Thinking about doing Army Reserves( any reservist get in here)
Well, i recently came back from my little brothers blue cord/grad out at ft benning last week, made me consider joining the reserves, although my triggest concern is making sure my wife and kids will be fine financially while id be out at basic, what are your views on the reserves as a whole?
im 26 years old, about 188lbs so i know id be an "old guy" if i attend lol. ive seen some people who can promote before or while in basic, is this performance based? or something prior such as ROTC? thats all for now since im at work. Any reservist care to chime in? Im looking at 11B, cant let little bro out gun me now. whats your opinion on the reserves, what is the training cycles like?( is it even remotely close to 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks a year)? |
The reserves were a terrible experience for me. Go active is my advice.
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A lot depends on your job now and if you can leave for extended periods of time. It's "illegal" for your employer to bar you from active duty or penalize you for belonging, but "s*it happens" and I doubt you'll avoid it.
Reserves are difficult in that you are riding two horses at the same time. Active duty is the way to go, though you mention you have a family, and that's rough on them I many ways. Research your possibilities! |
If you go 11B you'll end up going to OSUT at Fort Benning ( enjoy sandhill). In the reserves infantry is not a MOS or career field, only active duty or National Guard. Military police would be the closest thing in the reserves.
Reserves and National Guard are fine for some. Others its a hard transition, the problem being is that drill dates or called UTAs ( unit training assemblies) consists of a weekend. Its a constant catch up game, you have squeeze alot of information or training in a short time. You can get SAD ( state active duty) orders or federal, depends on your MOS and what is going on in your unit. My experience working with the National Guard/reserves has been great overall. The unique aspect is you have older, more experienced soldiers who came from the active side. I talked to a SGT whos been deployed 6 times, was in the USMC before. |
Not entirely true tacitblue, I was part of a reserve drill sergeant unit and part of our training before DSC was the requirement to attend 11B MOS school and reclass. However, I don't think this option would be available to an IET soldier.
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My apologies Chuck. My experience comes from the CAANG, so that is what my general impression has been regarding the reserves ( federal). From what I understand some reserves can support 11B's in a STB function.
OP, 11B is fun and a rush, yada yada. Your main goal should be for yourself, do your best on the ASVAB and consider other MOS's that help you transition into the civilian world afterwards. |
See if you like the reserves, if you dont you can walk. You cant do that with active.
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My recruiter talked me out of 11X when signing up because he said I would only paint rocks all day and do range clean up (9-11 was still a few months away), so I signed up for a support MOS, but with Airborne in the contract. That's the thing, you can get a good, interesting job but still do high speed stuff if you are in good shape and bug the command about wanting to attend schools. |
Painting rocks... Oh man, if you passed SFAS you could have been one of the first boot on the ground in the Ghan.
OP as Andy dick |
Ahahaha, In the Army Now is such a great movie that never gets any credit. It's all good, I probably would have failed SFAS anyways, hell I failed out of Ranger because I got LLMF on the land-nav course. Apparently a year doing squats and deadlifts really messes with your pace count.
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Haha, you did you manage to get lost? Wrong azimuth and pace count sounds like? I know it's difficult, I'm luckly I didn't have to do it much.
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Edit: Which would have also put me not attending UNC while the men's basketball team made a national title run. So that was a party I'm glad I didn't miss. |
In my opinion the best part about being in the infantry was deploying. Being 11B in Garrison was not nearly as fun. The amount of money to go to school, get good gear and go to other countries to train is probably going to drastically dry up as well, Especially if you are in the NG.
If you are joining to play in the game you might have missed your window. |
11B,
Africa is the new pivot point. Yes, Afghanistan is dawning down. |
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go active first then try Reserves or Guard. there are no combat MOS's in the Reserves National Guard has them. I've been the Reserves my entire career and I have seen good AD guys come and lots go because the BS is so thick they cant stand it. Some don't even bother to show up which shows the same mentality on active duty.
You can learn a lot on active and you may like it. I can tell you this regardless of what you choose you will meet some of the strangest and funniest people in the world and not to mention some people that are downright slobs and do not shower. it happens to all of us. |
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I've been out of active duty Army for almost a year now. I do not miss garrison one bit. I would have served my entire contract deployed if it was an option. |
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The 100th BN 442d Infantry is the only remaining Infantry unit in the Army Reserves. The only problem is you will have to move to Guam.
