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Process for Reserve, Guard to enter regular Army has been streamlined
Stars & Stripes ^ | 6/25/05 | Lisa Burgess

Posted on 06/25/2005 4:58:34 PM PDT by Libloather

Process for Reserve, Guard to enter regular Army has been streamlined

By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, June 25, 2005


Brig. Gen. Sean Byrne, the Army’s director of personnel management, right, swears in Sgt. Maj. Terry Grezlik, the first soldier to make the reserve-to-active switch under the Army’s new policy.

ARLINGTON, Va. — Army National Guard and Reserve soldiers who have been mobilized for the war on terror can use a new streamlined entry process into the regular Army.

On June 17, Army officials announced that they are eliminating the long-standing practice of having mobilized reserves soldiers quit the reserves and then apply for the Army all over again if they want to become regular soldiers, according to Lt. Col. Katrinia Pierce, Chief of the Army Integration Policy Branch.

That process requires full demobilization, a trip to one of the Defense Department’s 65 Military Entrance Processing Stations to undergo the same exams as any other potential applicant for the U.S. military.

The prospect includes filling out 11 forms — most of which mobilized reservists have already completed — taking a medical exam (also a requirement for deployment), and a minimum of three months for the Army to process, Pierce told Stripes on Friday.

Despite this process, the Army has been receiving 13 to 20 applications from reservists whose deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan convinced them they wanted to make the Army a full-time career, Pierce said.

But many other reservists who might have made that switch were ultimately discouraged by the tedium, Brig. Gen. Sean Byrne, the Army’s director of personnel management, said Friday, before swearing in the first soldier to benefit from the streamlined policy, Sgt. Maj. Terry Grezlik.

“We’ve had a large number of soldiers coming to us and saying, ‘I’ve been mobilized … I want to continue to serve in an active status but it’s just too hard to get it done,” Byrne said.

“Based on that groundswell,” Byrne said, he decided to streamline the process, and placed Pierce in charge of developing the policy.

Mobilized Army reservists must wait until they are within six months of their projected demobilization (release from active duty) date, Pierce said.

Reservists who have out-processed from the demobilization site but are on leave en route to their parent unit also may apply, as long as the application reaches Army Human Resources before the end of their leave, Pierce said.

The exception to the six-month rule is reservists who are now on active duty, and who have more than 18 years of military service on their records.

Those soldiers can apply to switch to the regular Army at any time after they are officially mobilized, Pierce said.

The new policy applies only to mobilized reservists, however. Reservists who are still on reserve status, however — including those with 18 years or more in the service — still have to use the old “get out to get in” procedure if they want to join the active Army, Pierce said.

To apply:

Fill out form DD-368, request for conditional release www.usarc.army.mil/naad/conditional_releases.htm or ftp://pubs.army.mil/pub/eforms/pdf/d368.pdf.
Attach a recommendation from your commander
Mail forms to USA HRC, Attn: Sgt. Maj. Clifton/SSgt. Johnson, Alexandria, VA 22332-0471

Pierce said that personnel officials intend to process the forms within 15 business days.


TOPICS: Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: army; enter; guard; process; regular; reserve; streamlined

1 posted on 06/25/2005 4:58:36 PM PDT by Libloather
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To: stevie_d_64

Ping. . .


2 posted on 06/25/2005 5:01:18 PM PDT by Flyer (Nuthin' finer than a grackle crap marinade for fixin' those word famous Houston face fajitas)
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To: Libloather

I think this is good news. I'm sure the MSM will try to spin it into bad news, but we've got a lot of mobilized reservists who are proud to serve and who want to keep at it.


3 posted on 06/25/2005 5:02:03 PM PDT by 68skylark
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To: Libloather
It's a good start, but you would think with recruiting shortfalls, they'd have a process where any guard/reserve soldier could simply apply and quickly fill an empty slot in the active Army.

You would think...

