Everybody who goes on operations is `mobilised`, it's a legal process which clearly defines every parties rights and responsibilities. (With a few exceptions) everyone in the last 15 years who has been mobilised has volunteered to be mobilised. There are High-Readiness Reserves and Sponsored Reserves who will be more likely to be mobilised however you're not one of them.
Any vacancies on operations/exercises relevent to the units role will usually be advertised several months in advance on weekly orders or drill nights etc, if you're interested then the unit admin staff will make the arrangements. In terms of duration: most are between 3 and 6 months in theatre, add on Pre-Deployment Training and Post-Operational leave and you're somewhere between 4 and 12 months for the deployment, although i've heard of people going for as little as 2 weeks in exceptional circumstances. Most of the current demand is in the middle east, a few in africa, and a few in places like Cyprus, Gibraltar, Falklands etc.
I wouldn't be concerned about being called up at short notice several times a year as it's very unlikely (but not impossible) to happen. It'll take you a year or 2 to get through basic training and get trained in role to the point where you would be able to function on operations anyway.
Can you give more detail on the High-Readiness + Sponsored Reservists? My understanding is if you opt into High-Readiness, you are paid a bit more £ in exchange for volunteering in advance to go on any needed mobilisations and are higher in the queue should a national emergency arise. As for sponsored reservists, I've not ever heard this before, is it for ex-regulars who have gone into the reserves and have agreed to go back into regulars should the need arise?
@Anonrecruit890 - In the application process you are encouraged to comprehend your role fully and understand completely what this involves - but it seems certain things you should know to get a complete picture are always difficult to come by, and make people question your motives (most here have tried answering it as best they can, but still questioned your motives). You know your motives, they don't need to so don't rise to them and just focus on the answers - another question you may ask if your are mobilised then become injured and can't perform your Civy job when you return are you financially compensated, is your employer?
When they use the phrase "You know what you signed up for" lets make sure they know all the negatives as well as the positives, and just answer the question if its a 'perceived' negative question - this aids in a full understanding.
I would say from my research you'll need to 'complete' your training first, and for the moment in today's climate only voluntary is required, but is voluntary 'asked' of you or do you seek it out, seems to be debatable topic.
But like you i have no idea, seems no one really does there are too many factors.
All you can say for certain is you'll need to complete your training first and so you could get a 'timeline' of that then you can assure your employer its very unlikely (if at all) it will happen before the end of that date, 2021? (assuming it takes 2 years....) Along time in Civy world.
I don't mind people questioning my motives, it is pretty obvious if someone says "I'm unsure on the mobilisation side of reservists" that there will be some who will kick off and say they shouldn't bother signing up if they feel that way.
I know some will have a stricter view on it than others. Even so, the times I've gone to visit my reserve unit for a presentation evening or just to watch a drill night go on, some of the troops there do seem fairly overweight or just very "lazy" and don't strike me at all as people who I have no idea what it would look like if they were called up to go. I get you on nothing whatsoever is going to happen in regards to this until I've done my basic training (even so, I'm not looking to be relaxed with that and want to get both of them done as soon as possible), but I like to be sure on everything before I sign up (I am aware I can quit the reserves at any time aside from when mobilised).
The Tories have less appetite for playing war than Labour, so should you join just keep voting cost conscious Tory, that way then you will know if its real and you end up going to war.
Frankly the chances of getting mobilised for the next ten years for anything serious (excluding attempts to wave the flag in front of Putin etc) are slim to nil. The appetite for warmongering seems to be cyclical, apart from operations that are legally and morally justifiable (Falklands, Gulf war etc) then unless we ae threatened I doubt you will need to worry.
However and its a big however I have heard of a yeomanry unit where members have been warned for deployment to Eastern Europe.
Quite how that is legally enforceable I dont know and its not my concern. Using mobilisation to fill the gaps on non operational tours is a bad thing especially when the option is deploy or leave!
The troops saying if you wont deploy then dont join are right in a way. The way to look at is I suppose is comparing it to 1938 and the Munich Crisis. You could train before the rush and maybe even deploy and be sacrificed in a cold 2 man slit trench outside Kaliningrad or wait for the instant sunshine to warm up your home?
I know what you are saying in regards to war, obviously nobody can predict the future (although I'm obviously hoping there are no more wars in the world). Whether Russia are going to kick off and do something stupid I have no idea, given that the US would likely instantly join in is probably enough to make them think twice.
Technically, if they want you, they get you, unless you successfully appeal on the multiple grounds available, which isn't particularly arduous.
