I’m a Cadet right now and will commission into the Reserves. What is it like?

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 14:26:49 -0400

Response by CPT Lawrence Cable made Oct 31 at 2017 3:28 PM

CPT Lawrence Cable — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 15:28:44 -0400

That's a big and open ended question. What branch are you interested? Army Reserve or Army National Guard? What are you looking to get out of it and how much are you willing to invest.
My last Active Reserve time was with a Kentucky Army National Guard Combat Engineer Unit. As a senior lieutenant and captain, I averaged about 80 days a year between schools, unit duty and annual training, plus the one weekend a month. The battalion was usually supporting a Civil Action Program in Central or South America (road or school building usually) and we did Domestic Action Programs for the State on a regular basis also. Being an Engineer unit, we were first to get tapped for Fire Duty, Flood Duty, Snow Emergencies or similar disasters in the State too. Since I left and after 2001, both of the line units I served have done a couple of deployments to the Balkans and to Iraq, although that seems to have died down for now. My point being that it can be a time consuming and demanding job at command levels and it's often hard to find a civilian employer that understands you being gone a 1/4 of the year. I could have spent more time on duty if I had wanted and we normally had a full time position or two available on one of the CAP Missions.
OTOH, don't get me wrong that I didn't like it. I enjoyed the challenge of being an Engineer Officer, in a Divisional Combat Engineering Unit at the time the platoon leader was often the Task Force Engineer as well as being the Platoon leader, the job is fast paced and you get to do a lot of different things. Engineer Company Commander was the best job I had in the Army.

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 1 at 2017 3:08 AM

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 03:08:00 -0400

Consider the Guard unless you're stuck with the Reserves. Both are good components in their own right and depending on the State one may have more options or benefits than the other. As for what it's like. I can't speak to the Officer side of things, but it's pretty much like this. You are given a drill schedule, you report to your armory or designated area at the time to be determined. You will either conduct PT, or get to work immediately, or go to formation and then conduct your day. You may find yourself just at the armory doing your job, assisting other Soldiers, work around the armory, or doing some form of digital training. Or, you may find yourself on a field drill in which you will be in the field. Depending on where you go the field could be good or bad, could be good weather could be a storm but you'll be out there.

Your drills will be 2-4 days on average. You could show up at 0700 and leave at 1600, or you could show up at 0400 on Day 1 .and not leave until 2100 on Day 4 where you sleep in the field or at the armory if you don't live nearby. Unlike Active Duty we don't have time to waste with things like area beautification and mopping up the rain, so we tend to pack a lot of work into a short time frame. You'll also find the formations to be short, and not a lot of standing around in the Guard/Reserves. We're not there for long so we have a lot to get done. So be prepared to work when you show up for drill.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 1 at 2017 9:29 AM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 09:29:57 -0400

get ready to be tossed around by your CO for a while but then it will get better. Stand your ground with senior ncos.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 13 at 2019 10:14 AM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 10:14:42 -0400

Like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get....