”Show them your license and your orders and
see if they let you on, if not call the CDO.”
Those were my only instructions from the reserve PS3 who was my primary
point of contact at the NOSC. After two
hours of waiting in line and three calls to the CDO, she finally relented; ”we’ll
send someone to the gate to escort you.”
So began an excruciating, although entirely
expected day of administrative boondoggling and regulatory logic loops. You can’t have certificates on you CAC card
until you complete Information Awareness training, but you can’t access the
training without functioning certificates. Blink. Blink.
While those things inspired amused deja vu, the
mobilization landscape was truly unnerving.
My decision to join SELRES was largely predicated on understanding that
involuntary mobilizations were history.
Multiple sources assured* me
that most available mobilizations were being snapped up by volunteers who (a)
needed it for promotion (b) just like to mobilize or (c) were otherwise
unemployed and need the money to keep body and soul together.
Multiple conversations throughout the course
of that first Saturday convinced me that I had vastly under-estimated this
risk. The CO confirmed in my first
meeting with him that the possibility of involuntary mobilization was ”reduced
but not insignificant.” I found myself
overwhelmed with dread at living with the specter of a 12-month Afghan IA looming
over me like a boogey-man.
Before you old-timers start in on me; yes, I
understand that mobilizing is the actual purpose of the Reserves. As a young, steely-eyed killer, I would be first
in line to admonish Reservists who dared complain about activation.
That said, my hypocrisy knows no bounds – I joined
SELRES for the retirement, the pay, and the insurance of having a reliable
fall-back source of income in the worst of times. All the wrong reasons. I do not want deploy, now or ever. For a variety of reasons, a mobilization
would be professionally and emotionally devastating to me. It took me one day on base to realize - I have
gone soft. I am 100% civilian.
On Sunday I submitted paperwork for transition
to IRR. I lasted one drill weekend. If you aren't willing to do the job, you've
got no business wearing a uniform. Period.
Sorry for causing paperwork. I
tip my cap to those who hold the line, but I am through – hit the lights
---
*Assured may be too strong a word, I have a habit of hearing what I want to hear.
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