SurgeMain: Every now and then there's a chance to discover one's ignorance (or perhaps it's more frequently then every now and then)

A few days ago I put up a post on "Navy Calling Up 1,600 Reservists to Fill in For Shipyard Workers Out for COVID-19" and expressed my surprise. During the Midrats show on 14 June 2020, I again expressed some surprise, but was able to do a quick search for the Navy's "SurgeMain Program."

Turns out that this program of having a number of Naval Reservists available for work in Naval shipyards has been around for some time and I should not have been surprised by anything more than the size of the recall. Here's a little background about the program and how it helps the Navy and the reservists in the SurgeMain:

Here's a sample of what a member of the SurgeMain reserve component might look at - in this case for a Machinery Repairmen rate (click on it to enlarge):

And one for Electrician Mates:

You might note that in both those cases "60%" of the Selected Reserve billets for those rates were in the SurgeMain program as of 2009. Selected Reserve billets are the pay billets.

More information in this flier:

SurgeMain Flier by lawofsea on Scribd

I am embarrassed by my previous lack of knowledge of this program - especially since it's been around for 14 or 15 years.