Army Reserves

[TurtleCrusher]

Lately things for me are at a standstill. I'm a full time loss prevention/security employee, while going part time to a local community college for an associates and I have nothing that i'm proud of. I'm literally fuckin broke and I'm a lot smarter and better than making $10 and change per hour.

Is the Army Reserves worth while? I hear quite a few normal people are enlisted and I'd be an easy acceptance (6'4, 200, somewhat athletic, intelligent) compared to my father and step father who both served in the Army.

The website doesn't tell me much and i'm kinda worried about what i'd be getting myself into. My future career hopes are being a teacher or working in a corporate networking field (network admin and such). So do they offer similar jobs/training?

How much do they pay? I hear you go in a weekend every month and a month long camp per year. Is it better then 30-40 hours of $10.50 an hour work?

Sorry for all the questions. I just don't see anything informative on their website and asking my dad about this would get his hopes up.

 

[HannibalX]

Just an FYI, you will get deployed. We're in war time and the 2 weeks stuff doesn't apply at the moment (someone correct me if I'm wrong). Also, the army has been increasing reservists obligations to 2035 (which you agree that they can in war time). This is info I have heard in passing with reservists. Correct me if I'm wrong. I know four reservists and they were all deployed within a year of signing up.

I'm not saying that being deployed should deter you, just inform you.

 

[Newbian]

Try google

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Being deployed is kind of nerve racking to think about. I'm not a very combative person. I could do it, but honestly I'd be hesitant with my every move.

 

[HannibalX]

There's nothing wrong with having a healthy fear; anyone who says they aren't afraid of going to another country and potentially being injured, being killed or having to injure or kill another person is dangerous and you don't want to be around them IMO.

Practically everyone in my family currently is active military right now or former military. The same thing I have heard from all of them (from 80 year old vets to 21 year old vets) over and over throughout the years is that you concentrate on your job, whatever that is and know that your fellow servicemen are also doing their job and that's how everyone stays safe. That is I guess supposed to help with the confidence thing, but as far as I can tell from the servicemen I have known, the fear thing is normal and doesn't go away.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Originally posted by: Newbian
Try google

I had a lot more questions than just one.

Your user name is fitting.

 

[Newbian]

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx

Originally posted by: Newbian
Try google

I had a lot more questions than just one.

Your user name is fitting.

And yet you could had took a whole 5 minutes and found everything you needed.

Be lazy and you get the lazy answer.

Also the first link answers most of your questions so learn to read.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

I don't see why you have to be such an asshole.

Sorry if I came here for advice. Its not a lazy question. Everything posted on their site by the military themselves, which can possibly be misleading.

 

[Newbian]

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
I don't see why you have to be such an asshole.

Sorry if I came here for advice. Its not a lazy question. Everything posted on their site by the military themselves, which can possibly be misleading.

Not being a asshole, just providing you the links you need and instead you proceed to act like a jerk so if you don't want a response don't ask.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

No LMGTFY can answer "Is the Army Reserves worth while?"

I'm asking for personal opinions of the matter. Maybe fellow ATOT'ers have first hand experiences or know someone who did. Or quite possibly might be in the reserves right now. You can't Google that, can you?

 

[IAteYourMother]

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
Being deployed is kind of nerve racking to think about. I'm not a very combative person. I could do it, but honestly I'd be hesitant with my every move.

then why would you join the army

 

[Blackjack200]

My second hand experience in the matter is that my brother has mild PTSD after several deployments to Iraq, and one of my friends was killed in Haditha. I have another friend that was serving in Iraq when the economy collapsed, so when he went home to his wife and newborn son, he couldn't find a job (degree in IT), and now he will probably re-enlist for that reason.

You will make shitty money, but there's no where to spend it in the desert, so you should come home with almost all the money you made in the bank. I'd suggest that you continue taking community college classes and work toward a degree, or learn a trade.

There are probably people here that will tell you that the Army is great...

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Originally posted by: IAteYourMother

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
Being deployed is kind of nerve racking to think about. I'm not a very combative person. I could do it, but honestly I'd be hesitant with my every move.

then why would you join the army

Career and personal advancement, additional funds, belonging to something bigger than yourself.

I'm sure I'm not alone.

 

[Blackjack200]

Null

 

[Sea Moose]

i am in Australian Army Reserves, and i found it better to ask questions on the relevant military forum, than a nerd forum.

There are one or two people on this site that are ex us military.

http://forums.military.com/1/O...&s=78919038&f=56919758<-- Random google search

If you want to feel proud, join the reserves.
If you want to get rich, dont join for the money cause it aint that great. (over here neway)

But you would get excellent life experience (team work, fitness, responsibility) etc, but as others have mentioned you have to be prepared to go to war.

I hopefully will get shipped out next year.

