Advice for Reserve Component?

Col Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 17:24:07 -0400

Networking, mentorship, resources and more; so, here it is... a place for Guardsmen & Reserve members to share those things most applicable to life and career in the Reserve Component. A great place to pose questions to a knowledgeable audience, and a dedicated area to share stories, resources, advice and other helpful tips and info. Please feel free to share any lessons learned, web links, photos, or anything else necessary to help illustrate your points and/or anything that would be of interest or helpful to our awesome Guard/Reserve members. This should be a thoroughly interesting and absolutely helpful discussion, so let's get this thing started. Thank you for all that you do, and... see you all in the discussion threads!

Response by SrA Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 8 at 2014 5:57 PM

SrA Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 17:57:43 -0400

I am very new to the Air Guard. I plan to use this as part of the wing man concept. Thank you sir.

Response by MSG Floyd Williams made Jun 8 at 2014 6:06 PM

MSG Floyd Williams — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 18:06:47 -0400

MAJ Burns......Sir, keep in mind the National Guards and Reserves is integrated with experience former active duty personnel who chose to get off active duty for whatever reason but continuing their career in the Reserves and National Guards.

Response by SrA Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 8 at 2014 6:06 PM

SrA Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 18:06:48 -0400

Sir after seeing and reading your accomplishments, I too want to follow along your path. Such as being enlisted then to officer and becoming part of command personnel. What advice do you have for me sir.

Response by MSG Mitch Dowler made Jun 8 at 2014 7:16 PM

MSG Mitch Dowler — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 19:16:08 -0400

MAJ Burns I spent over 14 1/2 years in the active component of the Army and chose to transition to the reserve component for my last six years of service until retirement. I found that in the active component I much preferred spending time overseas in Germany and South Korea than my time in CONUS. The mission was always very defined and the units were at the highest state of readiness at all times.

In the reserve component I found that as a motivated NCO the command would bend over backwards to provide all the tools I needed to train the soldiers assigned to me. Schools were much readily available than they were for us in the active component. In the reserves we had more of the extremes. It was easier for soldiers to ride along doing the bare minimum if they chose that route but for any soldier with a desire to excel the command got behind them and provided all the resources needed.

It was challenging at times with my civilian career being more than full time and the units I was assigned to were very active with the need for soldiers to spend a lot more time on active duty to accomplish the mission even without being deployed.

One fortunate thing for me is that my branch is Signal Corps and my civilian job is communications as well connecting the wireless and VOIP carriers via tandem switching services. It is a big help when your civilian and military positions are in the same field.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 8 at 2014 10:33 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 22:33:08 -0400

Sir,

I have been in the TXARNG for almost 3 years and it still feels new and confusing. My goal when I was AC was to go FA 34: Strategic Intelligence. Now I hear mixed things about whether that FA is even open to NG Officers. I have time to figure it out and, of course, things are always changing, but I thought I'd mention it here in case anyone knows (or knows someone who knows).

Thanks!

Response by COL Vincent Stoneking made Jun 9 at 2014 12:01 PM

COL Vincent Stoneking — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 12:01:30 -0400

Some thoughts off the top of my head:
- The Reserves and the NG have different cultures. NG culture can also change dramatically state to state. If you don't like the culture, you won't be happy.

- The Reserves and the NG have different missions, which leads to different units & specialties being represented. Your choice of component should be driven by your long range plans, or your long range plans should be driven by your component choice. Translation: PLAN your career with the realities of your component in mind. CPT Wolfer makes an excellent point along this line.

- The Reserves and the NG have different rank profiles, which can dramatically impact your promotion potential in different ranks/branches.

- If you desire to make a career of it, one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer is a fantasy. That MAY be what you are paid for, but it should realistically be less than half of what you do. Is that fair? Shrug. Effort and performance are very directly tied to career success in the Reserve components. YOU absolutely OWN your career.

- As a general rule, if you are in the NG, you are limited to one state's units. This can significantly limit your options in some rank/MOS combinations. (But it's also where the tanks are!) Two special comments here
- The general rule is not an ABSOLUTE rule, but it IS work to go from one state's NG to another - and it can be quite a culture shock.
- A note about the "old boy's club" - it exists in EVERY organization in the history of ever. It is basic human nature - we like and trust those we know the best and are likely to give them the benefit of the doubt (or a hand up) over those we don't. The more insular the organization, the more noticeable it is. Some organizations do a "better" job of being objective than others, but NONE are perfect. When you join a state's NG, you are the FNG.

