Posted on Oct 22, 2021
How I would go about studying abroad in the National Guard or Reserves? Is the Guard or Reserves best?
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I wanted to study in Europe, specifically Italy and I wanted to know if there was any way I could do drills out there and if there were, where I would be able to find the units because I can’t find anything from googling.
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Reserves
Reserves
Posted 3 y ago
Responses: 3
Maybe you could go one day a year to the National Guard units. I live in Canada and I know that my Army Reserve pays $500 a month reimbursement for my regular drill travel but normally I have to eat the rental car and other expenses for the airline ticket is going to be super expensive thanks to Joe Biden being a jerk and stopping 2 million barrels per day so your airline tickets going to go up considerably. The work around I would suggest is to ask your National Guard unit to let you do virtual battle assembly. The virtual a battle assembly would would include one hour of admin work, 2 hours of physical fitness on your own at home and 13 hours of online courses which you can find on joint knowledge online. In the last year-and-a-half I've only gone to my three times. One time for a 25-day fragmented annual training because I miss so many days because of this damn coronavirus. I went in March to do four days of training and I paid for the tickets and got partially reimbursed because I had to do my retirement packet in the unit. I went in August for 20 days fragment annual training and I'm doing 15 days of annual training possibly this November just before I retire. So if you could tell your unit to put you on the 15 day or up to 29 day orders they'll pay for your airline ticket oh, you'll get your points, they'll cover you for the hotel and per diem and you can at least get some of your time out of the way and then do virtual battle assembly for most months. Why Army Reserve units fine with it I hope your National Guard unit is fine with it but you got to plan ahead of time.
If you want to go abroad, I recommend the Army Reserve. There are regular drilling units overseas, not sure about Italy specifically, but definitely Germany, Japan, Korea, etc. You could also go "DIMA" and do all your drills and AT in a straight shot (38 days)
Consider your purpose in taking an enlistment oath. Is it to enrich yourself or to serve your nation? If you are all about going abroad to study, perhaps do it on your own dime.
I'd rather know people are enlisting out of a sense of duty and honor than a honey pot to grab on to.
Ask what you can do for your Country and we will take care of you.
I'd rather know people are enlisting out of a sense of duty and honor than a honey pot to grab on to.
Ask what you can do for your Country and we will take care of you.
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Actually, I’m joining because I want to serve my country and I have several generations of family members in the military. But, I still would like to go to college and travel the world like I’ve always wanted to do, which is the whole reason I’m joining the Guard or Reserves. For you to assume that I’m enlisting so I could use the military as “a honey pot to grab on to” Is offensive to me. I want to follow my dreams of traveling and the military, is there really such a problem with doing both?
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Army Reserve is the choice because of this, and for all the reasons listed in the other replies.
Post-9/11, as the Guard evolved into an operational reserve (if only in use, not in name or resourcing), individual and unit readiness started to matter a whole lot more.
All of a sudden, that name taking up a para/line, missing 100% of scheduled training and showing up periodically to collect a check for a few online classes became negative end-strength, costing the unit more in effort and resources with no return on investment of an individual Soldier ready to deploy and trained as a member of the unit.
These days, a unit in the Guard is better off leaving that position empty, rather than having a name there that doesn't train with the unit, and requires constant effort chasing down a PHA, IWQ, ACFT, HT-WT, vaccines, etc., and taking the hit on non-participation for 3-9 months at a stretch.
And odds are usually pretty good that if a recruiter trolls the junior college closest to that unit, they'll find a student willing to consider just about any MOS for a monthly drill check, tuition assistance, student loan repayment and the cheapest option for health care you can find anywhere, and usually a few more that have been considering finding a way to serve without impacting their college and civilian career plans..