Army reserve prospect... UPDATE: I made it!!!!
Hi all. I have been seriously considering a visit to a recruiter to discuss my prospects. 20 years ago I took the asvab and did the Army physical only to be told I have a red-green color deficiency. That meant I was qualified for about 5 jobs in the military. I was not interested at the time. Flash forward 20 years and I've still got the itch to serve. My circumstances are thankfully different now. I work in the healthcare field. I'm still very fit, no tats, drugs, or record. I'm mainly interested in joining the Army reserves. I'd appreciate any thoughts, ideas, guidance. If I did sign up, what should I expect during training, weekends, work, etc? If you need more details about my training or field of work send me a PM. Thanks in advance for your thoughtful comments.
|
The Reserves without being prior service (ie having at least a few years of active duty) is pretty lame. You will never get the full "Army experience" and you'll probably never be tactically and technically proficient in your MOS. Still, the degree to which it's pretty lame depends mostly on what unit you pick (yes, you do that in the Reserves) and your MOS.
Since the post-Cold War Reserve/National Guard realignment, all of the combat arms units (for the most part) have been moved over to the NG. Reserves is primarily support so my guess is you'd have the best time in some kind of medivac unit doing flight medicine, which would be more exciting that being part of a combat support hospital, I would suspect. Don't write off the Air Force either, but ultimately the selection of units in your locale is what's likely to be your main limitation. I would suggest talking to a recruiter at a minimum, but it pays to do your homework before you walk in the door. PS. the minimum advice I always give everyone interested in joining the Army is make sure you have Airborne school in your contract. You can thank me later. |
It depends, how old are you? The age limit is 34 at the moment. Honestly, I would recommend you go Active Duty or Army National Guard. I'm currently a reservist, and I hate it. The Army Reserves is the lowest on the military totem pole, we get the oldest beat up gear, and the least funding. If I could do it all over, I would be active duty.
That aside, if you go through with either the NG or AR, you'll go to Basic and AIT which will range anywhere between 4 months to 1 year depending on your MOS. You'll be working one weekend a month, typically saturday and sunday, although some drills depending on your unit, may include a friday. You also have the yearly 2-3 week Annual Training. During Basic Training expect a lot of yelling, physical activity, lack of sleep, buddy f**ckers, and no privacy. Generally when you get back to your unit everything, it will be very relaxed, , random details, pretty much doing nothing. Across the board in the Army, expect Death by PowerPoint, APFT every 90-180 days, Weapons Qual twice a year, lazy sh*tbags, overly motivated soldiers, LTs that don't know what they are doing, police calls, waking up early, and a host of other things. |
Check the thread about the CSMR - http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...highlight=CSMR
Let me know if you have any questions. I signed up at 46 - Similar eye issues kept me out if the Navy Nuke program when I was 19..... |
Last I heard, the age limit is 34 for first time enlistment and 42 for prior service.
|
Unless you took the ASVAB when you were fourteen, you are already timed out and that ship has set sail.
|
Quote:
|
Army is now 35 (as of 1 Apr 11), Navy Reserve takes enlistments up to age 39. If you are a licensed physician and wish to join as an officer, you can be up to 46 years old.
Once you're past those age cutoffs, you will need to get a waiver. |
Quote:
Yes, I signed at 38 on March 28, 2011. The age was changed as I was in the middle of my MEPS process, and my recruiter rushed to find me a slot "ANYWHERE". I think it's a crap shoot regarding your experience in the service. I'm reserve, and have been on orders nearly every day since I got out of training. So I've nearly been active since I left for basic. With this deployment coming up I'll have locked in my time to get 100% of the Post 9/11 GI bill. I'm on my 3rd DD214 release form active ending this fiscal year. Though it's sounding like I'll be on one of the last deployments available. Sounds like you are too old unless you are a Chaplin, Doctor, or Lawyer. Only recruiter can give you an accurate assessment. Ask other services, but be prepared to take anything you can get, and take it fast. |
theres even a chance you wont even be sent to your school for your job, or even bootcamp for that matter. 2 of my friends were reserve and it was at least 12 months before they went off to bootcamp AFTER they had started drilling with their units. their time consisted of sitting around in a stripped down uniform doing lower level tasks.
the red green color blind will still be an issue too. |
Ok. I am resurrecting this tread to mention I am meeting with a recruiter this weekend. Any suggested questions to ask? No offense to anyone here but most of the replies are regarding enlistment and basic traing, etc. The position I am looking at is very specific - physical therapist. I would be commissioned as an officer. Looks like it starts with approximately 6 weeks of classes about military protocol and role of the physical therapist in the military. That's as much as I have heard so far. Hopefully you good folks can give me some talking points to bring up during the discussion. Thanks.
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
You will need to speak to a medical recruiter. Lawyers, Doctors, and Chaplains are handled differently.
