I'll say maybe there can be some extra incentive for reservist
but it definitely shouldn't be more than the ns portion.
The OCS and sispec and such might be tougher, but the length of
time wasted is the same. And hey, at least they get to exercise
some leadership and people management skills that might be useful
for later + they already earn more in ns.
I think the main thrust for this "compensation" is for the
opportunities lost and time wasted, not the efforts put in. If you
want to compensate for effort, do it at the allowance end where you
can differentiate based on vocation, rank, and such.
then that's where we disagree ....
you may think the 2 years full time is more disruptive, but then
it's two years that you and everyone else who've also served, has
written off, you know right from the onset not to plan for anything
for that 2 years ....
it becomes different when you ORD and have to come back for
reservist, you'd be holding down a full time job, building your
career, competing not just against your female peers who've already
had their headstart, but also competing against FTs who, not only
work for a lower salary than you do, don't have to disappear for a
week or three every year either, and that's on top of the annual
leave mind you. And it's not just chaps who work in the private
sector, but those running their own biz and those who are
self-employed as well, the career opportunity costs become much
steeper once you step into the working world holding making a
living. Do you think this additional sacrifice is any smaller in
comparision to the 2 years that everyone serves ? .... not in my
books.
It's easy to go for reservists when you're working for the
goverment or a goverment linked company, but it's quite a different
thing to get time off to go for reservist in the private sector,
especially among the blue collared ... I feel very much for such
chaps after talking to some of these fellows during my RT and IPPT.
If these chaps were to get more than I do, I'd be very glad for
them.