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1) You will have to go National Guard as Combat Arms. Reserves do not have combat MOS’s or units. CA has an Infantry and Artillery unit as National Guard.
2) While in Basic as a reservist you can earn HALF the average amount of BAH, which was about $700 for me. You’ll need your lease, or mortgage documents to prove you have a housing obligation back home. My recruiter didn’t tell me about this, and I had to scurry WHILE at reception at basic training to get the documents to get BAH. So GO TO reception/basic with them IN HAND. Expect to be gone about half a year for basic and MOS training. 3) You will not promote WHILE in basic. With a degree you can enter as E4. Without a degree you can get as high as E3 if you work with your recruiter and do some on-line training, and pass the Fitness Test. I got E5 in 24 months, and will submit for E6 at 48 months. Some Intel MOS’s have amazingly low promotion point thresholds. 4) Typically reserve battalions are on 5 year deployment rotations. So you will be exposed to at least one potential deployment during your enlistment. However, with the draw down your deployment opportunities are going to narrow to specific MOS’s and less so for entire battalions or companies. 5) You’d be surprised. At 26 you’ll be about the average age. 34 and 364 days is the age limit. The upside of the reserves is your time in service clock starts the moment you sign the contract. Whereas active duty starts the moment you ship to basic. I had 6 months time in service before I even shipped to basic (which matters for time in service requirements for promotion). 6) It’s not really 1 weekend 2 weeks a year like they advertise. It is one weekend a month. YES, that’s about accurate. However, we don’t do a Battalion wide 2 week training event. We send various soldiers to various training courses or overseas training exercises. Almost everyone ends up going to something during the year for 2 weeks, but it’s a few here for that, a few here for this. Some get out of it, some don’t. I could go to South Korea twice a year if I wanted. 7) Here’s something I’ve noticed now that I’m out of my home unit and deployed as a single augmentee. Whatever MOS you decide to go into I think it’s better if you go into a Battalion that is specific to your MOS. Life kind of sucks for those MOS’s that are assigned to units that are different from the Battalion’s primary mission. I’m Intel, and part of an Intel Battalion. Life is great back home. Motor pool and supply guys not so much. I’m sure they would have a different experience in a Logistical Unit. I’m not turning wrenches or pushing paper, but I’m the outsider where I’m deployed to. To my point in #6. I could go to S. Korea every year. Non Intel MOS’s really don’t get that opportunity in my unit. Once in a while they get to go, but only if they need A LOT of bodies for the exercise. 8) Here’s the biggest hook. I grew up watching military documentaries as a kid. That was fine when my heroes were from Pre 1980’s military engagements. They were my father and grandfather. Then came 9/11 and suddenly my heroes starting becoming half my age. A feeling of being less in life that I could have been started to sink in. That feeling is now forever gone……………………… That uniform in the closet isn’t my father’s or grandfather’s. It’s mine. |
Drill weekends can suck A LOT.
It is required once a month the military has to do a suicide prevention check. This isn’t a big deal in the Active side because it’s your daily job. In the reserves this is now a part of EVERY SINGLE DRILL (once a month). NCO’s get with their soldiers and check their mental welfare and rubber stamp the “I won’t kill myself form”. Twice a year we have range. These are usually 3 or 4 day weekend drills. So we use 9 rounds to zero, and 40 rounds to qualify. Thus if you qualify the first time you only shoot 98 rounds a year. I never get the same rifle, and they are iron sights. The other two big drill weekends are fitness tests. For those that pass on the regular schedule they are fine. They end up running the fitness test for those who don’t pass and have to keep taking it every month. Don’t get off the regular test cycle. Once a year we spend an entire day sitting in the chapel listening to sexual harassment and equal opportunity briefs. YES, EIGHT insane hours of listening to this nonsense. I’ll miss it this year. I’m deployed. In December we have our annual uniform inspection (dress blues). This ends up being a 1 day drill (which is fine, because remember range drill weekends are usually an extra day or two so they make up the days). |
i was thinking the same thing about going AR, i am 25 turning 26 this year. i was wanting to go combat medic (68W) i believe, and potentially try to get into a jump school.
a guy at my current job did that and was attached to a unit and saw more infantry drilling then being stuck in a hospital since he was airborne. |
Definitely go 68W. As a fellow EMT in the civilian sector, I can tell you employers love to hear the military trained you. I'm a MP, but I'm reclassifying as a 68W soon.
