Hello. I can probably answer your questions. Not reservist but an HQ employee very familiar with the reservist program. The answers to what you originally posted is loaded. I would have hoped the cadre explained a lot of this in your interview process. Which cadre is it for?
Your experience will be truly intermittent and is very dependent on what cadre you are joining. You will be called at random and oftentimes asked to accept the deployment request quickly and be on the ground within a couple of days. Again, depending on the cadre, you will be expected to be there 30-90 days. Some are more towards the 30 day mark, some are more 90 days or more. You can only decline something like 2 requests before you get penalized (ask an actual reservist the specifics on this). Also, the more you decline, the less they will call you.
Having a civilian job will be tricky and you should discuss with them ASAP what to expect if you haven't already. Now I WILL say that Biden just extended USERRA protections to reservists last week which means technically your civilian job is protected just like military reserves. This was not the case 2 weeks ago. Many reservists did not have second jobs. But I will also say I work at FEMA and still am unsure how the implementation of this for our workforce is going. I would talk to your HR rep about it (though they might not have much info yet either).
The long and short of it is be prepared to be called randomly, with little warning, and be gone for a while. Talk to your civilian employer about these expectations and get some info on USERRA from FEMA. You may also not called to deploy for the next year. It really, truly depends. Best of luck.
All of the above. I was a reservist for 10 years and it worked fine when I was self employed and could take off but once I had a kid and took a full time job (benefits) I resigned from FEMA reserves. It’s extremely difficult to juggle, especially if you have family commitments.
When you ask which cadre is it for? I’m unsure of how to answer I am a civilian with little knowledge of federal govt jargon. The agency is FEMA. My email said “After your EOD (Entrance of Duty), your main point of contact for the Planning Cadre will be [redacted]”…. I hope this helps and answers your original question.
When I get deployed for the 30-90 days will my cost be paid for up front or will I have to pay out of pocket?
So your cadre is Planning which means you interviewed with and were hired to join the planning cadre. FEMA has 23 cadres total and when you join as a reservist you are managed by them. When you are asked to deploy it will 99% of the time be to do planning functions at the disaster.
A cadre is basically a speciality team within the agency that FEMA uses to break up the functions in the field. Like if you joined the airforce reserves you might get "hired" to be an aircraft mechanic so whenever you deploy, you deploy with the mechanic team. They dont just hire bodies to go out and do whatever (usually). They hire people for certain roles to join these cadres. Like I mentioned, there are 23, and they range from all ICS functions (planning, ops, log, etc) to FEMA specific things (individual assistance, public assistance, mitigation, so on). This is easy google-able if you wanna learn more.
Planning is one of the longer deploying cadres. Youre looking at 60-90 day deployments usually -- and they will likely ask you to extend. You will be paid every 2 weeks while you are deployed, plus per diem. They will go over this during your onboarding. It's a good gig if you can figure out juggling your civilian job.
Ah awesome thanks that information is really helpful! So would I be considered active duty military or am I a federal reservist: job title emergency management specialist?
The latter. FEMA isn't military and we don't have "active duty" but eventually, reservists will have the same protections the military does for having a civilian job as well when they are called (USERRA. More specifically the CREW Act). We just haven't worked out the kinks on that yet.
Hey, I went from a local hire to an IA reservist at the end of May of 2021. As a reservist, my first deployment was for Hurricane Ida, but by the time I received a deployment notification in late August, I had taken a full-time position with a county gov. Agency. The County made me sign double employment and a couple of other forms to ensure no conflict of interest exists. I ended up leaving the reserves before taking any deployments since the timing was horrible. I received about a half dozen requests to deploy to Ida two weeks after I started at the new position. It was weird because I would decline the mission only to get another deployment request the same day. I ended up sending my resignation to FEMA to avoid that mess given they have a rule of if you decline 3 assignments, you will be removed from the reserves. Now, you can request PANA (not sure if that's how it is spelled), which will allow you to take up to 90 days off, but you have to get approval. In my experience, this process was a bit frustrating, and they were almost exclusively denying all requests around the time I submitted my request. Hindsight being 20/20, I kind of wish that I stayed with FEMA, but there was only taking by FEMA and very little flexibility by mgmt that it was easier to resign. In fairness to FEMA, my county employer wasn’t going to be pleased that I left for a deployment, but I guess this is where the CREW Act supposed to help. Maybe consider asking for a deferred start date until the CREW Act can be implemented to avoid the issue that I had.
