Reservists need to address annual mandate

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Rich Curry
  • 507th Air Refueling Wing
All Reservists must annually register information about their civilian employer and job skills on the Department of Defense-run Civilian Employer Information website. 

The Department of Defense has established a mandatory 95% compliance rate for all services and a deadline of September 30 to meet that suspense. 

By Federal Law, DOD is required to: give consideration to civilian employment necessary to maintain national health, safety and interest when considering members for recall; ensure that members with critical civilian skills are not retained in numbers beyond those needed for those skills, and inform employers of reservists of their rights and responsibilities under the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act. 

According to DoD information on the program, the collection of civilian employer information (CEI) helps facilitate open communications between the Department of Defense and the civilian employers of Guard and Reserve service members to inform service members and employers of their rights, benefits, and obligations. Officials state the immediate goal is to increase the effectiveness of the Department of Defense's employer outreach programs by identifying employers directly affected by DoD policies and mobilizations. The Department will then be better able to assess actual employer needs and identify possible incentives to encourage employer support for Reserve participation. 

Statistics released June 8 by Headquarters Air Force Reserve Command indicate that reservists assigned to the 507th Air Refueling Wing and 513th Air Control Group are currently standing at 63 percent compliant. While better than the command-wide average, it is still short of the mandated 95 percent goal. 

"I had our Public Affairs office send out an e-mail message reminder to all 507th and 513th reservists during the June UTA," said Colonel Jeffery R. Glass, 507th ARW commander. "That message produced a 4 percent jump in registration for the 507th and a 3 percent registration jump for the 513th. Still, the statistics released by AFRC June 8 reveal the 507th ARW has 373 members and the 513th has 136 members who have not updated their information." AFRC officials said that AGRs do not have to register and are not reflected in these totals. 

According to Mr. Didier S.D. Opotowsky, Chief, Field Activities Branch, Plans and Integration Division, HQ AFRC Directorate of Manpower, Personnel and Services, "As of June 22, the Command is at 34 percent compliance...and we need to get to 95 percent compliance by 30 Sep 09." 

Mr. Opotowsky, who oversees AFRC participation in the CEI program, stated that soon each wing's military personnel flight will receive listings to show who is and is not compliant. "This way, for those who are, unit commanders can project and remind their personnel to complete this annual review/recertification in advance," he said, adding that with this listing, "I hope we will be able to reduce noncompliant rate significantly in the future." 

Other options being considered by wing officials to ensure compliance may include adding CEI registration to all TDY, AEF or TDY outprocessing checklists or withholding UTA paychecks until members are in compliance with the requirement. 

"CEI registration was established to meet a critical DoD requirement," said Colonel Glass. "As a management tool, it helps our nation better meet all defense taskings. It helps us avoid blind spots we may encounter and not overburden certain critical civilian occupational fields and at the same time permit greater flexibility throughout DoD when considering future taskings and responses." 

Even if you have no change in employer, it is still an annual requirement to update your information. Even if you are an ART, you must register your information annually. Registration takes two minutes. 

Go to the following link (https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/appj/esgr/). Select the Logon tab as you must log in before you can access and update your personal record.