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I was in the Regular Army for 6 years and 8 in the CA National Guard. I took a break to give a kidney and never went back in. I wish I had stayed in, but i am glad I got out. I would be drawing retirement from it now with some medical. 1 weekend a month is a lie. It turns into much more plus deployments. I missed the best part of my kids growing up in so many ways. I will tell you straight up, it will be a financial hardship on you and your family. Between work and NG I was always tired. If I had to do it over, I would have never joined the Guard. There were many good times but mostly a pain in the butt. Stay home, work and raise your family like you planned when you got married.
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I went active first then reserves and think that is the best way to go. |
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I don't know if everyone saying "go active" is reading the OP. At 26 with wife and kids and job I don't think that is the ideal option. I had the itch to serve too and joined the USAR at about the same age. I do not think USAR has 11B, but ARNG does.
There are MANY sandwiches of soup in the reserves, but I knew a lot of dudes too who were good soldiers. I tried my very best to always be a professional soldier whenever in uniform, i.e. squared away, do good on PT test, motivate fellow soldiers. When we had down time during drill weekends I use to do impromptu classes on military history to fire the troops up and get them motivated. When I became an NCO near the end of my enlistment, I busted up slaps who liked to hide or sham. It was always fun to embarrass those guys or get them sent home without pay because they were not participating in the drills. If you are in a good unit you will travel and see the world, probably deploy too. We went to OCONUS AT every year. I was never active except for a year while mobilized & deployed (not to sandbox) and I truly enjoyed it all. I got out to concentrate on my civilian job (sworn LE) but later I regretted it and missed being in. P.S. AD Army will always rip on the reserves. Don't take it personal..it is just tradition |
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There is no possible way someone who does something 2 days a month and 2 weeks a year will be anywhere near as proficient as someone who does it every day. Even if you want to say reserves work more than 2 days a month 2 weeks a year, nothing will compare to the amount of training an active unit will do. Even people who have deployed or been prior active will see their skills atrophy. That's why when reserve units go on combat deployments they don't just deploy they get activated and train a ton as active duty prior to leaving. Now that wars are over and we don't have a large scale conflict in the foreseeable future joining the reserves right now is nothing more than wanting to play dress up and get some nice benefits. I know plenty of guys with a wife and kids on active duty that are over 25 years old and they do just fine. |
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WHY???
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Because even AD train on a regular basis and deploy in peace time.
The reserve is a great option and I am not bashing the reserves I am saying someone who goes from civilian to reserves is not going to be proficient at their job. Unless perhaps they are some super pog support job that they can practice at home. Reserves drill for ~34 days a year correct? I have spent that much time in the field in the past 2 months as an AD Marine. You cannot learn a job working 34 days a year, and I know that all of that time is not spent in the field training a lot of it is sexual assault classes and PT tests and other things that don't make someone a proficient killer. There is no war, the reserves rarely will get deployments now, because there are plenty of active units wanting them. If you are going into the reserves straight as a civilian that's fine. But you will not become proficient at your job anytime soon if ever until you get mobilized. And I don't know why someone would waste a space, a uniform, or money just to say "I was in the reserves" If you want to serve the country go active, learn your job, do a deployment (even if it's not a combat one) and then after 4 years that will FLY by you can go reserves and have a normal job and family and still be ready if your country calls. That's my personal opinion from what I have observed downrange, at home, and just what I feel after a basic analysis of how the military works. |
I knew a active duty soldier with the 82nd Airborne. He loved the Army and active duty at first, a deployment to Iraq changed that. He became burnt out with the Army quickly,he wouldn't take coms seriously on the net. He eventually became the unit ****bag and got discharged.
In my experience the reserves is ccomprised of professionals, older more mature soldiers. I'm sure my buddy above was a bad example for AD,but it shows what happens being in AD can do to a person. |
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I get the whole professional athlete argument. But you can also do a 180 and say those " professional athletes" go into reserves after AD. Now you have a experienced soldier whos been there and done that. Case and point, a instructor at the NG MP school has 6 deployments under his belt.
A 18-23 year old can't compete against years of experience. In reference to gunsmokes " waste of space" argument, i find that amusing... Many of those" wastes of spaces" are cadre that teach CLS courses, or maintain other professional jobs outside the military like firefighters/paramedics, M.D.s who bring something greater than MOS school, which generally exceeds military education..... Who would you want to teach you CLS? A active duty 68W on garrison duty? Or a 68w who runs 911 paramedic calls in the civilian world? Whos in the reserves. |
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