The cadre question is important, because some cadres have much longer deployments than others.
Also, one of the rules of the reservist program is that essentially it must be your only job while on deployment. Depending on what your civilian job is, and your ability to go/leave with relatively short notice, it can be a toss up. Do not put yourself in the position of accepting a deployment in a stressful environment with austere conditions and long hours, and then add another job on top of it, it doesn't go well. Even school was a stretch for some folks.
Most of the reservists I work with (and during my own time as a reservist) have a "fall-back" job that is less lucrative, but more flexible.
A couple of considerations:
1. Leave and benefits. Reservists can get health insurance, from what I remember through one of the federal pools, which can be quite good. They accrue sick leave, which we can be a bit more flexible with than an average employer ("mental health days", kind of thing), but no annual leave (vacation time). Retirement benefits aren't part of the standard reservist compensation package, if I recall correctly, but there may be some voluntary options there (ie, you redirect some of your paycheck to a retirement fund, but it's not matched).
2. Virtual vs. in-person deployments. In-person deployments feature per-diem, travel expenses paid (yay hotel, flight and rental car points!), and depending on the timing/cadre, overtime. Virtual deployments are nice, but you're usually not as "exposed" to the network of folks working the incident. If you're looking at this as a potential long-term career move, that networking is important. Some folks also support multiple incidents during a virtual deployment, which can be challenging.
3. Reservists are given training, which can be a nice benefit to a civilian job. It varies WILDLY, and generally speaking the larger incidents/operations offer more training onsite than the smaller ones. Some cadres train more than others, and time of year can impact training (ie, during "heavy disaster season" there's less availability than during "slower" times of year-typically late winter/early spring).
4. Your deployment will have dates, and they generally are for a minimum of one month, with the possibility of extension. Some cadres are shorter, but for the most part you can expect between a few weeks to up to 50 weeks for in-person deployments. The 50-week rule is a limitation imposed by the IRS: if we're deployed onsite more than 50 weeks in a year, we would have to pay taxes in that location. Virtual deployments don't have this limitation. If your orders state 30 days, depending on the cadre and your performance, I'd expect to stay more than that. Some groups like individual assistance (IA) and response may not exceed 90 days, but it varies wildly. I can confirm you can deny up to 3 deployments per year without fear of termination, and you can submit PANA (I can't recall the acronym's meaning) when you are unavailable. I would not count on the USERRA protections yet, as the implementation is still in progress, and many employers won't know how to navigate that without FEMA having guidance available for them.
Without knowing the cadre or the line of work you're in, it's hard to narrow down the range of options. Shoot me a PM if you want, and I can dig deeper.
Best of luck!
I was tentatively selected for a Reservist position in the “Planning Cadre” with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
As a FEMA Reservist, you will be eligible to enroll in Federal Employee Health Benefits (“FEHB”). When I get called to deploy will my cost be paid for upfront or will I have to pay out of pocket?
Cool! Planning is a great group to be a part of. That's part of response.
I'd do some research on the health benefits, because there's a lot to choose from. One thing that was important is a plan that allows you to see providers nationwide, as opposed to just in your home region, in case you need medical care while deployed.
Before you deploy, they will give you a travel card (credit card). That card will be used for all your expenses, and you just call a number to book travel on your behalf...they make reservations for flight, hotel, rental car, etc. Don't misuse the card, and you'll be in good shape. You'll be given training on how to avoid misuse and issues with the travel card.
