Voluntary Release (VR) from Reserve - anytime [Merged]

[TheSnake]

Well, I don't think anyone here can really say what's best for you and yours...

That being said, I know the Army Reserves are a bit different than the Naval Reserves, but the reserves in general are pretty relaxed when it comes to commitments.

The CO at the Naval Reserve unit I worked at had a saying: "Family First, then you Civi Job, then the Reserves".

There is no minimum number of days that you MUST attend drill and training. If you have legitimate reasons not to be at weekly drill and training, that is fine. The key here is that it must be legitimate, and it must be communicated.

If you can NEVER make it to weekend exercises because of family issues, but CAN make it to every weekly parade night, GREAT! Just make sure your chain of command knows. If in the same situation, something comes up on Monday and you can't make it to that week's weekly training night, that's fine too! Call you Army boss up (or text) and explain it to him!

Finally, if you need to take some time away from the reserves for an extended period of time, you can go on ED&T (exempt drill & training). It basically exempts you from showing up to ANY drill and training during period for which you are on ED&T, which can be for up to a year... I believe... (I'd verify that...) You can go on ED&T for just about any reason. Going away to college for the year? ED&T until next summer. Going backpacking in Europe with your buddies for a month? ED&T for a month. Whatever it is, there is a process for it, and it should be approved (I'm not even sure it can be denied, truth be told...).

Anywas, your mileage may vary, because the Army PRes works a bit different then the Navy PRes, but on our side, we would take only as much as you were willing and able to give, and we didn't make you stress about your civilian job or family life just so you can show up on Tuesday night and attend lectures.

:salut:

I see, you make some good points I am thinking about ED&T maybe instead. If for some reason during my ED&T time period and I need to VR, would that look worse or no difference  ?  aka can I still do the 4C, VR.

 

[runormal]

hm you make some good points I am thinking about ED&T maybe instead, but if for some reason during my ED&T and I need to VR would that look worse or no difference  ? (other than say more paper work) aka can I still do the 4C, VR

Lots of people do the ED & T and never come back. I wouldn't worry about doing that, you can ask your clerks just be sure, but none of my peers who have done that have stated any repercussions.

I've heard that the limit is 2X 3 month blocks, but I have no idea if this is a "unit policy" or the actual policy.

If you are remotely considering restarting with the army once your sort out your family life , then I wouldn't realize since you'l also need to wait longer to re-enroll (should you choose to) since you don't have your DP1.

 

[stellarpanther]

Since I'm Reg Force I don't understand much about reserve policies. Basically the question is this. My son who is currently in the PRes just started his BMQ on weekends however he is finding it too much with having high school also.  He told his supervisor last week about the problem but didn't receive an answer until the end of the night which was that he will need to do up a memo requesting it and the CoC will want to talk with him.  They also told him he still had go this weekend.  What ref says they can force a class A Reservist to continue training if they don't want to do it?  I know he can quit if he doesn't like it but can they force him to continue training until his release if he went that route because they didn't want to grant his request to delay BMQ?  For now I think he is hoping to continue parading once a week and complete his BMQ in the summer which is what anyone else would be doing that joined in the last couple of weeks.

My real thinking is that I screwed up and got him in way too young but what's done is done.

 

[RedcapCrusader]

Since I'm Reg Force I don't understand much about reserve policies. Basically the question is this. My son who is currently in the PRes just started his BMQ on weekends however he is finding it too much with having high school also.  He told his supervisor last week about the problem but didn't receive an answer until the end of the night which was that he will need to do up a memo requesting it and the CoC will want to talk with him.  They also told him he still had go this weekend.  What ref says they can force a class A Reservist to continue training if they don't want to do it?  I know he can quit if he doesn't like it but can they force him to continue training until his release if he went that route because they didn't want to grant his request to delay BMQ?  For now I think he is hoping to continue parading once a week and complete his BMQ in the summer which is what anyone else would be doing that joined in the last couple of weeks.

