cga66@ihlpy.att.com (Patrick V Kauffold) (08/28/90)
From: cga66@ihlpy.att.com (Patrick V Kauffold) Reserve units are subjected to two kinds of evaluations: (1) admin, and (2) readiness. The admin evaluation looks at how well you follow the administrative guidelines and directives. Very nitpicking usually, and universally dreaded, as it takes months to prepare for, during which little useful work gets done. It is like being pecked to death by a duck. The readiness evaluation bears a bit more resemblance to reality. There are generally three kinds of readiness scores: (1) personnel, (2) material, and (3) operational. The material exam is usually straightforward and objective; do you have the equipment you are supposed to have, and does it work the way it is supposed to work? Personnel is a bit more tricky. Each Reservist has a billet, which fits into an organization somewhere. Each billet has a set of qual- ifications which the person filling it must meet. A person gets qualified by attending schools, going on field training exercises, and demonstrating various skills. These get checked off and entered in the person's record (all computerized). There are some of these that are "forever", and some that require periodic requalification. Being in a billet usually means being paid; not being qualified means being out of a billet, maybe not being paid, and maybe not being in the selected reserve program. Each billet/person combination has a readiness score computed - the level of personal readiness. These are then combined for a unit score. Each person must also be physically qualified; this means a periodic military physical, plus annual fitness exams. Operational evaluations see how well the people operate the equipment in conditions which simulate the mission. These are usually fun, and reserve units (particularly those with Vietnam vets) tend to do quite well, many times surpassing regular units (Navy reserve air squadrons routinely outscore reqular squadrons). Does a high admin/readiness score mean that the reserve unit/person is REALLY ready to jump right in to a combat situation? Probably not a high correlation here, as the evaluation process is subject to considerable manipulation and perversion, both on the part of the units and the evaluators. There is enormous pressure to turn in high scores on admin/readiness evaluations, and much less pressure to find problem areas and fix them. So you could find two similar units with high readiness scores, and one would do OK if deployed, but the other might fail miserably. Recent emphasis has been on more field exercises and more integration of reserve into regular operations; for example, Air Force Reserve Units routinely fly operational missions. This has improved the quality of training and reserve readiness, IMHO. There are two other very interesting Reserve systems that others out there in netland might comment on - the Israeli system, and the Swiss system. Pat Kauffold AT&T Bell Labs Naperville IL