Originally Posted by
BDGERJMN
As I have said before, I don't fault anyone for going IRR facing a MOB, that is indeed a personal choice and one that needs to be made.
That said, I had great MOB experience to Afghanistan and while it sucked being away, it was/is definitely worthwhile in the grand scheme in terms of reserve retirement and ability to serve post SELRES flying.
I would say that while yes CNAFR units were shielded from these requirements for years, we're all part of the reserve force; doing our part when called upon comes with signing up to serve in the reserves.
I get the premise of what you're saying, but guys left AD because they were tired of the perpetual work up/deployment cycle, 60 hour work weeks, dets, insert reasons here. Why did you go? The whole idea of being a SELRES is guys want to continue to support and serve, passing on their experience and knowledge to the next generation, but part time and on your own terms. The benefits are the quality of life and self fulfillment but at the cost of pay and retirement. A MOB for a guy that's running his own business or starting a new career are potentially devastating. How about those who waited to start a family until they knew they would be around and not watching their kids grow up over email and Skype. Leadership is using the "this is what you're here for" to ignore this fact. Even worse is to hear it from folks that have never deployed, or done their one "IA" to Tampa.