My real thinking is that I screwed up and got him in way too young but what's done is done.

There is nothing that says one can be forced to complete the training. If it's too much, he can drop from the course and do it over the summer instead.

What he will have to do is write a Memo stating his intentions up to the Course Officer.

 

[runormal]

Since I'm Reg Force I don't understand much about reserve policies. Basically the question is this. My son who is currently in the PRes just started his BMQ on weekends however he is finding it too much with having high school also.  He told his supervisor last week about the problem but didn't receive an answer until the end of the night which was that he will need to do up a memo requesting it and the CoC will want to talk with him.  They also told him he still had go this weekend.  What ref says they can force a class A Reservist to continue training if they don't want to do it?  I know he can quit if he doesn't like it but can they force him to continue training until his release if he went that route because they didn't want to grant his request to delay BMQ?  For now I think he is hoping to continue parading once a week and complete his BMQ in the summer which is what anyone else would be doing that joined in the last couple of weeks.

My real thinking is that I screwed up and got him in way too young but what's done is done.

The thing is, they don't want him or anyone to quit (unless they truly don't want to be there). Your son has taken up a spot on a course that could have went to someone else. They generally will go through several levels of approval (section commander -> Course WO -> Course Officer) to find what the reason is and convince the member to stay. I believe that there is also supposed to be a 24 hour window between each conversation. This allows the member to "cool down" and really think his choice through. He "needs to go", because if he doesn't show up then he'll become a training failure. You're right in that they "can't force him" but if doesn't show up, then he will fail rather than be released.

I'm not sure if I "buy" his reason, lots of reservists are students and most a juggling a more challenging work load than highschool. It's also not going to earn him any respect with his peers or anyone above him. In my opinion, he'd be crazy not get BMQ out of the way, he will be so much more employable/useful once he has done BMQ. Likewise, should he choose pursue any post secondary education then he's going to need to learn to balance the reserves and his studies. It's better to learn how to do that when it doesn't cost him any money if he fails a course.

 

[kratz]

Since I'm Reg Force I don't understand much about reserve policies. Basically the question is this. My son who is currently in the PRes just started his BMQ on weekends however he is finding it too much with having high school also....<Snip>...

My real thinking is that I screwed up and got him in way too young but what's done is done.

It's not popular to hear this. Yes, you both screwed up.
Once he signed up, the Reserve became his career, not yours. He should be asking questions, researching policies and satisfying expectations.
Your wisdom, knowledge and experience is valuable, to guide him around potential issues, but he has to learn on his own.
This means he will make mistakes, fail and pick himself up.

 

[stellarpanther]

The thing is, they don't want him or anyone to quit (unless they truly don't want to be there). Your son has taken up a spot on a course that could have went to someone else. They generally will go through several levels of approval (section commander -> Course WO -> Course Officer) to find what the reason is and convince the member to stay. I believe that there is also supposed to be a 24 hour window between each conversation. This allows the member to "cool down" and really think his choice through. He "needs to go", because if he doesn't show up then he'll become a training failure. You're right in that they "can't force him" but if doesn't show up, then he will fail rather than be released.

I'm not sure if I "buy" his reason, lots of reservists are students and most a juggling a more challenging work load than highschool. It's also not going to earn him any respect with his peers or anyone above him. In my opinion, he'd be crazy not get BMQ out of the way, he will be so much more employable/useful once he has done BMQ. Likewise, should he choose pursue any post secondary education then he's going to need to learn to balance the reserves and his studies. It's better to learn how to do that when it doesn't cost him any money if he fails a course.

Unfortunately his teachers are not flexable, he has an assignment due tomorrow and a test first thing in the morning which he most likely wouldn't have studied for.  His current teachers like to give assignments on a Thursday or Friday and ask that they get completed.  He stuggles with a couple of his subjects and I think it's more important at this stage to be successful in high school.  I know some of the people in his unit have dropped out of high school and I certainly don't want him influenced by that crowd.  I think it's rediculous to accept grade 10 as a minimum standard but that's a different conversation.

