Posted on Dec 23, 2021
What cultural differences exist between Army National Guard and Army Reserve?
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How is the experience of a Guardsman different from that of a Reservist, in terms of organizatonal climate, expectations, opportunities, competition, and any other factors?
Army Reserve Elements
Posted >1 y ago
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I'll take a shot at this one.
The Guard is Combat Arms oriented, in my somewhat dated opinion, the operational and training tempo tends to be higher than in most Reserve units. Organizational climate varies from state to state. Since the 90's, most Guard units now deploy on a rotation schedule, although I anticipate that tempo with drop off (but it may not). If you are Combat Arms, Enlisted or Officer, the opportunity for promotion up through E-7 for NCO's and to Major for Officers is decent. After that you bump into the fact that your pool of positions are only within your state.
My Reserve experience is limited, but the two I saw were the fact that slots to promote to are nationwide and more are available and generally more opportunities for Support MOS's and Branches.
The Guard is Combat Arms oriented, in my somewhat dated opinion, the operational and training tempo tends to be higher than in most Reserve units. Organizational climate varies from state to state. Since the 90's, most Guard units now deploy on a rotation schedule, although I anticipate that tempo with drop off (but it may not). If you are Combat Arms, Enlisted or Officer, the opportunity for promotion up through E-7 for NCO's and to Major for Officers is decent. After that you bump into the fact that your pool of positions are only within your state.
My Reserve experience is limited, but the two I saw were the fact that slots to promote to are nationwide and more are available and generally more opportunities for Support MOS's and Branches.
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1LT (Join to see)
Thank you Sir! Do you think the different roles and optempo creates an atmosphere where colleauges are more patient or supportive with each other?
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CPT Lawrence Cable
1LT (Join to see) I think that units that deploy on schedule tend to maintain a more professional attitude and have programs to support the newer guys at their jobs and family life. The downside of the Guard can be dealing with the good old boy network that can exist among the full time cadre. My experience says that can be worse in states with smaller populations. Your mileage may vary.
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Having been Active, Guard and now Reserve I'm actually surprised how different they are.
Make your choice to move based on your next position. You can always change again in the future.
Make your choice to move based on your next position. You can always change again in the future.
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From a Reserve perspective. It has been very structured - not many training schedule changes, just the standard once a month and two weeks a year (some units do quarterly or biannual drills{IMA}). Mobilization rotations are based on a 4-5 year cycle, if they are even used in their deployment year. It is much easier to transfer bewteen units and accross state lines (sometimes even out of country-Germany). I've seen a lot of NG officers move to the Reserves after CPT for promotion options. The reserves is larger and therefore has more positions avalaible for promotion. Similar to Guard, there are always opportunities to volunteer to deploy if you are interested. They are both part time jobs. Same insurance option and VA benifits.
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1LT (Join to see)
My experience with the National Guard has been that there are many moving parts. When I served with a division headquarters company, the year before a deployment had drills that were 3-5 days long. More recently, there have been frequent activations, long and short, for COVID, local peacekeeping, and in response to weather conditions. Your description of serving in the Reserve sounds a lot more predictable and manageable than the Guard.
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CPT Lawrence Cable
Let me respond to both. I agree that Officer promotions in the Guard tend to bottleneck at Major for the non-Combat Branches or Engineers. Granted it's been more than a few years since I've been around, but promotion to Major wasn't that big of an issue in Combat Arm or Engineering units (lots of Engineers in the Guard). LTC and above were an issue in the two states I served. May be different in states like Texas or California.
Yes, the deployment schedule is more frequent these days, although the weather/local control missions were always around. In the early 90's, Guard Engineer units were rotating to Central and South America on Civil Action Programs, My company supported the State Police during the Anti Pot Farming program at the time, as well as responded to floods, snow emergencies, tornados and forest fires. Most of those duties were farmed out to soldiers that we knew needed the work.
We sat with the pallets loaded all through Desert Storm and weren't deployed. I blame that fact on Schwarzkopf, who still remembered the Vietnam Era Guard. If became apparent that was a mistake, the organization at the time meant that Divisions went to war without there Round Out Brigades, Non Divisional Engineers were tasked to support Maneuver units and a lot of commanders weren't happy. A lot was made of the fact that a Guard Brigade went to NTC and got their asses kicked. I've done a support tour with the Opfor at NTC, everyone gets their asses kicked. After that, with the Non Vietnam Era Commanders taking over, the Guard units were re-integrated into the Army the way it had worked prior to Vietnam when Guard units were often the first Army Troops in Combat.
The Army was nice and sent me on a Keep Up tour with the 82nd Engineers in Germany after Desert Storm. They were a bit shocked when I told them I would have deadlined half their vehicle and had a Come To Jesus meeting with the Maintenance shop and that my worst Equipment Operator would have ran circles around their best. They had been a Corp level unit just converted to a Divisional Combat Engineer unit, while I was a former Grunt and had about four years experience supporting and planning with maneuver units, so I spoke the language better than most of them.
Yes, the deployment schedule is more frequent these days, although the weather/local control missions were always around. In the early 90's, Guard Engineer units were rotating to Central and South America on Civil Action Programs, My company supported the State Police during the Anti Pot Farming program at the time, as well as responded to floods, snow emergencies, tornados and forest fires. Most of those duties were farmed out to soldiers that we knew needed the work.
We sat with the pallets loaded all through Desert Storm and weren't deployed. I blame that fact on Schwarzkopf, who still remembered the Vietnam Era Guard. If became apparent that was a mistake, the organization at the time meant that Divisions went to war without there Round Out Brigades, Non Divisional Engineers were tasked to support Maneuver units and a lot of commanders weren't happy. A lot was made of the fact that a Guard Brigade went to NTC and got their asses kicked. I've done a support tour with the Opfor at NTC, everyone gets their asses kicked. After that, with the Non Vietnam Era Commanders taking over, the Guard units were re-integrated into the Army the way it had worked prior to Vietnam when Guard units were often the first Army Troops in Combat.
The Army was nice and sent me on a Keep Up tour with the 82nd Engineers in Germany after Desert Storm. They were a bit shocked when I told them I would have deadlined half their vehicle and had a Come To Jesus meeting with the Maintenance shop and that my worst Equipment Operator would have ran circles around their best. They had been a Corp level unit just converted to a Divisional Combat Engineer unit, while I was a former Grunt and had about four years experience supporting and planning with maneuver units, so I spoke the language better than most of them.
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