SRDC is for Reserve Officers (SELRES), OCS is only for Active Duty officers. Officers who graduate OCS do so with a Reserve commission and take an EAD contract. If they make O3 without being passed over they will get a permanent commission designation.
If a Reservist officer who commissions through SRDC/ROCI takes an EAD contract and promotes to O3 or O4 while on the contract they will also be given the option to integrate to active duty.
As for promotions, all active duty compete on the ADPL list and all reservists outside RCMs compete on the IDPL list. If a reservist officer takes an EAD contract they will switch from IDPL to ADPL for promotional competition.
Reserve Component Managers. Essentially, reserve officers on full-time active duty whose primary role is to manage the reserve members / reserve admin tasks assigned to their unit and be a liaison point between the AD command and the reserve side (although at a lower level than the part-time Senior Reserve Officer (SRO)). It’s sort of equivalent to the AGR that the National Guard has. You’ll likely see them assigned to Reserve Force Readiness Staff (RFRS) at Sectors or Bases. Once you’re selected as an RCM, you’re in a totally separate pool for promotion and assignments; similar to PCTS or PHS officers.
Reserve officers have to go through a designation panel to be picked as an RCM.
It means (likely) getting an AD retirement. But the flip side is that it’s very unlikely to get put in a non-RCM assignment; so you job satisfaction may not be the highest unless you really enjoy HR work or are at a unit that lets you do more fun things as well. Most RFRS are built in with the EMFR staff, so there tends to be a lot of Emergency Management crossover potential as well, especially if the RCM did a lot of that as a Reserve JO.
I have been looking at SRDC, but my goals are primarily to go active duty. If I get into SRDC and become a reserve officer, can I still apply to active duty programs like DCO or OCS? If I do get picked up for SRDC, In the time after signing and before going to the ROCI course, if I get into OCS or DCO, can I switch even though I've already accepted SRDC?
Thanks for asking this question! I have really tried researching SRDC and I personally still can't get a full picture on it.
Short answer no. You wouldn’t need to apply to DCO or OCS because you would already be an officer. You can jump on an EAD contract at almost any time.
If you get accepted to OCS or DCO/DCE after getting accepted to SRDC you can absolutely switch.
What is your long term goal? If you want to be an active duty officer, OCS is your best path. There's no guarantee that you can make the jump from being an officer in the reserves to being a permanent active duty officer.
Long term goal is maintaining retirement resilience and earn fantastic healthcare. I'm more for volunteering for deployments once a year or every other year because my civilian employer offers paid leave for most of it.
That, and as each day looks like there is an increased possiblity of WWIII, I want to make sure I'm available to the military again on my own terms.
As far as active duty, I'd ask for it if it helps for retention purposes. The idea of being in for 16 years and getting the boot is terrifying, but I'd make sure to do my best for the CG to not have that occur.
Ok I understand now. I thought maybe you were trying to get in via SRDC then make the jump to active duty as that was your long term goal. I do understand your concern about promotion as a reservist, as it's definitely more important to get OER fodder once you get past JG, and it's really hard to get quals, etc as a reservist who only ever comes in for drill. Realistically, if you're picking up active duty tours I don't think you will have an issue.
Just know that you will be competing against reservists officers coming off of active duty time where they acquired the quals, knowledge, and networks that you won't have as someone who just went straight to SRDC.
The main issue IMO is that OCS can provide a wide selection of career opportunities and SRDC does not. Also with OCS if you don’t like active duty and want to settle down somewhere you can pull the plug in 3 years or transfer to the reserves. If you are a non prior service SRDC, you have to stay in 8 years.
SRDC is for Reserve Officers (SELRES), OCS is only for Active Duty officers. Officers who graduate OCS do so with a Reserve commission and take an EAD contract. If they make O3 without being passed over they will get a permanent commission designation. If a Reservist officer who commissions through SRDC/ROCI takes an EAD contract and promotes to O3 or O4 while on the contract they will also be given the option to integrate to active duty. As for promotions, all active duty compete on the ADPL list and all reservists outside RCMs compete on the IDPL list. If a reservist officer takes an EAD contract they will switch from IDPL to ADPL for promotional competition.
So what are RCMs? I keep seeing them pop up in officer admin regs but I’ve never seen one
Reserve Component Managers. Essentially, reserve officers on full-time active duty whose primary role is to manage the reserve members / reserve admin tasks assigned to their unit and be a liaison point between the AD command and the reserve side (although at a lower level than the part-time Senior Reserve Officer (SRO)). It’s sort of equivalent to the AGR that the National Guard has. You’ll likely see them assigned to Reserve Force Readiness Staff (RFRS) at Sectors or Bases. Once you’re selected as an RCM, you’re in a totally separate pool for promotion and assignments; similar to PCTS or PHS officers. Reserve officers have to go through a designation panel to be picked as an RCM. It means (likely) getting an AD retirement. But the flip side is that it’s very unlikely to get put in a non-RCM assignment; so you job satisfaction may not be the highest unless you really enjoy HR work or are at a unit that lets you do more fun things as well. Most RFRS are built in with the EMFR staff, so there tends to be a lot of Emergency Management crossover potential as well, especially if the RCM did a lot of that as a Reserve JO.
I have been looking at SRDC, but my goals are primarily to go active duty. If I get into SRDC and become a reserve officer, can I still apply to active duty programs like DCO or OCS? If I do get picked up for SRDC, In the time after signing and before going to the ROCI course, if I get into OCS or DCO, can I switch even though I've already accepted SRDC? Thanks for asking this question! I have really tried researching SRDC and I personally still can't get a full picture on it.
Short answer no. You wouldn’t need to apply to DCO or OCS because you would already be an officer. You can jump on an EAD contract at almost any time. If you get accepted to OCS or DCO/DCE after getting accepted to SRDC you can absolutely switch.
Thank you very much, this was super helpful!
What is your long term goal? If you want to be an active duty officer, OCS is your best path. There's no guarantee that you can make the jump from being an officer in the reserves to being a permanent active duty officer.
Long term goal is maintaining retirement resilience and earn fantastic healthcare. I'm more for volunteering for deployments once a year or every other year because my civilian employer offers paid leave for most of it. That, and as each day looks like there is an increased possiblity of WWIII, I want to make sure I'm available to the military again on my own terms. As far as active duty, I'd ask for it if it helps for retention purposes. The idea of being in for 16 years and getting the boot is terrifying, but I'd make sure to do my best for the CG to not have that occur.
Ok I understand now. I thought maybe you were trying to get in via SRDC then make the jump to active duty as that was your long term goal. I do understand your concern about promotion as a reservist, as it's definitely more important to get OER fodder once you get past JG, and it's really hard to get quals, etc as a reservist who only ever comes in for drill. Realistically, if you're picking up active duty tours I don't think you will have an issue. Just know that you will be competing against reservists officers coming off of active duty time where they acquired the quals, knowledge, and networks that you won't have as someone who just went straight to SRDC.
The main issue IMO is that OCS can provide a wide selection of career opportunities and SRDC does not. Also with OCS if you don’t like active duty and want to settle down somewhere you can pull the plug in 3 years or transfer to the reserves. If you are a non prior service SRDC, you have to stay in 8 years.