If you dont want to be on the front line, you can apply for support jobs. I am a mechanic in civvi world and army world.

 

[Sea Moose]

US army reserves site

 

[Blackjack200]

I think it's legit to ask about it here. People that are unhappy about their military experience are not posting on Military.com

I visited my brother for New Years once when he was stationed at Camp Lejune NC. I probably met 20-25 Marines while I was down there and every singe one knew their EAS date by heart, how many days were left, etc. They all hated their leadership, and laughed about the "Pride" of the USMC. They would taunt each other by yelling out "OOH RAH DEVIL DOG" and shit like that.

But you go to military.com and everyone loves it...

 

[Newbian]

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
No LMGTFY can answer "Is the Army Reserves worth while?"

I'm asking for personal opinions of the matter. Maybe fellow ATOT'ers have first hand experiences or know someone who did. Or quite possibly might be in the reserves right now. You can't Google that, can you?

You would be surprised what you can google these days.

Heck, I just googled the religious beliefs of mice and found out they worship the all might cheese wheel.

 

[IAteYourMother]

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx

Originally posted by: IAteYourMother

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
Being deployed is kind of nerve racking to think about. I'm not a very combative person. I could do it, but honestly I'd be hesitant with my every move.

then why would you join the army

Career and personal advancement, additional funds, belonging to something bigger than yourself.

I'm sure I'm not alone.

yeah, well, if you don't want to fight, try something that doesn't involve fighting.

 

[Newbian]

Originally posted by: IAteYourMother

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx

Originally posted by: IAteYourMother

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
Being deployed is kind of nerve racking to think about. I'm not a very combative person. I could do it, but honestly I'd be hesitant with my every move.

then why would you join the army

Career and personal advancement, additional funds, belonging to something bigger than yourself.

I'm sure I'm not alone.

yeah, well, if you don't want to fight, try something that doesn't involve fighting.

So go to France?

 

[theflyingpig]

There are some technical MOSs in the Army which you might be interested in. If your math is decent, I'd suggest going for 35T which is an intelligence electronics repair job. You'll learn everything from circuits to sat comms. Or you could just use your military skills and become a ruthless warlord like myself. Let me tell you, that's where the real money is at. Everyone knows this.

 

[zerocool84]

If you don't want to get deployed somewhere don't join the Army simple as that. No one should ever join the Army or Army reserves and think they won't get deployed. It's part of the risk you take when joining.

 

[keird]

I've been in the Army for 21 years. My first year was in the Reserves, then about 8 years active and finally the National Guard. I've been mobilized 4 times since 9/11.

If I were you, I'd complete as much college as I could prior to shipping to basic. I'm in a medical company now, but most of my experiences have been with infantry units. The thing about my medical company is there are some MOSs that translate to a very good income while you're young. These include 68P Radiology Specialist and 68A Biomedical Equipment Specialist. The 68Ps are making ~$30/hour in the Boston area, right out of school. This isn't bad when you're 20 years old.

The college thing is key regardless of any MOS that you choose. If you get deployed, you'll probably be an E-4/Specialist. Not much income. Upward mobility is determined by available positions and your standing in the promotion system. College credits favor getting promoted quickly if you combine it with other stuff. Your physical fitness test score, marksmanship score, awards and time in service/time in grade are things that all your peers will have. There's a way to separate you from the center of that bell curve, though. College and military correspondence courses. If you want to know more about correspondence courses, I can provide some info.

I'll add to this later, I have to do something.

 

[keird]

Military pay tables

http://www.dfas.mil/militarypay/militarypaytables.html

E-3 - $219.96 for a weekend. $1,649.70/month

E-4 - $243.68 for a weekend. $1,827.60/month

 

[Kreon]

Nobody has yet to mention it: Have you thought about other services?

Look into the Coast Guard, Navy, or Air Force.

My dad was a Coastie, and I have/am considering signing up after college, especially if the economy continues to suffer. I will say I went to the Academy for a week to see how it was, and I hated it. The discipline things that I saw as dumb really bothered me (squaring meals/walking, hazing, having the Cadre treat you like shit to "break you down to build you up"). But that's nothing from how the real Coast Guard works, according to one of the Cadre, my dad, and others I've talked to.

My dad was active duty for a few years (in the mid 70s), the reserves until he retired a couple years ago. The only times he was activated other than his weekend a month, 2 weeks a year was for things like Blizzard of '76 (though he may have been on active duty?), a couple weeks in the office during Desert Storm, and just after 9/11 for a couple weeks. He was in Electronic Support. He did have opportunities to go overseas though (if you want). He almost went to Georgia (the country) when I was ~10 for a year to help advise them on their Coast Guard, but turned it down. There was another opportunity like that as well when I was a bit older, but I don't remember where it was. Southeast Asia I think...

Good luck whatever you choose though