What unique advice would you give a new reserve component soldier?

Make sure if you want to lead that your realize it is way more like active component than reserves. It is not just one weekend a month and two weeks a year. Rather that is the time off you may have. Be willing to put in the extra effort to advance your career and make it meaningful. Otherwise just stick to being a member of a squad. Even then you need to do medical appointments and online training throughout the month. It is not your Cold War reserves, it is the new online is everything and you cannot show up unless you are medically ready with your GOVCC with zero balance.

I would say that you have to realize that there is one standard across the Army. There isn't a standard for the Regular Army, Army Reserve, and the Army National Guard. I have seen this and it tears at the fabric of being a soldier. When you have different standards you are setting yourself up for failure. I know it is difficult to maintain your PT while drilling but it is what soldiers do. You will have to put in hours of work during the week and not get paid. When I hear a soldier in the Guard say I don't have time for that it shows you that they are lonely committed to one weekend a month. What is dangerous is when a soldier is only committed one weekend a month becomes a leader. That is not the type of leader you want.

You only have a weekend a month where you are together as a unit so use that time wisely Dress sharply, act smartly and show personal initiative to cover for downtime. If you're in line for that next promotion make sure you are getting face time with your rater & senior rater if they are in the same location. If they only know you through reports and an APFT score then they don't know you.

Looking back over my mixed active duty and reserve component career, three bits of advice I usually give new reserve component soldiers are:

1) Maximize your points. Reserve Component soldiers can accumulate 130 points for non-active duty time conducted during the year. IDTs, unit membership points, correspondence course, etc. all count towards this 130 point cap. Annual Training and other periods of active duty are in addition to this cap. A soldier doing their "one weekend a month, two weeks a year" will normally get 78 points a year (48 from UTAs, 15 membership points, and 15 points from annual training). You can maximize this to 145 points. In the world of retirement calculations, that equivalent to a bit over 40% of the 'points' that an active duty soldier gets each year (total points / 360 * 2.5% = retirement percentage), or roughly a 1% increase in your retirement pay. One of the easiest ways to maximize those points are to do correspondence courses - you get 1 point for each 3 hours of instructions (regardless of how long it actually takes you to do the course). Some of your unit commanders can also be convinced to giving an ATA (Additional Training Assembly) (1 UTA of pay and 1 retirement point), but that will be limited by money available.

2) Tricare Reserve Select (TRS). I know many people have horror stories about treatment at military facilities, but I'm talking about the health insurance side. TRS is basically Tricare Standard with a monthly premium. Before I came back on active duty, I had a very good health plan with my employer (I won't say it was gold plated ... more like silver+). TRS beat it. I have a special needs child and I've never had any issues with coverage on a whole host of medical care procedures and no referrals were necessary :) I was concerned about who would take it and found that even in the remote areas where my in-laws lived, there were still over 40 docs and hospitals within 10 miles that accepted Tricare. The kicker was the costs. I was paying about $200 every pay period through my civilian employment ($5200 a year just for premiums, plus co-pays, deductibles, etc). TRS costs about $200 (just went up to $204.29) a month for the member and family ($2400 a year for premiums) with a family catastrophic cap of $1000 annually ... that means the most you'll pay out of pocket is $3400 a year (normally .. there are a few situations where it could go higher, but they are the exceptions, not the rule).

3) Discharge vs Retired Reserve vs IRR: Since RC soldiers don't start collecting until age 60 (normally - can be reduced for certain types of active duty after Jan 2008), when they get to 20 years, you have a couple of choices - it's much better if you have an idea in advance of what you want to do. Most either continue in their current status (Reserve, Guard, etc) or retire (transfer to the retired reserves). If you're going to transfer to the retired reserves, you may want to consider transferring to the IRR instead. The main differences are that you will still be able to accumulate points in the IRR, have SGLI, possess a CAC (instead of a retired ID card), MWR, etc. I've seen some chose to be discharged because they are fed up and don't want any more. Personally, I think this is the worst option you can pick because your base pay calculations are frozen at the time you separate (you get COLA adjustments), you no longer get longevity credit (if you transfer to the Retired Reserve or IRR, you continue to accrue "time in service", but not if you separate), and you lose any military privileges until you start collecting retirement (i.e, no military ID card)

I did 10 years AC than switched to the Guard. After all that high speed AC training I thought I was a pretty good leader. It was in the Guard where I learned real leadership. After about 3 years in the Guard it hit me. Leadership is easy in the AC vs. RC. On AD an a leader has leverage over a Soldier: career, pay, time off etc. Not so in the Guard. In the Guard, how much pay, time off and career progression do you think a leader can impact? Negative leadership leads to a Guardsman leaving the Guard. that means you have a vacancy. Big Army pays State Guards based on man-days. No man, no man-day, no money. Guess who the primary recruiter is for the Company? the Company Commander. So, Company Commander, be negative, and your strength drops. Now go explain that to the Bn Cdr. Bravo 2-156 IN LAARNG is where I learned to be a POSITIVE leader, And I am a much better leader for it. Thank you COL Mayeaux, your guidance was dead on.

As for me, I'm active duty sailor temporarily attached to a reserve support unit. My first and foremost advice: get to know ins-and-outs of travel. Systems such as DTS and orders writing systems are crucial. Get a second opinion before submitting ANYTHING, especially as a rookie, ESPECIALLY if traveling overseas using foreign currency.

Ensure your orders are written picture perfect. Ensure you calibrate your numbers in DTS and submit ALL attachments. If you don't, prepare not to get reimbursed until year after next, trust me. IM me if you need further assistance in reserve travel. Navy or army should not differ much, so ask me anything related to travel

Sir, I'd say, take responsibility for your own personal development. And I'm not talking about completing SSD, though that is part of it. One weekend a month is not a whole lot of time to become familiar with your MOS. Find the FMs that regulate your MOS and at a minimum skim them. Get a copy of the Ranger Handbook, and read it. Then carry it on you. Don't be the guy that has to have a skill level one task explained step by step to him. Be ready to rock and roll when you show up to drill.
Take personal responsibility for your physical fitness. One PT formation a month, and morning PT at AT is NOT going to keep you in shape. There are very few soldiers who can go without any kind of PT and be able to pass the APFT and height and weight, every time. Much less, not fall out of a ruck march at AT. Or maintain a professional appearance.

Always remember you are a member of the U.S. Military. Your actions on or away from duty reflect upon the rest of your brothers and sisters. Upon activation you are an important part of the entire package. No your job, work hard and take pride in the uniform you year. And if you want to advance your career and take on leadership roles you are your best advocate. Nothing will be handed to you. It is up to you to earn respect and to advance your career.

It takes longer to get things done; during the non military days there are only a couple full timers available. Request actions early and be patient. DON'T wait until the week before Battle Assembly; that is when the full timers are going to be busiest planning and preparing for the upcoming weekend.

Also, it is much more tempting to call the full-timers to get action. I know your first line leader also has a job/life/school and is just as busy as you are. You still should go through your NCO support/COC for actions, and not directly call OPS/UA for stuff without prior authorization

I would mentor them that being a Reservist or a Guardsman is probably infinitly harder than being a traditional Soldier. You must balance life, family, a full time career in the civilian world and your military career. There is no "part time" in what we do and that our service is just as valuable, meaningful, and necessary as our active duty brethern.

I would also advice them to take advantage of services and benifits that are offered to all those in uniform. Commissary, Exchange, MWR, etc.