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  • Originally posted by Truck Driver View Post
    I would say that personnel should be aiming for the Grade 4 this year... Bearing in mind that this is the average of three tests (unless the 4.8km walk is done instead of the run)
    Just for the sake of not confusing some people perhaps a small bit of pedantry won't go amiss here.Not getting a dig at you mate.
    The average you get for Part two is taken from the score you get in each COMPONENT of the one test.IE: Sit ups,pull ups and run.Most of ye probably know that but for the benefit of the one forum reader who doesn't etc.
    The trick is to maximise the score you get in your best event(s) IE if you are strong at the run and press ups but weak at the situps go balls out on those events and give it your best on the component you are weakest at.If you are good at all three even better.Two grade threes and a four is an overall grade three for example.
    "Let us be clear about three facts. First, all battles and all wars are won in the end by the infantryman. Secondly, the infantryman always bears the brunt. His casualties are heavier, he suffers greater extremes of discomfort and fatigue than the other arms. Thirdly, the art of the infantryman is less stereotyped and far harder to acquire in modern war than that of any other arm." ------- Field Marshall Wavell, April 1945.

    Comment


    • Going from 0 to 4 requires a bit of dedicated training.
      6 weeks is all it takes once you get the right program for you!

      im one of the overweight people in the rdf but anyone that knows me knows iv always given 100% out on the ground.
      Positive mental attitude, you've always had that, even when you should have stopped you kept going....I even heard you put some of the self apointed experten to shame recently where stamina.

      Probably all the abuse you got kept you going, you'll make the grade alright.. always have jog on!
      Covid 19 is not over ....it's still very real..Hand Hygiene, Social Distancing and Masks.. keep safe

      Comment


      • All matches with what I heard . however no real surprises as we knew most of it from admino and the revised its. Key for me is the recruiting aand promotions cycle starting. where is revised r5 , where is l3 and the rest of the promised reform ?
        "Are they trying to shoot down the other drone? "

        "No, they're trying to fly the tank"

        Comment


        • Originally posted by trellheim View Post
          All matches with what I heard . however no real surprises as we knew most of it from admino and the revised its. Key for me is the recruiting aand promotions cycle starting. where is revised r5 , where is l3 and the rest of the promised reform ?
          L3 has been signed, I haven't seen it but our BQ wasn't giving us the kit until it was signed and it now in own stores

          Revised R5 ?????? How can they discharge people for not meeting the KPIs if the secondary legislation states different requirements?

          Comment


          • Originally posted by apod View Post
            The trick is to maximise the score you get in your best event(s) IE if you are strong at the run and press ups but weak at the situps go balls out on those events and give it your best on the component you are weakest at.If you are good at all three even better.Two grade threes and a four is an overall grade three for example.
            Even being very good at something (ie. grade 1 in situps) makes a huge difference to your final grade..... but you HAVE to get min grade 4 (or grade 5 in 2014) in each component - a failing grade in 1 component of Part 2 is a fail overall.

            Comment


            • Originally posted by madden View Post
              Even being very good at something (ie. grade 1 in situps) makes a huge difference to your final grade..... but you HAVE to get min grade 4 (or grade 5 in 2014) in each component - a failing grade in 1 component of Part 2 is a fail overall.
              Correct and right.Most people I know can bang out the press ups and some can run all day but a good few hate the situps and struggle with them despite being great at the other two.What I am saying is to play to your strengths.If you suck at press ups shoot for the grade four to pass but get the best scores you can get in the other two components to bring your average up.Better than the old system where if you failed one component you failed it all!
              "Let us be clear about three facts. First, all battles and all wars are won in the end by the infantryman. Secondly, the infantryman always bears the brunt. His casualties are heavier, he suffers greater extremes of discomfort and fatigue than the other arms. Thirdly, the art of the infantryman is less stereotyped and far harder to acquire in modern war than that of any other arm." ------- Field Marshall Wavell, April 1945.

              Comment


              • 172. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Defence his plans to maintain a full compliment of regiments within the Reserve Defence Force; his plans for future recruitment drives in that regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3058/14]

                Minister for Defence (Deputy Alan Shatter): New organisational arrangements for the Reserve Defence Force (RDF) came into effect on 31 March 2013. Work is continuing on the implementation of the reorganisation and the development of the single force concept and a review of the number of active members of the RDF is currently being compiled in this regard. As part of this process, the criteria for participation in the RDF is also being reviewed and updated and a recruitment plan is being developed. I anticipate that consideration of these issues will be completed in the near future.
                Haha Cpl Willie is still useless as ever!
                Everyone who's ever loved you was wrong.

                Comment


                • Every single week the same fcuking questions are asked. Does nobody take fcuking notes?
                  I knew a simple soldier boy.....
                  Who grinned at life in empty joy,
                  Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
                  And whistled early with the lark.

