Originally Posted by
rickair7777
Fundamentally, if the DoD is willing to pay a reservist to be recalled then the military duty is legit by definition.
The military loves volunteers, because it means one less involuntary recall, and those have political consequences (they are tracked in detail by the OSD).
One one hand I generally encourage folks to complete one year before taking a recall, just to avoid the appearance of gaming the system but either way it's legit.
Also involuntary recalls do happen, so in some cases it was not the pilot's plan at all.
This is what happened to me..
Between being called for an interview at Southwest, and the actual interview, I was involuntarily recalled to active duty.
I don't want to do this stupid mobilization to fill a billet, which is caused by the combined leadership failures of the Army AND Navy.. Army for not being able to man a O-4 with a TS billet fifteen years into the war, and the Navy for being generally spineless when our reservists are being ridden pretty hard, harder than a lot of active duty honestly.
But yet, I must go spend a year is the land of Sand. A year away from home.. A year without advancing my career, only to have lost any and all currency..
How much me having to go on an involuntary recall had to do with Southwest saying "no" after an interview I thought went well? Who knows.
But I was asked about my reserve status and how I intended to have it not interfere with Southwest's training and schedules.. Which may be due to one too many guys doing the get hired, and scam 5 years of "involuntary" orders to get an active retirement and seniority without being there. (I know of two guys doing just that, one at SWA and one at Delta, so yeah, it happens and isn't uncommon)