Have you enlisted in more than one military branch or specialty? What is your opinion of your experiences if you did?

I have done both Active Army, and Army National Guard. When I was active, the thought was the NG was a joke at the time. I learned that while the Guard may never win any prizes for Combat arms, you may find Guardsmen and women who work either as full time technicians, or in a similar field as a civilian, may smoke active units in the amount of work they get done. I was in a Maintenance Company that could flat out run circles around active duty wrench turners. They made their living off flat rate. In other words they got paid a set amount of money for a given job, they either got it right with in the specified time, or they lost money. Example oil change and lube a truck is 2.0 hours, if they do it in 1.30 hours they get the extra 30 minutes of pay, if it took them 3.0 hours it is an hour they were not getting paid for. They took pride in not having come backs. They were skilled and good at their jobs. They were not parts changers.

I did two components of the Army. Different culture but same focus. It served me well as a leader.

My initial enlistment was in the Navy in 1969. That was followed by the Army Reserves, and that was followed by the Coast Guard Reserves. Thirty-three years in total when I retired in 2002.