- Don't EVER assume that you know ANYTHING about a person by the combination of their rank and mos. My 19 series PSG in my first platoon was also a former MAJ and Westpoint grad. I've known more than a few E-4 lawyers, PFCs with Master's degrees and their own businesses, 88Ms who are city or state cops, and at least one O2 who was living in his car.

Response by Col Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 9 at 2014 9:01 PM

Col Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 21:01:21 -0400

In order to keep the conversation rolling on this and related subjects, here are just a few other threads that you'll want to check out; thank you for all that you do, and... see you all in the discussion threads!

Response by SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 9 at 2014 9:04 PM

SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 21:04:37 -0400

I have been a member of the South Dakota Army National Guard for over 14 years. I have spent a good number of years on active duty, whether on deployment or on orders working for the NG. One thing I have come to realize and see with a majority of the NG and Reserve units I have worked with is the extra experience. A good portion of the Soldiers have outside skills that they bring to the table. When I was deployed, we didn't always have to wait for contractors to come fix our stuff, we had guys in our unit that knew how to do it. That has always been an advantage to a NG/Reserve unit, the outside experiences they can bring to the table.

Response by BG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 10 at 2014 11:34 AM

BG Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 11:34:41 -0400

You don't want to know. For the Bn. Cdrs. that have commented, the work only gets greater at brigade command. I spend 2-3 hours a day on military matters and about 2 1/2 weekends a month either at my HQ or visiting one of my four Bns. Thankfully, I am not trying to do any schooling at the same time. All that said, I knew the hazards of the job when I signed up for it so can't really complain. It's good to be the king!

Response by 1SG David Niles made Jul 7 at 2014 8:31 PM

1SG David Niles — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 20:31:54 -0400

I did ten years active and ten years in the Washington Army National Guard. I enjoyed both for different reasons and I disliked parts of it for different reasons.

I loved the structure and discipline of the active army. I loved that I had a focused mission. I loved that I served five years in Germany, and two years in Alaska, I hated state side duty. I love that I knew my lane and I knew what it took to get promoted. I loved that they took care of my family when I was deployed.

In the guard, I loved that the chain of command wanted to know and appreciated your civilian experience. I loved all the places that I was able to go to in the guard. Australia, Germany, Hawaii, Japan, France, Djibouti, Kenya, Kuwait, Sudan so on so forth. Ok, I did not like Djibouti. but everywhere else, I liked. Anyway, I liked that I could put up the uniform when I needed to and that I could take up the uniform when I needed to. I liked the promotion system in the Guard better, I thought it was easier defined. I liked the ability to get different MOS's in the Guard, I felt challenged.

I enjoyed the active duty schools more, I felt they had more time to train you in what you needed to be trained in. PLDC and BNCOC was better then ANCOC in the guard.

I think those who just do active are missing something from the Guard, I feel those that just do the guard are cheating themselves in there military development.

These are my two cents on the subject. is there any right answer or wrong answer, depends on what your experiences are and where you are left standing.

Response by Col Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 29 at 2014 2:27 PM

Col Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 14:27:14 -0400

** Assignment Information Request **

Esteemed Reserve colleagues, we're looking to activate the wider Reserve network to help a Fellow Reserve member to locate an assignment, here are the details:

- Service/Component(s): U.S. Army Reserve (USAR)/Army National Guard

- Location: Focused on the Greater Washington, DC Metro area (NCR)

- Billet type: Any O6 level, although a perfect fit would be 35G/30A (Signals Intel/Info Ops) w/ Skill Identifiers E4 (Cyberspace Ops) and N9 (Cyber Planning); member would also consider advisory positions, leadership, or any appropriate billet in a different/new area altogether.

- Pertinent Education: MS Information Assurance; BS Computer Science

- Level: O6 (select)

If anyone out there knows of any good resources, points of contact, or positions available, please answer directly in this post, or feel free to direct message me with any information or updates as well. Thank you for your time and for all that you do!

Response by Col Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 29 at 2014 10:18 PM

Col Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 22:18:30 -0400

Here's a great thread that I'm sure will be helpful to a few of our motivated Reserve members out there, check-out and/or participate in the discussion here: https://www.rallypoint.com/answers/joint-qualification-for-tpus-any-tips

Response by Col Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 10 at 2014 11:53 PM

Col Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 23:53:22 -0400

AFRC Online Article: "AF Reserve Adapts to New AEF Construct"
http://www.afrc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123424252&source=GovD

Response by Col Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 11 at 2014 12:02 AM

Col Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 00:02:55 -0400

Article about CIOR: U.S. to host international Reserve event, online article courtesy of AFRC: http://www.afrc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123424176&source=GovD