As a reservist, am I required to work 12 days straight during training?

SrA Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 01:21:56 -0500

I'm going to start my on-the-job training soon for my job, and I have spoken to my unit a couple times about what I'll be doing. I have roughly six months of training where I'll be working full time, and I have a few concerns I was wondering about.

Firstly, my NCO told me to bring lunches to work as I won't be allowed to take full ones. I've heard of this happening in dire situations, but is this normal? I just got out of tech school so I'm unaware of most of the norms on the flightline but this seems pretty crazy to me - I've always been allowed to have a lunch at any job I've worked (even the really bad ones).

Secondly, they told me I will still have to work my UTA weekends while I do my full time status. In addition, since I am working full time I won't be paid for my UTA weekends! Essentially I'll have to work 12 days straight once a month, and I won't be getting paid for the weekend duty. They justified it by telling me "when you work normally in the reserves you do 5 days a week at school/job anyways with a weekend duty, so think of it that way".

After I spoke to my unit I was pretty shaken, and I wonder what I've gotten myself into by agreeing to do my follow-on training. Is this normal for on-the-job training, and should I even bother speaking to my NCO about this? I'm brand new so I don't want to cause much trouble but it seems like my job is going to be miserable for the next 6 months and I'm pretty concerned about it.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 4 at 2019 1:43 AM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 01:43:27 -0500

Response by 1LT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 4 at 2019 9:49 AM

1LT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 09:49:07 -0500

If you were a typica M-Day reservist who had full time civilian employment worked M-F then had a drill weekend. You would then have to work M-F again with no day off so it is essentially the same. AGR reservists don’t get paid for the drill weekend that they work.

Response by SPC Steven Depuy made Jan 4 at 2019 11:17 AM

SPC Steven Depuy — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 11:17:46 -0500

This is the military, not the civilian world. Its a 7 day a week job. Sometimes, you get weekends off. It was always my view on it, you don't get overtime for over 40 hours a week.

Response by SSG Matthew Koehler made Jan 4 at 2019 11:19 AM

SSG Matthew Koehler — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 11:19:47 -0500

Are you a traditional Reservist or AGR/Technician status?

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 4 at 2019 11:23 AM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 11:23:05 -0500

Sure, it won't be easy, but yes, this is not really that uncommon. I remember starting my career after law school thinking, "Oh my goodness, I won't get a summer vacation now??" Of course, now I chuckle at how naive I was then, and have adjusted to civilian and National Guard life.

This is good preparation for high optempo environments where you might be working every day, like a deployment. The military is tough, but you are compensated fairly, and have a very important duty. A lot of us have eaten many a lunch "on-the-go", at our desk, or whatever it took to get the mission done. (Even in our civilian jobs). It's all part of a challenging and rewarding career. Good luck, and stay positive - may I suggest saving a little of that tax-free BAH you're probably getting and take a little vacation when your orders are up?

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 4 at 2019 5:26 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 17:26:00 -0500

I recognize you probably don't have any context to compare your situation to.
However, what you're concerned about is extremely minor compared to what you could be facing. Life in a combat zone is typically considerably more challenging.
You're not being paid for weekends because while on full time orders you're essentially a salaried employee. While your leadership has a responsibility to make sure you're fed there's no such thing as a guaranteed lunch hour in the military either. My advice would be to suck it up and move out and draw fire.

Response by MSgt Dan Calhoun made Jan 4 at 2019 7:30 PM

MSgt Dan Calhoun — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 19:30:09 -0500

If you're on some sort of orders (RPA, MPA, AT ect.) Then you are essentially on active duty for the duration of those orders. If your UTA weekend falls into the same timeframe as those orders then you cannot receive additional compensation for that UTA weekend since you are already in military status. You cannot double dip.

I did this for over 4 years. I was on MPA orders at a different installation working for a completely different squadron most of the time. I still had to travel an hour to my home station and conduct UTA weekend every month without any additional compensation. It is part of the package sometimes.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 4 at 2019 11:09 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 23:09:19 -0500

It took me a little while to decipher what you're saying.
You're on temporary active orders, correct? You will still go to your weekend drills. You are getting paid for the weekend drills, you're just not getting paid separately. Your active duty time covers your weekend drill time as well.

Response by SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 7 at 2019 11:28 AM

SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 07 Jan 2019 11:28:57 -0500

When there are time constraints and/or limited available personnel, it's normal you wouldn't get time off to eat lunch. At the end of the day, your leaders' responsibility is to ensure you get food to eat as opposed to getting an hour off or whatever to go eat lunch.

As for working weekends, that's not unheard of either. Depending on the training or mission, working weekends on top of the normal M-F workload is just a part of military life.

Response by SSG Christopher Umberger made Aug 13 at 2020 4:26 PM

SSG Christopher Umberger — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 16:26:27 -0400

They prolly explained it wrong if your doing OJT with orders you are on salary so one pay one a month or every two depending branch and how orders are written if on orders for and salary pay you cannot be twice for the same job your already getting paid so your weekend is still pay not doing for free cause your full-time orders "Ssg Retired" hope helps

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 19 at 2021 4:23 PM

MSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 16:23:09 -0400

First, be happy you get the 180 days OJT, the E/E troops in the Guard get 60. Our AGR’s work the weekends also, along with the technician force, so nothing there. I don’t know what unit you are at, but sounds like the tempo is high, so bonus you’ll be ready to deploy to those 12 hour shifts, 6 days a week. I sm a Technician status guardsman, work the compressed schedule but still work 11 days straight every month. Plus, even as a civilian, there are days the mission doesn’t allow for lunch or breaks do you scarf when you can. It’s not as bad as it seems, there will be regular civilian jobs where you’ll work 12s and only get the minimum 20 min gor lunch that most laws require.

Response by Sgt Dale Briggs made Aug 20 at 2021 8:57 AM

Sgt Dale Briggs — Fri, 20 Aug 2021 08:57:53 -0400

I never felt like I had a right to complain about anything, not as long as there were guys in rifle companies or weapons platoon humping packs, mortars and base plates, M60. Those guys crush it, so from there for about everyone else just do your job no one wants to hear it, you signed up to do your duty, so suffer in silence.

Response by SMSgt Kevin Bishop made Aug 30 at 2022 4:26 PM

SMSgt Kevin Bishop — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 16:26:35 -0400

When on any type of AD orders, you are "getting paid" 24/7 for the duration of the orders. You get paid to drive around at night. You get paid to go out to bars. You get paid to take a dump and if you are lucky you get paid for sex. :)

How much better can it be? :)