George Wallace said:
I guess you guys have never experienced an "Alert Recall" or "Snowball". No one was ever reimbursed financially or for a fact in any other way, other than perhaps getting off work a little early the next day. As I said, you are in a business where you are paid 24 and 7, 365 (366) days a year.
Im not sure about the other fellow, but yes I have done these things. I spent just as much time rushing into base as anyone else for emergencies or working round the clock for exercises and real-world emergencies. Ive finished my work day and then worked extra hours because its needed many a day without any bitching or expectation of compensation.
This is not the same as shift work. Here is an example of the kind of schedule I used to work at one position.
Day shift you are up at 4:30, on the road by 5 AM, at work by 5:30, getting your shit together by 5:45, getting your handover brief and then ON shift by 6 AM. Food is delivered to your post. During weekdays you are allowed to leave only if someone is there to relieve you. On weekends you can pop out for a few minutes for a smoke or bathroom break, during which you carry your cell phone so if someone cant get the office phone at least they can get you by cell. Your job is to stay there and do your work, not pop out for munchies or a chat with the security guard. Unlike some other shift workers, you have to stay awake your whole shift, not sneak in a good 6 hours of rack time, because you are reading reviewing and writing reports. You dont get to go to the gym or appointments during this time. Shift ends at 6PM, handover takes 15-30 minutes depending on how much happened during your shift. You are usually out the door no later than 6:30, drive home by 7 PM and youve got a couple hours to sort out your personal or family issues before its rack time and ready for the next shift.
Is it complicated? No, its dead boring most of the time. But it severely restricts what you can get done in a day when youre in before anything opens and out after most businesses close. Anyhting that needs to be done in person has to be done on off days.
At another position, I worked a regular shift, but was on call at all hours and weekends, mostly because for about a 1.5 year period I was the only person present and qualified to do the work (short staffed and deployments sucked away the other staff). By the end of a four year posting I had 64 days of ETO because I came in at any time I was needed, never asked for compensation, but which I never got because I got posted.
Leading to the comment from dapaterson, leadership is needed if senior NCMs and officers dont give lower ranks time off for doing excessively extra work, even if the ranks dont ask for it and soldier on. When soldiers are busting their butt to get work done, its up to them to make sure soldiers get time off for doing that little bit extra. It was a lesson I applied often as a senior NCM.
...minus working at the clinic, bloody full day Fridays 
