egging them on. For what? For a wait of 6 - 9 months. Why bother at all? One would get the impression the the authorities do not want a reserve at all.

[Goldie fish]

Could it be deliberate? Don't all clearances go through Brigade HQ first?

[hptmurphy]

Clearances can be problematic as they have to be filed in totally correct and the gardai batch sample them. If a given number in the batch are incorrect there is no point in going through the rest so they are sent back for reprocessing loose their place in queue and have to start again.

Its the DFs fault at this point asthey did not ensure the forms were corrcrt in the first place.

there should be increased liason of what detail is required on the form

basic brak down is that all former adresses since birth in total must be filled in.

While some memebers intending on joining maynot remember each adress specifically it should be ointed out to them at the processing stage that this can be a major stumbling block and would be handy if parents could supply precise details of all adresses and time spent at them.

As I said this is the primary reason these forms get returned and lead to so much frustration...at all levels of the process.

the batches from each unit are dealth with individually and not en masse so if you loose your place in the queue due to poor filling it often penalises the whole intake from that unit and priority is given to units who have them filled in properly.

Trying to wing it at this olevel will fail as it is the main precursor of all the others wheel starting in motion.

It would be avaisable to have someone who is familiar with paperwork to sit in with the prospective recruit and go through it in fine details.

There will of course be times where the inforamtion may not be accurate enough and may require further investiagation but in the norma get someone who knows the correct proceedure to deal with it.

You can also check the progress of any group of applications by making contact with gardai who will tell you waht satge they are at.

[DeV]

Also the Gardai will not process forms that are signed by the wrong person in the wrong place, there are blank spaces and block capitals aren't used.

[Goldie fish]

Also, if you cross out a part of a form and write N/A accross it, rather than just not completing the relevant box, it will get returned.

[hptmurphy]

Thats pretty much covered the reasons and how not to submitt the form, hopefully all we have adressed will speed it up for someone.

[Truck Driver]

As someone mentioned above, maybe there should be liaison between the DF and
the Gardai to develop a "tac aide" for filling in the forms, the do's and do nots, etc. ?

Especially with the amount of time paperwork gets delayed or returned...

[irishrgr]

Clearances

We deal with a similar issue here, clearances can take a while, sometime 9 months. However, unless you have a job that requires a SECRET or higher (officers, intelligence types, some Signals, etc) a basic recruit entry clearance is fairly straightforward. The recruiting process runs your info through the various local, state and national law enforcement agences, no convictions, no warrants, and you are in.

The other clearance part is tricky and involves filling out a mere 32 page form which wants every detail known to man about your life, where you've lived, worked, trips abroad, the lot. However, despite the complexity of the form, it is only used for research by the individual. Once complete, you are parked in front of a computer and enter all your data and hit "send". If you have filled out something incomplete or in error, it won't let you finish. The info is then all forwaded to the Dept of Defense vetting agency and they do the actual checking etc. A SECRET usually take about 6 months, a TOP SECRET can take almost a year. The more "complex" your life is (i.e. multiple addresses, jobs, foreign residence or relatives, etc) the longer it takes.

In the age of IT, I'm suprised that the Gardai are still using paper forms form something like this, but then, knowing some aspects of the Gardai, I'm not.

Cheers,

A

[christophicus]

Wow, well that tells me alot about my unit. I filled in my application last October, the fella just handed me the form, told me to fill it out, and left the room. He didn't seem to give two ****s what i did, and certainly didn't go through how to fill it out ( eg not "N.A" or anything like that ) . I told him I couldn't be sure when I was living in the different locations that I was living in over the past few years. He said thats no problem, just throw something down

I was told that I got be garda clearance last Dec, which I was pretty happy about, but nothing has happened since then. Hopefully we should be updated in the coming weeks.

Anyway, there should be a clear list of do's and don'ts on the form, which there isn't atm.

[recruitastic]

I ve waited nearly ten months

Im not as gung ho about the place anymore