To join a reserve component, should it be a required to serve X amount of active duty time first?

No. One of the great things about the reserve component is people can resume their civilian lives after completing BCT/AIT. If the balloon goes up, those people WILL be ready. We've done it before - we can do it again

This sounds like a good idea ! It just might make the army national guard and or reserve function better and more proficient !!

I don't think that active service should be a prerequisite to service in the reserve component. I can see the point that you are making, but it doesn't account for the fact that every component and every branch is designed to fit a particular aspect of personal service. Requiring active service prior to entry into the reserve component would eliminate the ability to for many to serve who have obligations such as college or a business from serving. I have served in every component of the Army active, reserve, and national guard and each was right for me at the time. Though I did have two years on active duty it did little to prepare me for the various jobs that I have had since that time, but I still value that experience none the less. What I mean is that as Specialist on active duty trained in communication did not provide a lot of value while serving as a First Sergeant of a MP Company. I have read throughout the threads that it is recognized that the resrve component brings a lot to the table in their service and that they are every bit the professional as others who serve on active duty.

The Reserve and Guard are required to attend IADT. There is a different mentality in the reserve components, but to assume the the different mentality is negative in any way is short sighted and foolish. The Reserve and National Guard bring much to the table that the AD soldiers do not realize or understand. If nothing else, the cost of prolonged AD would be cost prohibitive, and that is before considering the recruiting repercussions.

PFC Ward,
In my experiences (all OHARNG) the Active Duty units we replaced on deployments were subpar compared to us. Understandably your MOS is harder to do training on at drill, being a medic, but you need to bring it to the attention of your squad leader or section sergeant that you are craving more training. Being familiar with your BN I know you are attached from HHC with probably one other medic. Make it aware during your AAR comments. There are plenty of opportunities outside your BN but within the Brigade to get some training done with other medics.

PFC Ward,
I spent 7 years in the National Guard from 1988-1995. It was always beneficial to have some prior service guys around. Don't forget the purpose of the National Guard though; they are to augment our Active force and by and large have more Soldirs than the active component. There just aren't enough prior service folks to fill the ranks. You don't have to be prior service to make a difference. In closing, don't sell yourself short; you are not lower enlisted but junior enlisted.

I have had this thought many times since I served on active duty for 120 days beginning the day I reported in. At the end of those 4-month orders, the difference in deployment readiness and MOS proficiency between myself and the other junior Marines - reservists - who had been there for years was obvious.

Many have had this thought, and although it isn't a bad idea...I would have a hard time saying that it's a good one. The National Guard for instamce is a state force, which is already already (and wrongly) controlled by the federal government, but to make it so that only people who had served federally could get into the force would be a complete conflict of interest. For the reserves..
perhaps, but the NG and reserves really do benefit from the experience that alot of their people bring from the civillian world. We also tend to much less regemented and by the book which can be of benefit. I say all this as a former active duty service member. If the state decided to make it mandatory for anyone in command positions to have served some AD time I think that could have some benefit, but that should be entirely their decision.

No, the Federal government could never afford the financial burden of having that many Active Duty Soldiers for one. Also, both Active and RC require those E1-E4 people in their ranks. That's why there are often recruiting bonuses to bring in fresh blood

NO, as beneficial as that might be.