Selres Pay
 

Realistically, how much can you expect to make as a SELRES? Im getting out in about six months and have to figure out how things are going to work financially, especially since the sky is falling. (economically anyways)

I will assume you're going to be flying as a SELRES. Each SELRES unit has a different amount of drills allocated so it's best to talk to someone in your individual unit so they can give you a better idea.

The standard is 48 IDTs and 72 AFTPs for 120 Drills total per year. Those numbers are always subject to change as the FY winds down. In addition you can also use ATP or sometimes called RMPs(non flying drills and non IDT - each unit is different there). If you do 10 drills/month and sprinkle some ADT in there as well and do your 2 weeks of AT, you can easily net 30-35K.

Assuming you are around the 10 year/04 point. You will get right at about $200/drill.
So you need to do 48 IDT (Inactive Duty Training) Drills per year (weekend warrior) that all reserve/guard do) i.e. 4 drills per month. That ='s $800/month or $9600/year.
Minimum 2 weeks Active Duty (AT) at your regular active duty rate, which is $5799/mo. So expect about $2900.

If you go onto a flying billet: expect another (min) 48 Additional Training Periods (ATP), however, yours will be labeled Additional Flying Training Period (AFTP). Simply, as posted, can do 2 AFTP's per day as long as you "flew" once. It can be (depending on the unit) a simulator event. The intent of an AFTP (or ATP) is warfare specialty experience. Period. Flying is the reason it is built in the system. So 48 AFTP's = $9600/year. (CNATRA will often fund for 72 AFTP and VR can authorize 96, depends on budget etc)

Add them up: $9600 IDT drills/year+$9600 AFTP drills/year+$2600 for 2 week 'active duty'= $21,800/year minimum. ($1816/month)
Flt pay = $650/month or $21.67/drill, so 48 IDT drills+48 AFTP drills+ 2 week AT= $2405/year. Therefore, around $200/month. If you average it out, you will gross $2000/month.

Of course, lots of options in how to spread the drills around. Ask your unit for the specifics. May live local and come in and do one drill and go (4 hours). In any case. You will likely make more. I last flew where they added lots of extra active duty, AFTP drill were at 96, etc.
I averaged 12-15 days/month in my high flying year. (was not furloughed and didn't live local). If you are a Basic Unemployed Reserve Pilot (BURP) you can do the extra AT/ADT that often comes down the pike for extra dets, special needs of the unit)
Side note: The RMP drill is a creatively named ATP drill, it The additional training falls under Inactive Duty Training (IDT) funding as a Reserbve Mangement Period, (RMP). The RMP program designed for Naval Reserve unit leaders to manage their units more effectively. The unit commanding officer can issue the RMP to whomever is doing administrative work, such as fitness reports and evaluations, orders or awards. Specifically, RMPs can be used for day-to-day operation of the unit, accomplishing unit administration, training preparation, support activities and maintenance functions. RMPs can be used with two restrictions: There can be no more than one per day, and they cannot be combined with any other drills, including regular IDT.
Best of luck.

I made just over $33,000 this year.

As an 11 year O-4, I find it pretty easy to make about $2,000 per month by working about 7-8 days.

Depending on your unit and aircraft, there's also other opportunities. I'm a C-17 guy and I could volunteer for a 12 day mission that typically pays about $3,500 + per diem + tax free/hostile fire. Other units will put guys on longer term orders (45-120 days at a time) and essentially you'd make active duty pay, benefits, and per diem during that time.

As a traditional reserve "bum" (no civilian job) in a mobility flying squadron, it's reasonable to make anywhere from $4,000/month all the way up to full active duty pay.

Also dont forget that if you are not on orders you can collect unemployment. I am not sure about what state you live in, but in WA if you dont work more than 3 days in a row, you can still do AFTP's or UTA's and get unemployment.

Since you're CS is "P-3 Bubba", I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you're navy.:D Like everyone has said here, you can do significantly better as a reserve bum than first year airline pay and my last year drilling, I made over $40K while concurrently flying with the airline. The fly in the ointment, as has been alluded to, is that many naval reserve units have been much stingier with their drills and AD/ADT than they were in the past, so you may not be allowed to take all of your AFTPs and RMPs or make nearly as much as you potentially could if the government wasn't in a cash bind.

I basically do the min with my SELRES unit and cleared about $30K this year. Only "extra" I did was two extra weeks of ADT (additional active duty time) while waiting from my transition from my 121 job to my current gig. The bare min will be 48 IDTs (one weekend per month) and 2 weeks of active duty. Our unit just went down to 48 AFTPs from 72.