The Future of the Army Reserve - Discuss

[trellheim]

anyone any news of R5 or is it still in Godot's satchel ?

[SwiftandSure]

Well, after reading the Ministers Questions thread, my blood is boiling. I'm going to walk away from the keyboard now.

[trellheim]

Yes thats not very nice is it but I think it is trite to say that about employment protection; we've been recommending it for 20+ years.

He is correct about retention in other DFs of reserve personnel as it was a key topic of discussion at the recent conference BUT I don't believe the issues are comparable since we don't utilise the reserve in taskings except in boutique affairs.

PS : extremely demoralizing for reservists though, well done Minister on making us feel part of the party.

[DeV]

Employment protection should be a long term aspiration.
Why?
It's unachievable and is completely unrealistic

Getting understrength MOs to do medicals at weekends and intranet PCs (in RDF offices in barracks) and logons should be very achievable

[The real Jack]

Meanwhile there's a mad rush to get bods "orientated" to be allowed to train the legion of recruits...

[SwiftandSure]

What annoys me is the whole "here we go again" situation. New minister, no change, no vision, no future. Same political puppet show with the strings being pulled by a department that clearly undervalues, doesn't respect and systematically undermines the RDF and the Reservists that invest so much into it.

I'm half tempted put in a PQ myself to ask the minister "am I wasting my time?".

[danno]

Unless and until the RDF,via the WP,are given a discrete/deployable function and intended to be executed it is unlikely anything will change save for lots of lip service and getting wheeled out like Chelsea Pensioners to marquee events.

[DeV]

What annoys me is the whole "here we go again" situation. New minister, no change, no vision, no future. Same political puppet show with the strings being pulled by a department that clearly undervalues, doesn't respect and systematically undermines the RDF and the Reservists that invest so much into it.

I'm half tempted put in a PQ myself to ask the minister "am I wasting my time?".

New Minister doesn't mean new government policy or a 500% improvement in the economy

RDFRA should be picking its battles. Yes set out the stall this is what other countries do to sustain a large credible reserve and attract new members. But be realistic.

If employment protection was being looked at it would have happened during the boom and talk of overseas service.

If RDFRA are seriously trying to get sea change on this, be realistic, look for employers having to guarantee your job in the extremely unlikely event of a call out by the Minister. And then build from there.

Or pick the argument, Minister why have so few new recruits got through the process? Poor advertising, short notice, poor T&C (eg employment protection), etc

[danno]

It will be said "why ie EP needed,no scenario is envisaged where the RDF will be deployed".

[morpheus]

Close remote barracks
move everything into main barracks
get intranet access
get ITs for weekends

WTF is the point of doing a pots course in 2010 if i now have to do a cuddle course for 5 days this year just to tell me what i already know?
what exactly doesnt annual A7's
and the orientation i underwent to instruct on the entirety of the last BTC run POTs course
and the 2 weekends course on the new Instructional Plan that I had to sit through in 2013
NOT cover I that I have to do 5 more days of it this year, one of them a friday??
I have 20 days annual leave from my full time job
I now need 2 of these days for ITs
1 of these days for this poxy train the trainers course
so ive 17 days left
10 more will be required for full time training
so 13 days of my own personal annual leave will be required to hit KPIs
that leaves me with 7 to spend on a holiday?
BO**OX i say.
ALL withOUT the (8 days I beleieve?) Ive to give up FOR FREE to do voluntary work?

[trellheim]

Some points from the above

TS56/06 is being driven by the PDF for some reason. I have not found any admin instruction which mandates its necessity apart from BTC courses I believe.
ITs are doable at weekends, in my formation there is 3 RDF IT weekends this year
Several RDF barrack units have Intranet PCs and their own logons
Medicals at weekends are available in some places but not others so not consistent

[ODIN]

Debating getting off the pot personally. Sick of seeing bags of ham sitting on their holes doing nothing, been active every year bar 2013(due to new job). Done Cav gunnery, PNCO, Standard NCO courses and instructed on 6(?) PNCO courses, Recruits, Orientation courses, upskilling courses, partook in ISTAR ex's, Assessments... the list goes on. Usually using so much of my annual leave that I cannot get a holiday if I don't want to be in the office at Christmas, so haven't had a holiday since 2010 when I was between jobs.

Although weekend IT's are available, weekend medicals are usually not, and even if you get a date for a medical, there is no guarantee that you will be seen on that date. I am looking at what I put in, what I have put in and what I am expected to put in, and I am looking at what I get in return. I am really starting to wonder if there is a point anymore. Since 2005/06, I've been hearing how things will get better, and to be fair they have in some ways. However, the same lazy b*****ds are still floating around.

The bottom line, the RDF looks good on paper for the Government, because they can say "We have a reserve force of 4000 in support of our regular force", but they cannot recruit into this force at present. 154 recruits from a recruitment campaign last year is very telling, they are not selling the RDF to the target market. They cannot retain the people they bring in in most cases. They want a reserve that has the capability to seamlessly integrate to the PDF at a moments notice, in a similar way to the TA and other reserve forces, on a shoe string and claim that we cannot compare reservists like for like with the TA.

[morpheus]

Any chance you can PM me those dates?

[trellheim]

pm me email addy and you can have information overload

[trellheim]

BTW I for one welcome our new Insect Overlords ( sorry, commandants ) who got the good news yesterday. Some large noses put out of joint too and some howlers.