Infanteer said:
0309 Battlegroup has spots for Reservists in every Rifle Platoon. Not sure how those are sourced though.
Fo$r this roto, 3-08, the reservists who volunteered for the earliest intake stream (roughly May 2007) got the battlegroup spots. The next lot of us showed up in September 07, filled up force protection and some other random spots, and then in January the remainder showed up to fill in the odds and sods. A few - a very few - guys from later streams got into battlegroup, but even fewer of those were in rifle section positions.
I'm not aware of any reservists occupying spots in the OMLT at junior ranks levels, but that said there's nothing saying they may not choose to source a few drivers and the like from the reserves. Most of the 'hard' OMLT spots are RegF SNCOs or officers.
And after all that is taken into consideration, it's still a tossup whether ops is drawing names from a hat or pinning them to a dartboard on any given day. Just when someone is well suited for a particular job, some joker will occasionally put them somewhere completely different.
If you get a spot, content yourself with that. If you really want a solid tour, just go regs.
A reserve platoon commander has about a little say about where a reserve private will go on roto as the private himself. Don't fool yourself into thinking your Pl Comd really has any say in the matter, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. If they decide they don't have enough Cpls and take some Ptes to fill ranks, you'll go where they decide you're to be put. I'm not trying to sound like a dick, but they could (rightfully) care less about the druthers of any particular off the shelf reservist.