Posted on Apr 12, 2020
SPC Civil Affairs Specialist
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I'm currently a senior in high school and I'm going to be going to my local community college during the summer and the fall-spring semester. I'll turn 18 in July of this year and I'm debating on joining the Army Reserves as either a 68W or 37F. I'm curious how the AIT works for 37F and how would I do Airborne training along with that? The unit that is closest to me is an Airborne unit so I will require that.
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SGT All Source Intelligence Analyst
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When I enlisted in the Army Reserve a year and half ago I got to choose my unit. My recruiter and I called around asking if different units had slots. So, what I’d do if I was you would be ask your recruiter to help you find an Airborne unit. Otherwise as a Reservist you will not go Airborne. If you’re dead set on being Airborne and only being a Reservist look into 92R Parachute Rigger. They are the only MOS in the Army Reserve that GUARANTEES Airborne School and jumps every three months.
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1SG 1 St Brigade First Sergeant
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You will go to basic training and then AIT at Fort Bragg. I don't think there is any Psyop units in Houston that are on jump status. As I live in Houston and was assigned to the 345th Tactical Psychological Operations Company (Airborne) in Dallas and then unit moved to Lewisville I would have rather been in Houston. The Psyop unit will send you to Airborne School if they have slots. I know when I was with the 345th we had slots for Airborne, Airassult, Pathfinder and Jumpmaster school and were always trying to send soldiers, especially the legs that liked wearing the maroon beret but did not want to go to Airborne school. Good luck and 37F is a great choice.
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1SG 1 St Brigade First Sergeant
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"Best job I ever had". This is at the old Dallas building.
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1SG 1 St Brigade First Sergeant
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SPC (Join to see) - Sorry I don't know about a specific basic for Reserve 37F I don't think it mattered for Reserve 37F but that could have changed.
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SPC Civil Affairs Specialist
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Awesome! Thank you for your help! I’m pretty sure you just sold me on PsyOps now lol. If you don’t mind me asking, in your time with the 345th, how often did you get deployed?
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1SG 1 St Brigade First Sergeant
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No deployments, 1 CONUS mobilization in support of OEF, and several training missions. You will see that in the Army “they“ seem to do the opposite. Meaning at one point I wanted to be stationed at Washington DC and instead the Army sent me to Washington State. When I was deployable and would have been able to deploy they never sent me. I don’t know if it was good luck or bad luck that I did not get deployed. It seemed the more I wanted it the less it happened. I will Exaggerate a little but it seemed they would drag off a soldier as they were saying, but I am having a baby, my mom is sick, my job will be affected, I am in school, I’ve already been deployed, my marriage is in trouble etc etc and here I was saying “I’ll go” “I can go” “how about me”. I did get to go on missions in Australia, South America and support at home station. But After 2 years of training and jumping and driving 5 hours each way for drill and never getting deployed I transferred to a unit close to home. Here is the punch line, 3 weeks after my transfer I get a call from 7th Psyop Group from a MSG telling me that I am on the battle roster for the deployment to Afghanistan, lol. I Laughed and said no I am not because I am not with the unit any more. Just remember that PSYOP teams also work in Central and South America as well. Good luck, you will do just fine.
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CW2 Medevac Pilot
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If the unit has the money and wants you to go to airborne school then you will either go right after basic training and AIT or when you return back home in which case they would put you on TDY orders to Benning. They don't have to send you to airborne school. I would contact the unit you plan on going to and ask if they have the funds to send you. Why not go active?
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SPC Civil Affairs Specialist
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Okay, that makes a little bit more sense. But what if I can get Airborne in my contract? Will I just go to Benning after AIT?
The reason I'm going to the Reserves is because I'm mainly using the Army as more of a stepping stone in my life than a career. I'm still going to have it as a career obviously, and I plan on doing my 20 years, but my real goal in life is to be a counseling psychologist. That's why I'm going to my community college this summer and in the fall-spring, so that way I can get my basics done and then I can transfer to my dream school in Houston and then have the Army pay for the more expensive stuff. I took out a loan for classes this summer and I'm going to use those to pay off everything that I'd need for the summer term and then I have grants and scholarships for the fall and spring semesters so I'm not even paying for those classes, this way I have next to no debt and then I can enlist in the Army at E-3 because I'll have about 58 credits by the time I get to enlist.
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CW2 Medevac Pilot
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You would most likely in that case go right after ait. Why not just go over summer? E3 will be made quickly that way you can use your army tuition assistance in the Fall and all your scholarship money will be refunded and you can pocket that money.
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SPC Civil Affairs Specialist
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I have 3 main reasons for waiting a little bit longer to enlist.
The first being my mom. My brother joined the NG as an MP and didn't really tell her much until he had pretty much already done it and so she doesn't really want me to join but I've already decided that I'm going to after I turn 18, so I'm just giving her time to get ready for me to do that.
The second reason is that I'm skinny. Like super skinny. I'm 5'8 almost 5'9 and I weight ~120 lbs so I'm taking this time to get in the gym more and gain muscle and just weight in general. From my understanding thus far, I know I won't have to do the qualification and selection course, but before I leave for BCT I'd like to be able to meet the end requirements of the course.
The last reason is that I want to give myself a little bit more time to mature as a person. I'd say at the moment I'm pretty mature for someone that is 17, but I want to be more squared away BEFORE I join the Army so that way I can learn more while I'm at BCT and AIT. I'm also going to take this year to get my ducks in a row after I finish my community college so I can go ahead and be prepared to transfer to the University of Houston after I get back from AIT/Airborne training.
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