question..

[MORTARDUDE]

I didn't serve in the National Guard or Active duty Reserve. Just curious about how much flexibility there is was in the 60s, 70s, 80s, after Gulf War 1, and now, when a serviceman or woman has to miss monthly meetings or the annual training requirement. What is the criteria for making this up ? Is it done very often ? Have the rules changed in the past 40 years ? Do many folks do this ? How does it affect your evaluation if you are an officer ? Thanks.

Larry

Larry,

Spent about 15 yrs. as an NCO in the USAR.Didn't miss/make up drills so I am sure there're quite a few folks with much better knowledge about that part of your question than I have.Did get the impression that polices in that regard varied greatly depending on the type of unit you were with and wether you were officer or em.The Med. Clr. Co. I was with was pretty hard line about that kind of thing whereas I worked with a lady who was an officer in an Air NG unit who seemed to be able to drill pretty much whenever she took a notion.

[revwardoc]

When I was in the AF, we hated when the AFR showed up. They would arrive in clean, starched unis at about 0800, stand around drinking coffee and eating doughnuts for an hour. Get into formation for roll call and reading general announcements for another half hour, then go to work in an air-conditioned hangar until their hour lunch (which lasted almost 2), go back to work for a few more hours, then leave an hour early...on both Saturday and Sunday.

Occaisionally they'd send some of them out to the flightline to "help" us out but they were mostly in the way. Once we watched them "block-in" a C-141 flown by fellow reservists. What a fiasco! None of them wore any sort of ear protection so when one of them approached the main gear with the chocks, he went in at the wrong angle and had his hat sucked off his head by an engine which fortunately wasn't seriously damaged. His counterpart tried to put the chock between the wheels before the plane came to a halt, they didn't know how to start the ground power unit or even where to hook it up, etc. etc. What a dot-and-pony show!

And the flight crews were the most arrogant SOB's! They all wore those aviator style sunglasses and polished brass (one even wore a white scarf like a WW1 fighter ace...we called him "Major Snoopy"). And they treated us like pond scum. Suffice to say that my experiences with them weren't pretty.

[travisab1]

MORTARDUDE;
Back in 1960 in Odessa, TX, someone I know missed 3 meetings in a row of the Army National Guard and the MP's came to his house in a jeep to pick him up and he was to be drafted in the RA and sent to Hanover, Germany within a month buuuut he'd already joined the Navy and was in San Diego in Boot Camp.

His Dad got a big kick out of the bewildered MP's. His Dad never got along with the MP's back during WWII.

Thought you'd want to know. He was a part of the Armored division and had gone to TVM 4, (Track & Viehicle Mechanic School) in Ft. Knox, KY.

His Dad invited the MP's in his house for coffee and that's where his Dad found out about the drafting, Hanover, Germany bit. His Dad had a sense of humor, so did the MP's. I forgot to throw this in awhile ago!!! I still remember his Serial #, NG25970440!!!
My short term memory my be shot to HELL but you never forget some things. His Springfield rifel # was 1806973!!!

Travis