Military Reserves as an ATC

Bringing this thread back to life since it gave me some good info before I rejoined in the Navy Reserves. Background: 10 years active duty Navy ATC, took a 5 year break to get my FAA life in order and joined the reserves in Jan 2022.

VA disability is forfeited for the 60 or so days between your one weekend a month, 2 weeks a year. One drill weekend counts as 4 days of time for military pay purposes. They calculate a 4 hr period as one day. 8 hr day = 2 paid days. The VA will send you a letter at end of year asking if you want to forfeit basically 2 whole months or have them prorate it throughout the year. Long story short, you get drill pay and VA disability.

Drill weekends and work schedule are worked out between you and management. At my facility now, I have SUN/MON rdos with a mandatory OT shift every Monday. I either reschedule my Saturday drills throughout the year or use leave and credit. I can't rdo swap because I'm on 6 day work weeks. If I had weekday rdos, I would be screwed. I reschedule my Sat drills by working 8am-12pm (4 hr period) on my tues and weds night shifts. I drill before work, change clothes, and work my shift. Each facility is different as I've heard some of my buddies get admin excused absence because they are fat staffed.

You get 15 days of military leave a year, which you can rollover up to 15 days. Your 2 weeks a year annual training counts as 10 military leave days. That means if you do the bare minimum 2 weeks, you should have 5 days to rollover or use for drill weekends.

You double dip using your military time. My 10 years active bought back count towards my FAA retirement and also counts towards my time in service in the reserves. I'll have 2 retirements and VA disability with my 10 years active time.

Is it worth it? Absolutely yes. CPC and it gives you flexibility to do what you want. My wife is active duty ATC and got orders to San Diego. I got picked up on last NCEPT and we transfer together in June. If I didn't get picked up, I would've taken orders there in a supply warehouse making more than i do now working 2 OTs a pay period at my level 9 and would be protected under USERRA. And yes, I went supply in the reserves cause ATC in the reserves sucks as far as duty stations. I'm currently in South Korea finishing up my 2 weeks a year working in a post office getting my military pay, faa pay, and VA disability.

I hope this helps even one person. It helped me out and I appreciate you guys that take the time to respond to others. And oh yeah, and I joined the reserves in Texas so I get the Hazelwood act and a navy reserve gi bill on top of my already used gi bill.


My husband is getting out of the Navy in the next 6 months.
He is waiting on his TOL from the FAA. Is he allowed to file for any VA disability, or will he lose his eligibility for the FAA due to receiving disability. If allowed, what items are permitted to be filed for & remain medically sound for the FAA. Thank you!
 
My husband is getting out of the Navy in the next 6 months.
He is waiting on his TOL from the FAA. Is he allowed to file for any VA disability, or will he lose his eligibility for the FAA due to receiving disability. If allowed, what items are permitted to be filed for & remain medically sound for the FAA. Thank you!

Receiving VA disability will not de facto revoke eligibility for operational work in the FAA. It is going to depend on the specific injuries/diseases/conditions affecting him and their impact on the Medical certificate he will be required to maintain.

I will say this though… anything he files for with the VA better have been disclosed to the flight surgeon because there will be problems if the FAA somehow becomes privy to the VA disability and thinks he’s trying to withhold medical issues from the flight doc.

As long as he’s been open and honest with the flight surgeon and has gotten the medical, filing for VA disability for issues disclosed to the FAA should not change anything though.

My advice would be to reach out to the regional flight surgeon and verify all of this though. We shouldn’t solely trust strangers on the internet for information that can affect something as important as a livelihood.
 
My husband is getting out of the Navy in the next 6 months.
He is waiting on his TOL from the FAA. Is he allowed to file for any VA disability, or will he lose his eligibility for the FAA due to receiving disability. If allowed, what items are permitted to be filed for & remain medically sound for the FAA. Thank you!
He can schedule a consultation with an AME rather than an exam. In the consultation he can ask all the hypothetical questions he wants without risking a medical certificate.
 
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