Anecdotally, I've never heard of anybody being successfully mobilised who didn't want to be, though, by the same token, I am aware of several instances where a failure to show willing was considered a block to further promotion.
Essentially, the more specialist your unit, the greater the pressure on you will be in the event that something did kick off. Personally, I think it will be a long time before this nation's politicians are brave/stupid enough to re-run 2003, with all that followed for the AR, and you'll die in your bed having bored your descendants rigid with tales of wet weekends in the remoter parts of the UK.
I've read up on the appeals process but you can only delay it unless you have deployed already in the last few years (although reading what it says there is nothing stopping someone from getting their mobilisation date pushed back and then leaving the Army Reserve straight after their appeal is successful before the time comes again.
My unit isn't specalist at all and is very common / general in the Army, although still a critical function nonetheless.
This really should have been explained to you. Under the Reserve Forces Act 1996 you can be compulsory mobilised once every five years. Currently the Army uses 'intelligent mobilisation', it asks for volunteers. This may change, we don't know.
What can you be mobilised for?
1. Actual war.
2. War like acts in preparation.
3. Operations where it might be beneficial to use reservists where regulars might otherwise be used.
If that doesn't work for you, maybe the reserves isn't for you.
No essay/stream of consciousness is required in response to this post as I fully understand, such a 'commitment' is not for everyone.
It wasn't explained clearly to me hence why I've come here. I've explained at the bottom of this post how ridiculous it got that I couldn't get a clear answer that I felt I had to come to an unofficial source such as this forum in order to try and get the answers I seek.
I'm more aware of the "intelligent mobilisation" now, so thank you for that. If the country went to war, prepared or situations where for some reason a reservist(s) would be more handy to send then I would have no problem with ultimately going provided I was trained and my employer wouldn't have a P45 waiting for me when I get back home.
Ok that's fine. My question would be are you prepared to voluntarily mobilise? You state you don't want to do the bare minumum and frankly that is kind of the definition of it. TBH you are right to question the process because it is not clear. As has been observed, over the past 20 years or so, "Intelligent Mobilisation" has been the buzz-word i.e. people volunteer for tours. This should reassure your employer.
However I stand by my previous posts. What has happened in the past will not neccessarily be what happens in the future (and in fact, if you had suggested prior to Op TELIC that volunteer reserves would be the reserve of choice over the regular reserve you would have been laughed at in many quarters.)
In my reserve and non-reserve life I deal with trying to assess what will happen in the future. I can tell you, at the moment it is ******* difficult and the past is of limited utilty. The game is changing.
Yes I am prepared to go, of course I'd like be fully trained and everything before going, obviously knowing my employer is happy with it and I'll have a job to come back to is another determining factor if I would want to go or not. I know my reasons for joining which is to do my part for the country, something I'm proud of and to learn new thing, meet new people (and so on). Obviously there's extra cash too but that isn't primary reason I want to do this.
I am not going to lie and say I would glorify or welcome the idea of doing to a combat zone, but if it needed to be done and I was trained enough then I would by all means go if required (again I do not want to be forced to choose with leaving my day job with my employer or appealing and looking like having to leave the Army Reserve altogether). I am 100% on asking to do more days and asking what courses and events they will have going on (travelling around and meeting new people and so on).
It has even got to the point where I rang up the Royal Military Police hotline to ask them if they could tell me clearly what the stance was on all of this and for a genuine answer. They sadly didn't have information to hand as their hotline isn't for that, all I got was being pressured to drop the name of my reserve unit so they can investigate and ask them why they are messing about in regards to telling potential recruits the stance on mobilisation (I just hung up on them due to them being so pushy and that my reserve unit would likely realise it was me that dropped them in the shit as I'm probably the only recruit who has asked them more than once on this topic).
So yes it is not right that there seems to be "messing about" in regards to the mobilisation processin the Army Reserve. I wouldn't be surprised if some RMP Officer or whatever comes across this thread and gets pissed that a potential recruit had to resort to unofficial sources of information for such a serious topic like this.
Thanks for all the replies on this so far everyone, I wasn't expecting a turnout like this at all. Whether you agree or not with the notion that someone shouldn't be joining the reserves if there is even a hint of doubt that they may not want to mobilise, it does seem obvious that there is some potential foul-play going on in regards to them being completely clear and honest in regards to mobilisation if someone is asking about it.
The fact that I've had more clear answers, detail and information here on this topic than what the reserve unit and recruitment line have told me is ridiculous.