What are the pros and cons of joining the Army Reserves with two kids and a husband who is an active duty Marine?

Shelby Pardo it is extremely difficult to have both parents in the military. I did it and it was hard. Others have done it. You must have a complete plan of what will happen to the kids if you both deploy and may not come back.

Dual military is difficult. It's even more difficult with children. It may be a little easier with you in the Reserves, but there's no guarantee you wouldn't be called to active duty for an extended period of time, and if so, there are no guarantees you would be stationed anywhere near your husband, especially with y'all being in different services. As others have said, you will both be required to submit a family care plan to your chain of command. It may be doable, but you and your husband need to thoroughly think this through and talk this out, and get the support of extended family or other caregivers.

The biggest practical impact is that the Army will require you to have a formal family care plan, with annual reviews to be approved by your commander in the event that both of you are mobilized at the same time.

Secondly, if you go on active duty for any reason longer than 30 days, you will not get BAH with dependents, he will (assuming he outranks or will outrank you) and you will get BAH at the without dependents rate.

It can be had to juggle all the schedules. There is a very real chance you both could be gone for weeks or months at the same time. I’d recommend you have some very deep conversations with each other, with your children, and the people you might consider as caregivers before you make any commitments.