I'll bet the recruiter you meet will pass you onto a specialist. The reality is, your local generic recruiters are experts at enlisting recent high school grads with no criminal history, and can get through medical without a hitch. Anything outside of that challenges them. |
Well, I met with a medical recruiter. The meeting did not go well in my opinion. The person I met with was not prepared, less than professional, and did not really have much info for me. I would be happy to give more details in a pm if someone wants. Perhaps there are recruiters on here who can help.
|
I would really consider the Air Force Reserves. I did 20 and finished out in the Reserves. Air Force is the way to go especially for those in medical fields. I was never in the medical side but was always jealous I didn't.
|
Quote:
That's the most accurate summary I've ever read lol |
Quote:
|
For what it's worth I haven't heard from any of the recruiters I left messages for. That includes army, navy, air force. I guess they don't need any very well educated/qualified physical therapists. Even the army recruiter noted they had only filled 1/4 of the needed positions for the year. If anyone knows a professional recruiter with their stuff together that would like to talk please pm me. Thanks.
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
There are Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy recruiting offices in the same building in Alameda... that's where I shipped from and the Navy recruiters were all stand-up guys.
|
Good luck to the OP and I hope he enlists. I served 6 years in the Army Reserve with about 1.5 of that accumulated on AD. I had a great time.
I hope this thread doesn't turn out like the one from the guy who kept his 'I want to enlist' thread going for like 2 years and got endless amounts of advice from vets, recruiters, etc but then never followed through with it and just wasted everyone's time. I was in my 20's and just walked into a USAR recruiter out of the blue and told him to sign me up. It was very easy. I got a good job that came with a signing bonus and went to a unit that went overseas for training every year. We traveled a lot and went to Korea, Germany, Thailand, and deployed to GTMO for a year. The only 'demand' I had when I enlisted was to sign me up quick and ship me out to BCT quickly before I wussed out. I think from cold-calling the recruiter until ship date was about 3-4 weeks or so. |
I don't think it's a good idea. War time operational tempo is over meaning welcome to garrison life. It's a bad time to join up, especially as all the branches are looking to cut personnel.
There are other ways to serve. Best of luck. |
Quote:
If you can get in then more power to you. I would go active rather than reserves. More chances to travel and get the true experience but your situation may dictate otherwise. Best of luck! |
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
There are a couple other options though, including the State Military Reserve, and the State Militia's. It's all volunteer though, which some people complain about. I guess it depends on your desire to serve. The plus side of it is there are no 4 year contracts to sign :) |
Quote:
Thanks for the info. I remember when I was 18 they hounded me to join, now I can't even get them on the phone! I'm definitely clean, no tats, get up early and exercise every day. I'm well educated in my field. Not sure what more they'd be looking for. |
UPDATE: This is for anyone in the medical field, particularly physical therapists, contemplating "applying".
Hi all. I'm reviving this necropost to say that my application is in the works. I finally got back on track with a medical recruiter. What an ordeal! When I started out the application process I couldn't find any PT's in the military to guide me in the process. First off, they have to have an opening. The AF only has maybe 1 opening every 4-5 years according to the recruiter. So Army it is. They only go through recruiting/application review process once a year, at least for PT's. You submit a C.V., all of your transcripts, copies of degrees, certifications, con ed, birth certificate, passport, PT license. That gets review by a panel of your peers to see if you qualify. All of this before the physical and all of the rest. My application materials are in and next step is peer review. I believe the final closing of recruiting happens in February. Now i wait to hear from them. |
Did you fail the lantern color test, or the book? I failed the book but passed two the bulb lantern test with the minimum score (you can only miss one) and kept my job.
|
Quote:
|
Excuse my grammar.
When I went to take my IST for The Marines. There was a seprate group that were going for OCS they had to take the actual PFT to qualify. |
Quote:
|
Initial strength test
Physical fitness test. |
Got it. Thanks. I should be able to manage. I'm 40 but still in good shape!
|
I wouldn't be worried, the physical standards become increasingly low after 30+....
The "lantern" is really old school, it's two bulbs in a box that light up either red, green or white. You just say what color the bulbs are. You can miss one out of 20 and pass. I really got lucky with them letting me take the alternate test, it's probably because it was at basic where I had to do it. Somehow I barely passed the book at MEPS. |
Quote:
|
Hi all. Time for an update. I'm keeping this thread alive in case anyone else needs the info. I had no reference when I started this process and there is little to nil info on the web on the extent of the process for physical therapists. As it turns out the panel that reviews physical therapist applicants meets once a year in February. The recruiter and I have been working on getting my records together. My CV has been reviewed, next step is my medical record review. My experience will place me as a captain if I am accepted. I'm eager to be done with the application process. Hopefully there will be good news from the panel in February.
|
Good luck. It's amazing how many **** bags we had and some good people can't get in.
|
All times are GMT -8. The time now is 10:36 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.