Posted on Jun 3, 2015
Does the Army Reserve need better "Customer Service"?
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This question was prompted by more than a handful of instances in which I've witnessed soldiers in the USAR encounter dead ends in terms of obtaining POCs for various issues. Issues ranging from pay to obtaining copies of records to assistance with getting information when inaccurately reported and adversely affecting education benefits, etc. seem to be difficult to takle during a battle assembly weekend.
Countless times I've personally struggled to reach the full time staff regarding issues assocatied with their respective shops only to get a dismissive response and no way to escalate or contact someone else for answers. Many a time I have been told (by varying individuals) "I have no idea what you're talking about" or "Oh, I lost that document/file/have no idea what you're going to do about that or who you should talk to".
Are the experiences I've witnessed isolated in nature? Or is the workload of a full-time staff spread thin and a vaguely knowledgable RPAC commonalities for reservists everywhere?
Countless times I've personally struggled to reach the full time staff regarding issues assocatied with their respective shops only to get a dismissive response and no way to escalate or contact someone else for answers. Many a time I have been told (by varying individuals) "I have no idea what you're talking about" or "Oh, I lost that document/file/have no idea what you're going to do about that or who you should talk to".
Are the experiences I've witnessed isolated in nature? Or is the workload of a full-time staff spread thin and a vaguely knowledgable RPAC commonalities for reservists everywhere?
Communications
Posted >1 y ago
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PFC(P) (Join to see), let me answer that as a Military Technician.
Customer service is not hard. What is hard is doing it on BA weekends. We are all in the Army too, and are prohibited by our work rules to work on civilian business while in military status.
We are perfectly fine helping any of our Soldiers during the week. It is our purpose for being.
On a drill weekend, your POC is your first line leader. He or she is supposed to be made aware of your issues prior to you going to the FTUS anyway. There are many reasons for this, but what is probably most relevant in the situation you describe is that they should be the ones following up and seeing to it your issue is resolved.
Run into a busy and/or lazy UA? That's why there are more links in the chain-of-command. By the time something like this gets to the First Sergeant level, I will stand on some dude's desk until the problem is solved.
Customer service is not hard. What is hard is doing it on BA weekends. We are all in the Army too, and are prohibited by our work rules to work on civilian business while in military status.
We are perfectly fine helping any of our Soldiers during the week. It is our purpose for being.
On a drill weekend, your POC is your first line leader. He or she is supposed to be made aware of your issues prior to you going to the FTUS anyway. There are many reasons for this, but what is probably most relevant in the situation you describe is that they should be the ones following up and seeing to it your issue is resolved.
Run into a busy and/or lazy UA? That's why there are more links in the chain-of-command. By the time something like this gets to the First Sergeant level, I will stand on some dude's desk until the problem is solved.
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PFC(P) (Join to see)
Interesting. Thank you for your detailed response.
I asked this After dealing with the same issue since 2012 and now finding out that I am not eligible for VA education benefits due to inaccurately being given a slew of Us for unsat participation while away in BCT!
I've probably spoken to everyone in my unit about my 2 issues including my USs and sought advice about how to escalate the issues from our RPAC only to be told to "talk to your unit" and asked "who told you I could help you with that". It's honestly heartbreaking to have parts of my career completely stifled by many useless redirects and a lack of accurate infirmary when it seems that no one is willing to help you.
I asked this After dealing with the same issue since 2012 and now finding out that I am not eligible for VA education benefits due to inaccurately being given a slew of Us for unsat participation while away in BCT!
I've probably spoken to everyone in my unit about my 2 issues including my USs and sought advice about how to escalate the issues from our RPAC only to be told to "talk to your unit" and asked "who told you I could help you with that". It's honestly heartbreaking to have parts of my career completely stifled by many useless redirects and a lack of accurate infirmary when it seems that no one is willing to help you.
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1SG (Join to see)
This is fixable, but hard since it was in a previous fiscal year.
What needs to happen is those U's need to be upgraded to "T"'s.
How to do this is in the ARRC Pay Manual (I don't recall exactly how; it has been a long time since I ran pay and this action is pretty rare) and any UA should have one handy.
If you get nowhere - you might not - I would recommend an IG report. I don't usually counsel this route, but this needs immediate redress or you will continue to miss out on your earned GI Bill benefits.
Good luck, PFC(P) (Join to see)
What needs to happen is those U's need to be upgraded to "T"'s.
How to do this is in the ARRC Pay Manual (I don't recall exactly how; it has been a long time since I ran pay and this action is pretty rare) and any UA should have one handy.
If you get nowhere - you might not - I would recommend an IG report. I don't usually counsel this route, but this needs immediate redress or you will continue to miss out on your earned GI Bill benefits.
Good luck, PFC(P) (Join to see)
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CPT Catherine R.
The U's are easy to correct in the pay system, not so easy in others BUT it's not a dead end.
1: Get proof you were in BCT/AIT over the time the U's occurred (that's easy right?)
2: Write a memo to your commander respectfully requesting they are removed (go through you FLL)
3: Your commander has to write a memo for record removing the U's and stating that the pay record was incorrect. (this may be harder to get as they have to admit they screwed up)
4: Have your BN S1 submit the paperwork to the RPAC. Keep copies!
5: The RPAC can go in and change the U's to T's and it's all done.
6: If this doesn't work, you've done your due diligence. Call the RSC's finance hotline, that number HAS to be posted in the RPAC! Failing that, call IG!
1: Get proof you were in BCT/AIT over the time the U's occurred (that's easy right?)
2: Write a memo to your commander respectfully requesting they are removed (go through you FLL)
3: Your commander has to write a memo for record removing the U's and stating that the pay record was incorrect. (this may be harder to get as they have to admit they screwed up)
4: Have your BN S1 submit the paperwork to the RPAC. Keep copies!
5: The RPAC can go in and change the U's to T's and it's all done.
6: If this doesn't work, you've done your due diligence. Call the RSC's finance hotline, that number HAS to be posted in the RPAC! Failing that, call IG!
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