Day in the life: AD vs. SELRES Intel officers

[NAVY680]

Thanks for the correction. Bad Intel seems to flow freely and I'd rather not continue the trend.

 

[Gatordev]

False. If a member receives an Admin U, they still get paid. They just get no points for those drill periods, and must make them up using unpaid additionals if they want the points. SELRES is just like the AC; you can't deny someone pay without taking them to Mast or CM.

They're not "Admin UAs." They're "Admin Us." UA for an IDT period means you didn't show up, though unlike the AC, it's not a violation of Article 86, just a reason to deny you pay and points. An Admin U means you showed up yet failed to satisfactorily complete your drill requirements. Different animal. According to the letter of the MILPERSMAN, you must be warned of your delinquency, gaff that warning off, and then can be awarded an Admin U. As above, in that case, you still rate pay. But you get no points, and if you get 9 Admin Us or UAs combined in one calendar year, you shall be processed for ADSEP.

I'm an OSU AOIC in addition to my cross-assigned billet. Administrivia is my life . . .

Yup, sorry, I threw the "A" in there when it shouldn't be. Nitt, I know you know this, but just to clarify your comment:

An Admin U means you showed up yet failed to satisfactorily complete your drill requirements.

...a drill requirement doesn't mean an actual drill, but some task that you should have done while on some sort of drill (GMT, PHA, etc). I mention this because:

If a member receives an Admin U, they still get paid. They just get no points for those drill periods, and must make them up using unpaid additionals if they want the points.

I haven't seen this happen. If someone showed up for one or two IDTs (or whatever) on a given day and still couldn't manage to make their way to whatever task the NOSC needed them to finish by a deadline, they still got their pay AND points, but then the NOSC (or unit, if they have the power) would issue an Admin U. I don't think I ever issued an Admin U because the NOSC business rules said they had to do it, but they had no problems handing them out, sometimes when they shouldn't have.

Then again, we would actually watch them remove UAs that we've issued in NSIPS, thus making us keep a turd longer than we wanted to, which was even more frustrating.

 

[PenguinGal]

I'm an OSU AOIC in addition to my cross-assigned billet. Administrivia is my life . . .

I'm a Seabee Detachment OIC, I feel your pain!!

To add to this, Admin Us can also be given to members independent of drills. For example, NFAAS updates and liquidation of DTS vouchers. These are items usually done on a members own time but if not done within a certain time frame, we do give admin us. (Yes, we warn the members if this each time such tasking arrives!)

 

[Hair Warrior]

Wow. I had no idea about this stuff. Thank you everyone for the added context.

So, big picture now -- How difficult/rare is it to get an Admin U?

If commissioned, should I be walking around on pins and needles trying to placate everybody and complete every gedunk project on site in fear of getting an Admin U for a triviality which was not clearly communicated/ expectations weren't well defined up front?

Or, if you were given a tasker that is unreasonable to finish in a given drill weekend, and you do your best, and your whole team is pitching in, and you're communicating with your OIC and A/OIC at an appropriate frequency to set expectations and obtain extra resources to finish the tasker on time, yet somehow the big tasker just doesn't get where it needs to be by midnight Sunday... is that not cause for alarm/ Admin U?

 

[nittany03]

So, big picture now -- How difficult/rare is it to get an Admin U?

Well here is the Reserve Personnel Manual, emphasis mine . . .

d. When the member is present for an IDT period but fails to meet the minimum standards required to maintain the proficiency of the unit and the skill of the individual, or when disciplinary action has been taken under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), the Unit CO or NRA CO, in coordination with the Unit CO, may declare the IDT period “unsatisfactory” for administrative purposes only.

(1) Only scheduled IDT periods can be declared unsatisfactory.
(2) A member cannot be assessed an unsatisfactory IDT period for failure of another member to meet proficiency or skill requirements.
(3) Before assessing an unsatisfactory IDT period, the member must be given guidance as to the proficiency or skill requirement at issue, and must be given drill time to accomplish the requirement.
(4) Document the unsatisfactory IDT period per RESPERSMAN 1570-010.​

In practice, totally dependent on how reasonable the chain of command happens to be. My experience is the CO has a whole lot of discretion regarding what counts as fulfilling paragraph 3.d.(3), and also in just how many "U's" are warranted for missing a particular requirement X. Also doesn't say anything about if you do/don't get points.

The way I read it, the letter of the law states that if someone is delinquent on something, they have to know about it ahead of time, show up to a DWE, continue to gaff off the requirement, then go home with it undone before a U is legal. Or you could split hairs, and give them a U for every drill period they didn't get it done. In other words, if they completed it on Sunday, they'd get two U's for not having it done on Saturday. But I guess you can parse, dither, and/or sea lawyer quite a bit over what is the intent of the phrase "adequate drill time to accomplish the requirement."

 

[Gatordev]

To add to this, Admin Us can also be given to members independent of drills. For example, NFAAS updates and liquidation of DTS vouchers. These are items usually done on a members own time but if not done within a certain time frame, we do give admin us. (Yes, we warn the members if this each time such tasking arrives!)

You basically said what I did...or was trying to say...but much more efficiently and clearly (and with out errant an "A" creeping into the lingo).

 

[Gatordev]

Wow. I had no idea about this stuff. Thank you everyone for the added context.

So, big picture now -- How difficult/rare is it to get an Admin U?

If commissioned, should I be walking around on pins and needles trying to placate everybody and complete every gedunk project on site in fear of getting an Admin U for a triviality which was not clearly communicated/ expectations weren't well defined up front?

Or, if you were given a tasker that is unreasonable to finish in a given drill weekend, and you do your best, and your whole team is pitching in, and you're communicating with your OIC and A/OIC at an appropriate frequency to set expectations and obtain extra resources to finish the tasker on time, yet somehow the big tasker just doesn't get where it needs to be by midnight Sunday... is that not cause for alarm/ Admin U?

Nittany has given a very good break down of the rules, but here's what it comes down to: when your unit asks you to do something, just go get it done. This stuff doesn't sneak up on you. You know if you traveled, you're going to have to do your travel claim. You know (because you can look it up online) when you're PHA expires, so get it done before that happens. You can count on NFAAS needing to be updated every 6 months (usually before 1 OCT and 1 APR, historically), so just update it. Otherwise, the GMT stuff gets put out several months after it should have already been completed (yes, it's as ridiculous as it sounds), so just start doing it once your unit says it's available to do.

That's 80% of being a successful SELRES.

 

[JazzAviator]

Interesting...

I've been a drilling reservist since 2007 and this is the first time I'm hearing of an Admin U. I guess you must really have to be a Sh*tbag to warrant that.