While deployed you'll get meals and incidental expenses (M&IE). On days you leave or return home you get 2/3 that M&IE amount. Your travel expenses are amply covered, and the only thing that comes "out of pocket" is anything in excess of M&IE, which on the low end is like $40/day, and on the high end can exceed $100/day.
I've had folks spend their own money to upgrade a flight, but that's about it. You will be reimbursed for your travel expenses, as long as they go on the travel card. If I recall correctly, anything over $75 requires a receipt, but your training will specify.
On the medical insurance front, I think you are "deployed" to training, and that gives you the ability to opt into the health insurance. It comes out of your check, and if you're not getting one of those, you would pay for it out of pocket. I think there's a certain level of activity or a requirement to remain in good standing to keep the insurance, but I am not sure. Your HR person will be the best source of information on that.
Are you aware of how the logistics cadre works? The reservist position is Emergency Management Specialist (Manufactured Housing Support Specialist)- Trainee. Thank you
Former reservist of 6 years here. During some my off time, I worked as an EPA contractor. (Both roles IT-related) and a couple smaller jobs in a 30/60/90 day contract commitment.
I never took on roles that could have the effect of replacing my position as a reservist. Never had issues regarding conflicts of interest. I also took a long bereavement leave from deploying and worked with my cadre to remove me from DTS for a full year+, and I would say that's an exception not the rule.
As others might attest, reservist benefits were not super great, and in the end I needed more permanent employment closer to home.
I was called accidentally during my leave to deploy and had to turn it down, but my cadre manager took care of it so that one ‘didn’t count’ in the system.
The last I remember, after turning down two or three deployments in a row, it shows up in the system as some form of a derogatory mark. This resets every calendar year, I believe.
From what I remember, 30 day deployments were the absolute minimum (at least in IT). There were exceptions that I experienced, but those were very rare, such as completing short-term projects for the Region (2-3 weeks), too many deployed resources (manpower), and misconduct.
More info here: https://www.fema.gov/careers/position-types/reservists
Hello. I can probably answer your questions. Not reservist but an HQ employee very familiar with the reservist program. The answers to what you originally posted is loaded. I would have hoped the cadre explained a lot of this in your interview process. Which cadre is it for? Your experience will be truly intermittent and is very dependent on what cadre you are joining. You will be called at random and oftentimes asked to accept the deployment request quickly and be on the ground within a couple of days. Again, depending on the cadre, you will be expected to be there 30-90 days. Some are more towards the 30 day mark, some are more 90 days or more. You can only decline something like 2 requests before you get penalized (ask an actual reservist the specifics on this). Also, the more you decline, the less they will call you. Having a civilian job will be tricky and you should discuss with them ASAP what to expect if you haven't already. Now I WILL say that Biden just extended USERRA protections to reservists last week which means technically your civilian job is protected just like military reserves. This was not the case 2 weeks ago. Many reservists did not have second jobs. But I will also say I work at FEMA and still am unsure how the implementation of this for our workforce is going. I would talk to your HR rep about it (though they might not have much info yet either). The long and short of it is be prepared to be called randomly, with little warning, and be gone for a while. Talk to your civilian employer about these expectations and get some info on USERRA from FEMA. You may also not called to deploy for the next year. It really, truly depends. Best of luck.
All of the above. I was a reservist for 10 years and it worked fine when I was self employed and could take off but once I had a kid and took a full time job (benefits) I resigned from FEMA reserves. It’s extremely difficult to juggle, especially if you have family commitments.
When you ask which cadre is it for? I’m unsure of how to answer I am a civilian with little knowledge of federal govt jargon. The agency is FEMA. My email said “After your EOD (Entrance of Duty), your main point of contact for the Planning Cadre will be [redacted]”…. I hope this helps and answers your original question. When I get deployed for the 30-90 days will my cost be paid for up front or will I have to pay out of pocket?