4 posted on 06/25/2005 5:07:13 PM PDT by DTogo (U.S. out of the U.N. & U.N out of the U.S.)
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To: 68skylark

In many cases, the reserves are being mobilized more frequently than the regular Army. There is a USAR Civil Affairs unit near my house. They have deployed 4 times in the last 5 years. Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq


5 posted on 06/25/2005 5:07:33 PM PDT by stm
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To: stm

That sounds like my Civil Affairs unit -- they've had 4-5 mobilizations in the last few years.

However, CA units are very small and highly specialized, with an unusual mission. It would be a mistake to generalize CA deployments to other parts of the reserves. Other units have much different experiences than CA.


6 posted on 06/25/2005 5:12:33 PM PDT by 68skylark
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To: DTogo
...with recruiting shortfalls

The recruiting shortfalls are overblown by the MSM. With retention being so high, the active army doesn't have problems filling most slots at this time. A lot of the doom and gloom hype you hear is just propaganda.

7 posted on 06/25/2005 5:15:13 PM PDT by 68skylark
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To: 68skylark

With the emaciation of the active duty military under the Klintoon administration, however, the role of the Reserves and Guard has changed forever. We were mobilized in 2002 for Iraq and we are back in the rotation for 2006. While we were away, our BN had about 100 soldiers join and they are on trainup for Afghanistan as we speak.


8 posted on 06/25/2005 5:17:16 PM PDT by stm
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To: DTogo

as some FRiends and I have said since our deployment:

"... and yet we win wars."


9 posted on 06/25/2005 5:21:46 PM PDT by SFC Chromey (Panama, Bosnia, Iraq, where next? I say retreat through Iran, then flank west through Syria!)
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To: stm

Are you from Indiana by any chance? They had some of the few battalions that I recall being mobilized for Iraq in 2002. There were probably some other BN's mobilized at that time that I've forgotten.

I don't know if I can agree with your statement that the role of the Guard and Reserve changed recently. Reserve troops have been used to fight all our wars since the 1600's -- no real changes there.


10 posted on 06/25/2005 5:22:00 PM PDT by 68skylark
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To: 68skylark
I don't buy into it as "doom and gloom" but if there are shortfalls, and regular attrition, you would think the Army would want slots filled ASAP - and why not start with experienced guard/reservists and get them processed promptly?

You would think...

11 posted on 06/25/2005 5:24:45 PM PDT by DTogo (U.S. out of the U.N. & U.N out of the U.S.)
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To: DTogo

Yeah, I see your point. I guess the active forces have usually had some prejudices against reserve forces -- that may be part of the issue. Also, moving experienced folks from the reserves to active shuts off some promotion opportunities for those already on active duty (and takes away strength from a reserve unit too) -- that may be part of the issue as well.

Basically, troops can move from active to reserves -- it just takes a good deal of paperwork.


12 posted on 06/25/2005 5:27:48 PM PDT by 68skylark
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To: 68skylark

As it is, most troops lose a ton of time-in-grade and time in service when they go from reserve to active. Their time gets 'compacted' and someone with 6 years of reserve time gets that converted to under a year of active time.


13 posted on 06/25/2005 6:55:11 PM PDT by wingnutx (Seabees Can Do!)
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To: wingnutx

I wasn't aware of that. This article describes the new method for going into the active forces from reserves for mobilized reservists -- hopefully under this new procedure, the problem you describe has been fixed.


14 posted on 06/25/2005 7:42:27 PM PDT by 68skylark
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To: All
I couldn't find this link yesterday, but for anyone who wants more information on this topic, click here:

https://perscomnd04.army.mil/MILPERmsgs.nsf/91be8a3c75b3f8f785256f5c00484a17/b8c363f0345c6a3b852570220046787e?OpenDocument

For other Army personnel announcements, go here:

https://perscomnd04.army.mil/MILPERmsgs.nsf/

15 posted on 06/26/2005 9:16:30 AM PDT by 68skylark
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To: Flyer

I'm smelling the coffee brewing in the chief mess again...hehehe


16 posted on 06/27/2005 6:54:13 AM PDT by stevie_d_64 (Houston Area Texans)
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