Now that the new reality is here for the Reserves (for the time being?) --how does your squadron handle the following scenario...

TACC/AD Squadron ask Reserves if they can fill a week long MPA trip (Pay to Play funding). Schedulers ask around and get three pilot volunteers and take the trip. One of the pilots is an airline guy and puts in for Mil Leave for the week long trip (dropping an airline trip). The other two are troughers. As happens, the trip gets cancelled. Does anyone get paid?

The answer pre-LTMPA was "it depends" (at least in my squadron). The troughers got nothing and the airline guy got a couple of days pay (not enough to make up for his dropped airline trip)--the disparity right there begs questions.

I'd like to know how other squadrons handle that scenario.

Here are my thoughts. All three should get paid a weeks pay; they will obviously have to come in everyday and do productive work; the status would be MPA. Reasoning: 1. The airline guy BY LAW has to produce a 7 day pay check to his company (if asked), otherwise he could be charged with ML abuse. 2. The other two could have made other employment plans (substitute teaching, painting house, whatever) had they not made a COMMITMENT to the USAF. 3. The USAF needs to understand that Reserve pilots are not at their beck and call--it needs to be a two way street.

Thoughts?

 

I'm not in a squadron, but this kind of thing happens to me occasionally. I can change my ML status as needed, usually if I canx ML after bids are out, they will just tell me to stay home and pick OT if I want but that way I'm covered as far as fraud goes.

But I usually insist that the (navy) reserves put me on orders. I always have work to do, and while there have been occasional grumblings I think that most AD folks understand that is the cost of doing business with reserves. On the flip side, as an airline guy I am very flexible and responsive when the real world poop hits the blower and they like having me available for that kind of thing. But I'm in a high-demand specialty, so I guess it depends on how badly they need you.

 

Why aren't all 3 paid? They did their part, they made themselves available and reported for duty - regardless of what happened to the trip. Would they not get paid if they wx cnx'd? The CMAS request and orders should have been done long before the trip was canceled. CMAS requests are tied to dates of duty, not trips. Once the member and the squadron come to an agreement, the airline guy dropped for mil leave and the squadron started the CMAS/orders process. The money is allocated at that point and no one on the AD side pulls the money back if the trip does not go. If the orders are canceled at a later date, that's something that the USAFR squadron is doing on its own accord. They are artificially lowering their cost by not charging AD for having the pilots commit to a status, they are trying to minimize the MPA money paid out by shorting the USAFR member.

In other words, your leadership needs to grow a spine and do what's right for the member who stepped up and answered the call when asked, regardless if they work for an airline or not. It's time for the commander to be a commander.