Posted on Sep 18, 2014
What's the best advice you'd give someone who wants to re-enter the military with a commission after a 10 year break in service?
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Prior enlisted, thinking about going back into reserves because I miss the uniform and people, and the loan repayment options aren't too bad either!
Posted in these groups: 
Retirement
Discharge
Re-enlistment
Officer Separation Board (OSB)Officer Recruiter
Retirement Discharge Re-enlistment Officer Separation Board (OSB)Officer Recruiter
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 7
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I see on your profile that you are a Dental student. Quite frankly, unless you were looking for tuition assistnace, I would wait until you graduate and get your license, then approach an AMEDD recruiter about a commission. You'd come back in as Dental officer at the rank of CPT.
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SGT Tibbs,
[I started a longer reply, but realized that you already said reserves...]
I think it would be a great idea.
Keep in mind that there could be HUGE age, experience, and perspective gap between you and your peers. On thing that can be hard is taking advise and mentorship from your boss who is several years younger than you (it SHOULDN'T be, but experience shows that it is for lots of people). As a bonus, your age and prior service will bring you some amount of instant credibility with your NCOs and junior Enlisted.
Be realistic up front about what your goals are. Map out your preferred and alternate career paths - know what gates you'll need to hit when. If you decide you want to go for commands, make sure you are educated on the "cost to be the boss."
[I started a longer reply, but realized that you already said reserves...]
I think it would be a great idea.
Keep in mind that there could be HUGE age, experience, and perspective gap between you and your peers. On thing that can be hard is taking advise and mentorship from your boss who is several years younger than you (it SHOULDN'T be, but experience shows that it is for lots of people). As a bonus, your age and prior service will bring you some amount of instant credibility with your NCOs and junior Enlisted.
Be realistic up front about what your goals are. Map out your preferred and alternate career paths - know what gates you'll need to hit when. If you decide you want to go for commands, make sure you are educated on the "cost to be the boss."
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SGT Maria Tibbs
Thanks for your response, Sir. I'm currently experiencing that perspective gap in school, so it is nothing new. It seems as though it would be more pronounced if I were to go active duty. To be honest, I don't know much about "the cost to be the boss!"
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LTC Paul Labrador
SGT Maria Tibbs, I think you will find your experience will be less jarring than you think, particularly if you come back in as a Dentist. You will be a clinician first and foremost, so you will be in the "other" category for officers (unless you stay in long enough to gain enough rank where they pull you away from patient care and put you into leadership....like me....).
If you do choose to come back in as a Dentist, your prior service will actually serve you well as you will be a "squared away" dentist....
If you do choose to come back in as a Dentist, your prior service will actually serve you well as you will be a "squared away" dentist....
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COL Vincent Stoneking
SGT Maria Tibbs
The perspective gap WOULD be much more going active duty - that was the part I cut out when I realized you were talking about going reserve.
what I was referencing about "paying the cost" is the truly stunning amount of your unpaid "free" time that will be eaten up in any sort of command position that you are seriously committed to. Add to that professional development schooling, self-study, finding & connecting with mentors, etc.
While I got into a rhythm after a while, I would say that during my time as a BN CDR, I had two full-time jobs, especially for the first year. It's just one of them only paid me one weekend a month.
I'm not complaining, I loved my command, and leaving was one of the hardest things I ever did. But it was a LOT of work, much more than I had imagined going in. I actually had a fair bit of difficulty adjusting when I left command. I had all this extra time laying around....but now I have War College to keep me busy. :-)
The perspective gap WOULD be much more going active duty - that was the part I cut out when I realized you were talking about going reserve.
what I was referencing about "paying the cost" is the truly stunning amount of your unpaid "free" time that will be eaten up in any sort of command position that you are seriously committed to. Add to that professional development schooling, self-study, finding & connecting with mentors, etc.
While I got into a rhythm after a while, I would say that during my time as a BN CDR, I had two full-time jobs, especially for the first year. It's just one of them only paid me one weekend a month.
I'm not complaining, I loved my command, and leaving was one of the hardest things I ever did. But it was a LOT of work, much more than I had imagined going in. I actually had a fair bit of difficulty adjusting when I left command. I had all this extra time laying around....but now I have War College to keep me busy. :-)
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Go to OCS and work really hard to be the best. When you go to BOLC, don't be afraid to ask questions, take copious notes, study hard and work with your classmates to get the best grades you can. When you get to your first unit as an officer, ask lots of questions, always be in the right place at the right time in the right uniform, and work really hard for the first three months at your first unit then coast off of your reputation from there. Stay on the good side of your senior rater (Battalion Commander most likely) and always do your best to back up your commander and make them look good. Give credit to subordinates as much as possible and don't worry about not getting praised for the work you do. Occasionally you'll work really hard and it seems no one noticed, but results speak loudly and you'll get what you deserve in the long run.
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