                  In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
                  With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
                  He put a bullet through his brain.
                  And no one spoke of him again.

                  You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
                  Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
                  Sneak home and pray you'll never know
                  The hell where youth and laughter go.

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by Buck View Post
                    Every single week the same fcuking questions are asked. Does nobody take fcuking notes?
                    Yes but you are missing the Politics of it. Based an some of the figures coming out already, the Reserve is in a bad way since the recent reorg. The figures that everyone is looking for are likely going to point to that. Given that the minister did a solo run on the PDF & RDF reorgs, there is potential for egg on his face.

                    By keeping the Q going, there is little wiggle room for the minister once the figures become publicly available (assuming that they are not already available but being kept quiet for a more opportune moment to release them). Basically, by continually asking the Q, the opposition are letting the minister know that the sharks are waiting and they ain't going to let him go. They don't actually give 2 hoots about the Reserve but they do like a bad news story. It is hard to pin Shatter down on things - this is one of the few he is going to get dumped on over.

                    As to what the figures say, some good guesses can be made from the figures released already and the panic occurring in D Res's office over future RDF Recruitment - Some of the stuff I have heard is crazy but it is all about massaging the figures to make the minister look good.... or not as bad as he could.

                    Comment


                    • 159.
                      Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Defence in view of the current re-organisation of the Defence Forces into a single force concept and the fact that it requires reserve members to give more of their time to the service of the State,

                      if he will bring forward employment protection legislation to ensure that employers must give a certain amount of days a year to employees engaging in the reserve service; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
                      [4466/14]

                      Minister for Defence (Deputy Alan Shatter): A Value for Money (VFM) Review of the Reserve Defence Force (RDF) was published in November 2012.
                      It set out a number of recommendations aimed at improving the capacity of the RDF and ensuring its continued viability. T
                      hese recommendations included the consolidation of a large number of under-strength Units into a smaller number of full strength Units.
                      A major re-organisation of the Army Reserve (AR) and Naval Service Reserve (NSR) was implemented in 2013 and the RDF is now organised alongside the Permanent Defence Force (PDF) within a more efficient single force structure.

                      Separately, the VFM Review highlighted an inconsistency where a member of the Reserve could be classed as effective;
                      yet fail to meet minimum training targets that had been set out in plans for the Reserve.
                      The retention of personnel who do not meet minimum training requirements has a detrimental effect on the capacity and morale of the Reserve.
                      In this context, the VFM Review recommended a review of the criteria for categorising Reservists as effective.

                      The military authorities have developed proposals in this regard and this is one of a range of measures aimed at reforming the RDF.
                      I have received no recommendations relating to the introduction of employment protection legislation and I can see no basis for such a recommendation.
                      The intention is that actual training requirements will be accurately reflected in regulations governing retention on the effective strength of the Reserve.
                      In practice this will mean a requirement that Reservists meet training requirements that have been in place for many years rather than an increase in the level of training for the AR and NSR
                      In 2013 a total of 1,734 members of the AR and NSR availed of paid training and utilised 23,898 paid training mandays.

                      Nov 2012 Effective Strength 4,371.

                      OK Comments

                      1. Mil Authorities will never recommend legislation because that's the DoD's job and the girlish rage from DOD would be awful if they did.
                      2. Just because Alan can't see a basis doesn't mean it's not there, its on the Civil service books already for pete's sake.
                      ANYWAY not much hope.

                      With regard to the other stuff

                      3. they have had 1 year to come up with a changed R5 to fix this and now the best they can do is we have to "meet training requirements that have been in place for many years", so no change. Any number of curse words come to mind here.

                      4. With an effective strength of 4371 in 2013 and the existing R5, we cannot recruit except 29 personnel because it's over 4400 and ( no Captain Obvious arguments please ).

                      5. The usual argument put forward by people who don't understand is that a shure we can NE them and get rid of them immediately. But you can't.

                      6. Posting to NE means
                      i. You are still on establishment so still a part of the 4400
                      ii. Unless you go Effective again you serve the rest of your enlistment or two years on the N.E list whichever is shorter

                      Thats the law as it stands in R5/R5 AdminO

                      Now you might say .. well we can change that with a pen and of course you can BUT

                      you go NE according to your contract i.e. the terms that were in place when you went NE which is always the end of the year. so how to fix ? An R5 revised in time for the end of 2013 would have avoided this problem.

                      Anyway may be an incorrect interpretation.

                      Finally 1734/4371 =39% of effective strength attended Annual Training
                      23898/1734=13.78 which is interesting showing that rather than the 7 days minimum, most people did far more . I had my worst year in a long long time last year for paid days and just made exactly 7 in the week before Xmas

                      One interpretation is that we are now burned down to the people who want to be here ( = Competent people and those who are completelly incompetent who have nothing better to do )

                      Yes there are probable skews in there before the Captain Obviouses come out.

