ABSTRACT
The UK part-time Army Reserve has seen a large influx of personnel who previously served full-time in the regular army (ex-regulars). This is contrary to the previous tradition where most army reservists had no previous full-time armed forces experience. The influx of ex-regulars is a deliberate policy move and has been supported by large financial incentives to join. This has led to speculation that the ex-regulars may be more motivated by pecuniary and occupational reasons for joining rather than institutional reasons and that consequently they may be less likely to stay and less satisfied with their service. Analysis of an anonymized data set from the annual workforce survey of army reservists was undertaken to examine this issue. Overall, very little difference in satisfaction between ex-regulars and those part-time reservists with no previous full-time service was found and no difference in intentions to stay. Minor differences only were reported in knowledge, family support and working with regulars. Long-term intention to stay was predicted across all the respondents by a “Duty satisfaction” factor that reflected how reservists felt valued by the organization. The negotiated experience of part-time reserve service, juggling family, civilian work and reserve service time, likely means the drivers for satisfaction from part-time reserve service are similar for those with and without full-time military experience.
