Classification and Linkage of Reserve Technician Grades and Military Ranks

An examination of the Army Reserve technician program showed that about 46 percent of the Army Reserve dual-status technicians (military reservists who are also civilian employees of the Reserves) cannot be mobilized with their Reserve units because some of these technicians are assigned to military positions in units other than the one in which they are employed, and the remainder are not qualified to hold military positions. This creates a serious problem because the mobilization objective cannot be achieved to provide continuity in readiness for Reserve components. Unlike the National Guard technician program, there is no express statutory authority for the civilian technician programs of the Army and Air Force Reserves. The technicians in these services, therefore, are competitive service appointments under general civil service laws. The problem is not as great in the Air Force as in the Army due to more effective management of the Air Force technician program, and because Air Force Reserve units are more centrally located in areas in which there are larger Federal work force populations.

Efforts by the Department of Defense (DOD) to correct the problem have been unsuccessful. DOD requested the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to change Army and Air Force Reserve technicians from the competitive to the excepted service, but the Civil Service Commission (CSC) opposed the proposals. The CSC position emphasized that the jobs are civilian competitive service jobs, and current incumbents should not be affected by any changes.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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