As far as trying to talk him out of getting off the course, that's what I don't want to happen.  The unit in my opinion is more interested in numbers which they are lackin.  He definately didn't take the spot of someone else. 

 

[runormal]

Unfortunately his teachers are not flexable, he has an assignment due tomorrow and a test first thing in the morning which he most likely wouldn't have studied for.  His current teachers like to give assignments on a Thursday or Friday and ask that they get completed. 

That's sort of how the real world works though. I get assignments/requests from my boss all the time that have very quick turn arounds. I'm constantly reprioritizing my assigned work and I'm always looking several weeks ahead to "what really needs to do be done and what else could interfer with that". Lots of other students in higschool will also be invovled with jobs, extra curriculars. It's not like reserve BMQ is any different.

You're not going to get any sympathy from me on this point. I personally worked 3 weekends of BMQ in a row, had one of and then worked another two and graduated. I had two exams prior to my exam and two back to back exams the day after graduation. That was the highest GPA in a semester of University that I had throughout my undergrad, it's not impossible. The key point is that time needs to be used effectively. Hell, I was juggling the reserves and working another 15 hours a week in a "student" job.

I can't see the assignments being long/complex, it defintely happened but I always found the time to do them..

He stuggles with a couple of his subjects and I think it's more important at this stage to be successful in high school.  I know some of the people in his unit have dropped out of high school and I certainly don't want him influenced by that crowd.  I think it's rediculous to accept grade 10 as a minimum standard but that's a different conversation.

To me grade 10 totally makes sense for reserves, it allows you to recruit people who have ample free time on their hands. The expecation would be that that they'd all graduate. I honestly don't know how anyone in this day in and age can even think that dropping out of highschool is a good idea. A highschool diploma is pretty useless on it's own, but it always use it as a starting point for something else. Whether that's a trade, college or university.

There's nothing wrong with doing a "victory lap" and staying back an extra year. I failed a a class a math class because I didn't do anything. I also redid grade 12 english and tacked on a few easy electives.  It was a good eye opener and I'm glad that I failed a course prior to University, because it's much cheaper when your parents are paying your living expenes and the government is paying for your tuition. It would of easily costed $2,000 if I failed a university course, so I'm thankful that it happened in highschool.

I don't disagree that it's important to get good highschool marks, but it's also important to learn how to balance multiple priorities. Again if he fails a course or scrapes by because of this, who cares? The course can be redone, he can also drop it. He's actually pretty lucky he has the reserves. If he truly needed to come back for another semester he could take the courses he needs, leave and then take a CLS B for 9 months. He might even a CPL by then and that's a decent chunk that be can be saved for Post-Secondary (should he desire).

As far as trying to talk him out of getting off the course, that's what I don't want to happen.  The unit in my opinion is more interested in numbers which they are lackin.  He definately didn't take the spot of someone else.

They probably are, can you blame them? He will be expontentially more useful to the unit once he is BMQ qualified. If he's really lucky, he'd get a weekend BMQ-L and then he'd be able to get his trades training done this summer. It's not like he's the first person to try and reserve BMQ and highschool at the same time. 

Honestly, I'm quite envious of your son. I wish that I could have done my BMQ during highschool, hell had I of known that army paid mileage I would have joined prior to University.

All that to say, Kratz provided some pretty decent advice.

 

[mariomike]

I wish that I could have done my BMQ during highschool,

Depends on the individual. I joined when I was 16. It did not interfere with my education.

 

[runormal]

Depends on the individual. I joined when I was 16. It did not interfere with my education.

It was more logistics, the close unit was an hour away. I didn't really realize that it was even an option.

 

[mariomike]

I forgot to mention, I did a summer BMQ.

 

[stellarpanther]

He came back tonight in a good mood not saying he wants to delay it so we'll see what happens on Thursday.  I told him the pros and cons and I'll support him with his decision.