                      My 0.05c
                      Last edited by trellheim; 30 January 2014, 18:46.
                      "Are they trying to shoot down the other drone? "

                      "No, they're trying to fly the tank"

                      Comment


                      • Sorry, I've just come back from pulling my hair out with rage at the convolutedness of this whole nonsense.
                        I knew a simple soldier boy.....
                        Who grinned at life in empty joy,
                        Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
                        And whistled early with the lark.

                        In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
                        With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
                        He put a bullet through his brain.
                        And no one spoke of him again.

                        You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
                        Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
                        Sneak home and pray you'll never know
                        The hell where youth and laughter go.

                        Comment


                        • The DF know FA about their own Regs regarding the RDF.

                          I fairness I think many (that are working directly with us) have an interest in improving the RDF.

                          I didn't think it was possible but this reorg has been 20 times worse than the 2005 reorg.

                          Comment


                          • I am really beginning to despair about the whole thing. While the ordinary PDF guy has run with the RDF reorg as best he can, the higher ups don't seem to have a clue. We have an AdminO which is unenforceable due to the lack of the DFR to back it up and now we have recruitment coming in that is going back to the worst excesses of the old FCA and repeating them all.

                            Every step forward is a massive struggle to achieve and then some pencil pusher just writes off that struggle without even thinking about it.

                            The grat was gotten rid of to pay for extra mandays - mandays that cannot be used up as there isn't enough people to use them. We then have the higher ups saying the "There is barely enough mandays for 4500 RDF to do a week" and we all know that the RDF is haemorrhaging bodies and it has been a long time since we had 4500 effective people.
                            Since we didn't use up the "extra" mandays, does this mean we get out grat back?

                            I did well out of the reorg - got a good unit and good training. I have put in a lot of time into the RDF. i have fought many fights and struggled hard to push the RDF forward. But I reckon I am on the way out. I gave the reorg a go, will probably give it 1 more year to be sure but my enthusiasm is being drained. Can easily pass the medical, fitness test, APWTs etc., I can give it the hours needed but I have been feeling for a while now that it is becoming a huge waste of time and no matter what I do or how much time and effort I put in, it will all be in vain - I would do the whole thing for free, no expenses or pay or anything if I thought it wouldn't end with thinly veiled contempt from higher ups.

                            And that last sentence sums up what is wrong with the RDF.

                            Comment


                            • The problem was that units held onto ghosts (or incompetents) who should have been discharged years ago, some of them were posted to their local unit (one wonders did they actually but in a request). And fit, motivated people were shafted and posted to Bdes they didn't apply for by their Bde board (without consulting the Bdes they were posting into).

                              It is / was those people who were forced out.

                              I considered applying for a LoA last year (and subsequently filled in my application for discharge, my only question being who is my CO (it's complicated) - this has happened a good few times since I became an NCO. But I have always came back with the answer is the only way to change anything is from within. But the time could come when the decision will be out of my hands.

                              The reorg (the actual bones) showed everything that is wrong with the org.

                              Comment


                              • ollowing the Value for Money review of the Reserve, a new organisational structure came into effect at the end of March 2013. A revised strength ceiling for the Reserve of 4,069 personnel is now in place. Work is continuing on the implementation of the reorganisation and the development of the single force concept and a review of the number of active members of the RDF is currently being compiled in this regard. As part of this process, the criteria for participation in the RDF are also being reviewed and updated and a recruitment plan is being developed. The revised structure has improved access to equipment, expertise and appropriate training for Reserve members. It has also allowed for a significant reduction in the number of PDF personnel required to administer and train the Reserve on a full time basis.
                                ( from the other thread )

                                1. and a review of the number of active members of the RDF is currently being compiled in this regard.
                                What have ye been doing .. we could have told you that 12 months ago ?

                                As part of this process, the criteria for participation in the RDF are also being reviewed and updated

                                .... You've said no change already see above

                                The revised structure has improved access to

                                equipment... No it hasn't and its proposed to be done in a nonstrategic manner , no lockers and no individual responsibility for kit

                                , expertise ... Yes-ish but it was not a problem before for our crew, others may have benefited but the range on offer this year has opened up that is true to be real Single Force but note expertise not the same as training
                                and appropriate training for Reserve members. Yes. See previous pount

                                It has also allowed for a significant reduction in the number of PDF personnel required to administer and train the Reserve on a full time basis .... which was the real re-org goal in any event to throw cadre back into the pot to make up the numbers.
                                "Are they trying to shoot down the other drone? "

                                "No, they're trying to fly the tank"

                                Comment

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