I will preface that this is a very long response.Feel free to send me an email and I’d be willing to talk more over this if that would help.

The very short answer is that people are going to ‘routinely’ get weekend duty. I would expect to get 1-2 weekdays and 1 weekend monthly, depending on your population, mission, and exemptions

What follows is the very long answer:
When I took over as S1, I could not discern the rhyme or reason how my predecessor produced the staff duty roster. I was determined that I would transition it to a DA6 IAW the regulation. I knew this would make it an objective process that could pass scrutiny and would take less time in the long run.If you check out the reg (which rivals only the regulations of Flags and Office Symbols for brevity), it states that the numbering CAN be done separate for duty days versus non-duty days.I personally felt it didn’t make a difference of one versus the other expect to require the DA6 more focus to produce when dealing with 2 different number sets. At one point, I got a direct order to do the separate numbering systems, so that did cause a shift in the DA6.I did have some people complain, but I would produce for them any number of months of DA6s they wanted — I let them ‘check my work’. Another way that I would recommend as a safeguard would be writing a staff duty memo (you may already have one). It should probably list the ranks that will be put on the DA6, anyone exempted**, what the alternate COA is if the primary pool gets too small, and responsibilities of the SDO (to include the checks conducted, what the unit footprint is, if they can leave it / sleep at night , and if they get a recovery day). As part of this, I’d recommend including a statement explaining when the “cut off” to be exempted for the next month. I would work with my S3 shop for some other taskings data, and work to get them the DA by the 10th of the month. In order to give myself enough time to balance other early month requirements (USR, HR Metrics, command and staff, OER scrubs, officer slates), I recall that I gave the exemption to be the last duty day of the month prior*. This gives the S1 about 5 duty days to execute the DA6. All that I required was for a company commander to email me and say, “hey, LT is doing X 3^rd weekend of May, please exempt them”. Boom. I’d print the email, and file with the DA6 continuity book behind that month’s DA6.This staff duty memo that detailed all this information was signed by the BN XO, and so you should have their backing if someone doesn’t come up on the net to coordinate a concern.
Also, once the list was published (via the weekly S3 OPORD) and someone approached me to say that they had concert tickets or were running a race and ask for an exemption, I would (1) educate them on the policy memo signed by the XO and the acknowledgement that they can ask their commander for an exemption, (2) tell them I don’t actually care if they do the duty or not, just someone has to be there.If they chose to swap with someone, I wouldn’t change the number or alter the roster. But if their battle didn’t show up, that was on them (the person on the roster).Also, I recommended that they give the XO a heads up.

Lastly, since you’re asking about the process, here’s the S1 process I used:
-Copy AAA-167s from eMILPO into excel, adding column for UIC on the left
-Annotate (coloring is easy) for SDO memo exemptions (as I said above, XOs, PA, CH, etc.). Refilter for ease of reading. Using color, “reverse” the filter
-Enter in a column of notes, logging any other taskings (S3 shop) or issue with their duty
-Once you’ve got that process down, here’s the sharper stuff that will increase your competency and your reputation:
-Scrub the LT list for promotion (or CPT/MAJ, if applicable).The longer you’ve been the S1, more you know your population, the easier this becomes.If someone has a 1LT promotion date at the beginning of the month, make a deliberate decision if this person will stay on roster as 2LT or be logged as 1LT.Whatever you decide, write it down and BE CONSISTENT. Occasionally there are surprises, but it’s easier to ‘take a hit’ for those and be flexible if you have the reputation that can absorb it.
-Likewise, scrub the list for any ‘future exemptions’.If company XOs are exempted, and you have the officer slate and a LT is taking over as XO, should they be slated as an exemption, or not? This is a lot easier if you know the exact date of the move, but usually that isn’t so cut a dry (I’ve seen moves be more conditions based).

Lastly, scrub the list for any one on leave.The easiest way to do this is to review the leave control log — whoever has a control number by the exemption date is good to go, exempt them.
-Put all these notes on the list, coloring any exemptions as necessary, then refiltering for ease of reading.

-Crunching the numbers takes about an hour of sustained focus, plus I would retype it into the bottom of the SDO memo for printing in the order. So you’re talking an average afternoon of work, when you count all the disruptions and interactions inherent in an S1’s job.

*A note about consistency: keeping it “last duty day of the month” versus “25th of the month prior” is easier to remember, IMHO.If you use a date, it eventually becomes a weekend or maybe a BN or BDE DONSA.But leave it as “last duty day” (with maybe an additional disclaimer about any training events not counting…this would depend on your unit), and then anything in your inbox on the 1st duty day of the month, those are the exemptions. Exceptions is also why it is vital to work with the S3 shop.They will know who has been tasked out (to tie this back into the DA6 reg, who has a different duty), what companies are running ranges (does it make sense to exempt that OIC from staff duty that day?), and other helpful info. You’ll learn to figure out what questions to ask based on your units mission.

**Red team this exemption list.It should probably include anyone clearing (IMHO, 30 days prior to clearing — again, this confirmation could come from a company commander) as well as a buffer for new PCSers.Maybe it does/doesn’t include a LT who is a range OIC (since that should be identified about 6 weeks out).Consider your unit’s mission when considering exemptions.Does the PA get exempted? The USR Rep? CPTs who aren’t in command or staff primaries?Also, how will your BN deal with long absences (FTXs, a CTC rotation, or anything similar)? Is the BN CDR comfortable with 1 officer being on call for a week and conducting checks? Or will 2-3 people rotate duties while executing minimal manning in their primary duty? I would urge you to consider these questions when writing the memo.It puts the process out there for people to know about so it isn’t a surprise at summer block leave…and the BN FTX…and CTC rotation, etc.