So your cadre is Planning which means you interviewed with and were hired to join the planning cadre. FEMA has 23 cadres total and when you join as a reservist you are managed by them. When you are asked to deploy it will 99% of the time be to do planning functions at the disaster. A cadre is basically a speciality team within the agency that FEMA uses to break up the functions in the field. Like if you joined the airforce reserves you might get "hired" to be an aircraft mechanic so whenever you deploy, you deploy with the mechanic team. They dont just hire bodies to go out and do whatever (usually). They hire people for certain roles to join these cadres. Like I mentioned, there are 23, and they range from all ICS functions (planning, ops, log, etc) to FEMA specific things (individual assistance, public assistance, mitigation, so on). This is easy google-able if you wanna learn more. Planning is one of the longer deploying cadres. Youre looking at 60-90 day deployments usually -- and they will likely ask you to extend. You will be paid every 2 weeks while you are deployed, plus per diem. They will go over this during your onboarding. It's a good gig if you can figure out juggling your civilian job.
Ah awesome thanks that information is really helpful! So would I be considered active duty military or am I a federal reservist: job title emergency management specialist?
The latter. FEMA isn't military and we don't have "active duty" but eventually, reservists will have the same protections the military does for having a civilian job as well when they are called (USERRA. More specifically the CREW Act). We just haven't worked out the kinks on that yet.
Hey, I went from a local hire to an IA reservist at the end of May of 2021. As a reservist, my first deployment was for Hurricane Ida, but by the time I received a deployment notification in late August, I had taken a full-time position with a county gov. Agency. The County made me sign double employment and a couple of other forms to ensure no conflict of interest exists. I ended up leaving the reserves before taking any deployments since the timing was horrible. I received about a half dozen requests to deploy to Ida two weeks after I started at the new position. It was weird because I would decline the mission only to get another deployment request the same day. I ended up sending my resignation to FEMA to avoid that mess given they have a rule of if you decline 3 assignments, you will be removed from the reserves. Now, you can request PANA (not sure if that's how it is spelled), which will allow you to take up to 90 days off, but you have to get approval. In my experience, this process was a bit frustrating, and they were almost exclusively denying all requests around the time I submitted my request. Hindsight being 20/20, I kind of wish that I stayed with FEMA, but there was only taking by FEMA and very little flexibility by mgmt that it was easier to resign. In fairness to FEMA, my county employer wasn’t going to be pleased that I left for a deployment, but I guess this is where the CREW Act supposed to help. Maybe consider asking for a deferred start date until the CREW Act can be implemented to avoid the issue that I had.
The cadre question is important, because some cadres have much longer deployments than others. Also, one of the rules of the reservist program is that essentially it must be your only job while on deployment. Depending on what your civilian job is, and your ability to go/leave with relatively short notice, it can be a toss up. Do not put yourself in the position of accepting a deployment in a stressful environment with austere conditions and long hours, and then add another job on top of it, it doesn't go well. Even school was a stretch for some folks. Most of the reservists I work with (and during my own time as a reservist) have a "fall-back" job that is less lucrative, but more flexible. A couple of considerations: 1. Leave and benefits. Reservists can get health insurance, from what I remember through one of the federal pools, which can be quite good. They accrue sick leave, which we can be a bit more flexible with than an average employer ("mental health days", kind of thing), but no annual leave (vacation time). Retirement benefits aren't part of the standard reservist compensation package, if I recall correctly, but there may be some voluntary options there (ie, you redirect some of your paycheck to a retirement fund, but it's not matched). 2. Virtual vs. in-person deployments. In-person deployments feature per-diem, travel expenses paid (yay hotel, flight and rental car points!), and depending on the timing/cadre, overtime. Virtual deployments are nice, but you're usually not as "exposed" to the network of folks working the incident. If you're looking at this as a potential long-term career move, that networking is important. Some folks also support multiple incidents during a virtual deployment, which can be challenging. 3. Reservists are given training, which can be a nice benefit to a civilian job. It varies WILDLY, and generally speaking the larger incidents/operations offer more training onsite than the smaller ones. Some cadres train more than others, and time of year can impact training (ie, during "heavy disaster season" there's less availability than during "slower" times of year-typically late winter/early spring). 4. Your deployment will have dates, and they generally are for a minimum of one month, with the possibility of extension. Some cadres are shorter, but for the most part you can expect between a few weeks to up to 50 weeks for in-person deployments. The 50-week rule is a limitation imposed by the IRS: if we're deployed onsite more than 50 weeks in a year, we would have to pay taxes in that location. Virtual deployments don't have this limitation. If your orders state 30 days, depending on the cadre and your performance, I'd expect to stay more than that. Some groups like individual assistance (IA) and response may not exceed 90 days, but it varies wildly. I can confirm you can deny up to 3 deployments per year without fear of termination, and you can submit PANA (I can't recall the acronym's meaning) when you are unavailable. I would not count on the USERRA protections yet, as the implementation is still in progress, and many employers won't know how to navigate that without FEMA having guidance available for them. Without knowing the cadre or the line of work you're in, it's hard to narrow down the range of options. Shoot me a PM if you want, and I can dig deeper. Best of luck!
