Thread: Voluntary Mobilisation

Even though I'm a regular reservist rather than a member of the TA, I thought I'd stick this here as the best place to get a decent answer...

I mobilised for Telic in 2004 and then again in 2005 and the process basically involved phoning up Glasgow, getting told there were plenty of posts, signing on the dotted line and Bob's your uncle. I'm considering volunteering for Herrick but have a couple of concerns that I hope someone can help me with.

First of all, on looking at the army website, it appears that there are all sorts of forms to be filled out (employment preference proforma etc etc) and sent away but it's a little unclear whether the FTRS one needs to be completed for mobilisation as well.

Also, looking at the OCE List on armynet, there are virtually no posts for junior ranks. Have things changed since the days when there were bloody hundreds of us serving in FP, stagging on etc etc? Is that list the definitive guide to what's available or are the above types of posts still available? Am I even looking in the right place? Basically, I don't want to make a spec application if there's no chance of anything coming up.

Cheers in advance for any help. I would give the COSS a call but would get fcuked off at the high port due to my current reserve status (which doesn't end until November).

Hi,

You seem to have got in to a bit of a tangle ...

The OCE list seems now to be the wrong place for you to be looking - from the MS website:

Policy for providing individual augmentees for operations has recently changed. In the future all operational augmentee posts at the rank of SSgt and above, which are known about at least 4 months in advance, will be boarded and selected by APC. This will mean far fewer 'trawls' across the Army.

This note on Armynet strongly suggests that you should contact COSS and volunteer. FTRS forms are, I think, a complete red herring.

Cheers for that Idrach. I hadn't seen the paragraph that you quote but had read the general notice and seem to remember that it is the same one as has been floating around for years. Looks like a simple call to COSS is still the way forward...

Do NOT get confused between Mobilisation and FTRS - they involve vastly different Terms & Conditions, such as pay, pensions, allowances, etc. As noted above, I would ignore the FTRS forms if I were you.

Originally Posted by OldSnowy

Do NOT get confused between Mobilisation and FTRS - they involve vastly different Terms & Conditions, such as pay, pensions, allowances, etc. As noted above, I would ignore the FTRS forms if I were you.

I would agree - especially if there's any chance that you could show that your earnings in the last 12 months (including anything paid as a result of your reserve service) are higher than your military-only pay would have been for your substantive rank.

The FTRS forms are there for pax to fill who want to go on FTRS not to mob two different things,so ignore if you want to mob contact Glasgow direct and tell them you want to mob etc.

Thanks for the help. Finally got hold of the right form and submitted it. In light of what's going on with the employment of reservists in FTRS posts and the end of Telic, are people still being mobilised for ops in anything like the numbers they were?

FTRS only really comes into play for OCE posts if you are a "repeat offender" and are about to fall foul of the x months called out in x years bits of the Reserve Forces Act. Instead of being grown up about it and allowing volunteers to stag on to their hearts content MOD takes the back-door route of getting folk to to future tours on FTRS - or did before the current ban

I wonder how those clauses ended up in the Bill anyway - I doubt anyone in the TA or Reserves asked for that "protection" ?