Joining the military reserve and getting ahead in career?

[Panjaabi]

I will be graduating next year and plan to join Marine Corps Reserve. I really want to join, but wonder how it will affect my mechanical engineering career?

When I will be deployed, how will my company take that (I will probably work for a midsize-to-large company). Will my co-workers be pissed because suddenly they will have to take over my work? Does that mean less promotion and pay raise?

I am not afraid to put in the hard work, but if someone who has gone through the same experience can provide their insight. Thank you.

 

[reidh]

First of all, kudos for wanting to support your county.

As far as advancing your career: I believe that every experience can be useful. Serving in the military is no exception. You will be exposed and have to work with a wide variety of people (a positive), likely gain leadership experience (another positive), and have a HUGE set of contacts when you are done should you ever need them (third positive). If you work for a large company, they will likely survive without you when you have to serve. It is much easier to serve when working for a large company.

On the downside, some will view it as a negative since you will be missing time from work. It is, but I feel that the experience you will gain far outweighs the time missed at work.

Just my two cents.

Reidh

 

[IRstuff]

I think that, in general, people are more accommodating to Reserve duty compared to someone just going fishing.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[MadMango]

Reidh mentions most of the positives. I would add new training in a different field of study as well.

Other disadvantages that I see now (was Army Reserve and switched to regular Navy) would be associated with the well publicized extended periods of deployment in Iraq now. The days of monthly weekends and 2-4wks annual training are gone. I doubt employers would be willing to hire a Reservist at the present time since they are being deployed just as long as Regular soldiers. I think your timing is off a few years.

That being said, employers can't fire you for being deployed as a Reservist, I don't think you have to worry about your co-workers getting mad, and your pay could suffer since you can't be around to do your hired job.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[IRstuff]

The latest word on NPR is that both Navy and AF non-essentials are being trained in ground combat precisely because of the asymmetry in deployments.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[pyro]

Or you could consider working for the DoD or some other govt agency along with your Reserve commission. A large part of our population is former or current military and it's very common to have deployed co-workers.

 

[Panjaabi]

Thanks all for your comments.

pyro - so I guess govt. agency has enough people to take over your work once you are deployed?

 

[pyro]

Depends on the group, but not usually. Do more with less is the current philosophy. Serving in the Reserves is an accepted fact like jury duty. We do a lot of cross-training to fill slots when people are called away.

 

[IRstuff]

Relatively few organizations are so slack that the loss of a contributing member wouldn't cause perturbations. However, most engineering organizations are sufficiently cognizant that they at least understand and accommodate such perturbations. Obviously, the same might not be true at all such organizations, but you should bring such issues up at the beginning.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[Heckler]

Gearing up for active duty: some companies balk when reservists are called to duty. But others go beyond the letter of federal law. They reap loyalty and PR rewards—but sometimes pay a bottom-line price.

Get free help with employment-law issues regarding military leave at workforce.com/03/01/feature2

It's the Law, But Not Everyone Follows It

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, enacted in 1994 and significantly updated in 1996 and 1998, provides protection and rights of reinstatement for National Guard and Reserve members. USERRA bars any adverse employment actions by an employer if the action is motivated even in part by the employee's military service. Employees must be excused from work for military training or deployment, and must then be re-employed in the same position they would have had if their employment had not been interrupted. Reservists are entitled to all rights and benefits that they would have attained if they had been continuously employed.

I was going to join ANG shortly after I graduated but knew it would not be received well with my employer at the time. So I decided if I could not commite to doing it fulltime then I wouldn't do it at all......I wished I had followed through with joining. Best of luck





Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SWx 2007 SP 3.0 & Pro/E 2001
XP Pro SP2.0 P4 3.6 GHz, 1GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1400
o
_`\(,_
(_)/ (_)

(In reference to David Beckham) "He can't kick with his left foot, he can't tackle, he can't head the ball and he doesn't score many goals. Apart from that, he's all right." -- George Best

 

[Jim1369]

I can give you first hand experience – I’ve been working full time as an engineer since 1995, and have been deployed (Army Reserve) three times, each time for a year or longer. I spent 2005 and half of 2006 deployed to Afghanistan.

The people I work with (I work for a Dutch–owned international chemical manufacturing company) have been incredibly supportive; they have thrown me going away parties each time I left, and have helped my family (wife and three kids) while I was gone – they even helped my wife move out of state while I was overseas (yes, I knew she was going).

The company has continued to pay the difference in my salary each time I was deployed because they support the Guard-Reserve. On top of that, the company continued medical insurance coverage for my family while I was deployed – at no cost to me. That is a significant amount of support.

On the flip side, I had four men under my command (four of 64 total, a Psychological Operations company) whose employers were completely unsupportive and vocally antagonistic about their employees being gone for a year. They each had their jobs when they returned, but in two of the cases, I had to contact the Judge Advocate General (military attorney’s office) to have them “chat” with the company’s management before the soldiers could have their civilian jobs back.

All that having been said, my absence creates an additional workload, obviously, and I have been exceptionally fortunate in that the site I work at can draw on additional support from our sister sites in the U.S. and Europe if needed. Not all companies can or will send an engineer from Germany or France to the U.S. for six months to cover the completion of a major capital project, or to complete a plant turnaround.

It’s never too late to make a commitment, unless you are too old, which is up to about 40 now, for military service. I’ve managed to be an engineer and a military officer for 21 years, and it’s a pain sometimes, but its been worth every sacrifice.

 

[KENAT]

For a mid size or large company I’d hope it wouldn’t be too much of a problem but…

I worked for a small UK Defense company. One of my colleagues was in the Royal Auxiliary Air force (kind of like ANG). He got called up for 6 months when Afghanistan first went off and around the time of the initial Iraq invasion for slightly less than 6 (he was released early because is absence from work was delaying programs needed by the service).

It caused a real problem. Not just in manpower generally but also due to certain specialist skills only he had and the fact he was the most senior design engineer with associated duties.

In some ways reserves in certain Defense jobs isn’t a good fit. In the even of conflict/an emergency it may be that both the company and the military need the skills of that individual to meet critical requirements.

That said I’d hope for a larger company it isn’t as much of an issue.


KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...