I was tentatively selected for a Reservist position in the “Planning Cadre” with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). As a FEMA Reservist, you will be eligible to enroll in Federal Employee Health Benefits (“FEHB”). When I get called to deploy will my cost be paid for upfront or will I have to pay out of pocket?
Cool! Planning is a great group to be a part of. That's part of response. I'd do some research on the health benefits, because there's a lot to choose from. One thing that was important is a plan that allows you to see providers nationwide, as opposed to just in your home region, in case you need medical care while deployed. Before you deploy, they will give you a travel card (credit card). That card will be used for all your expenses, and you just call a number to book travel on your behalf...they make reservations for flight, hotel, rental car, etc. Don't misuse the card, and you'll be in good shape. You'll be given training on how to avoid misuse and issues with the travel card. While deployed you'll get meals and incidental expenses (M&IE). On days you leave or return home you get 2/3 that M&IE amount. Your travel expenses are amply covered, and the only thing that comes "out of pocket" is anything in excess of M&IE, which on the low end is like $40/day, and on the high end can exceed $100/day. I've had folks spend their own money to upgrade a flight, but that's about it. You will be reimbursed for your travel expenses, as long as they go on the travel card. If I recall correctly, anything over $75 requires a receipt, but your training will specify. On the medical insurance front, I think you are "deployed" to training, and that gives you the ability to opt into the health insurance. It comes out of your check, and if you're not getting one of those, you would pay for it out of pocket. I think there's a certain level of activity or a requirement to remain in good standing to keep the insurance, but I am not sure. Your HR person will be the best source of information on that.
Any info on lengths of deployment for the logistics cadre?
Are you aware of how the logistics cadre works? The reservist position is Emergency Management Specialist (Manufactured Housing Support Specialist)- Trainee. Thank you
I can try and answer questions (privately, please), so shoot them my way. If I don't know, I am certainly happy to ask some folks on deployment now.
Oh thank you so much. I will send them over to you.
Former reservist of 6 years here. During some my off time, I worked as an EPA contractor. (Both roles IT-related) and a couple smaller jobs in a 30/60/90 day contract commitment. I never took on roles that could have the effect of replacing my position as a reservist. Never had issues regarding conflicts of interest. I also took a long bereavement leave from deploying and worked with my cadre to remove me from DTS for a full year+, and I would say that's an exception not the rule. As others might attest, reservist benefits were not super great, and in the end I needed more permanent employment closer to home. I was called accidentally during my leave to deploy and had to turn it down, but my cadre manager took care of it so that one ‘didn’t count’ in the system. The last I remember, after turning down two or three deployments in a row, it shows up in the system as some form of a derogatory mark. This resets every calendar year, I believe. From what I remember, 30 day deployments were the absolute minimum (at least in IT). There were exceptions that I experienced, but those were very rare, such as completing short-term projects for the Region (2-3 weeks), too many deployed resources (manpower), and misconduct. More info here: https://www.fema.gov/careers/position-types/reservists