Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Active duty Vs. Reserves

This entry is mostly a description of the differences between active duty and the reserves. I am astounded sometimes by the lack of knowledge about the military and how it works in the general populace of the United States sometimes so I figure since I have this blog maybe I can explain some of that to those that are interested.

Whenever you sign your first contract with the military whether it is the Army, Air force, Marines, coast guard, Navy or any reserve unit you are signing an 8 year contract. I will use my experience as an example, when I enlisted for the first time it was for 3 years of active duty. When I got out I had the choice to serve the 5 years in either the Army Reserves or in the Inactive reserves (IRR). The Army ( or national guard) reserves means you go to a weekend drill once a month usually for a Saturday and Sunday and you also have to serve two full weeks during the summer months. The in-active reserves just means the Army keeps all your contact info on file for those 5 years and in case they need extra body's they can call you up and re-activate you to active duty. That happened to my friend Jim for Desert storm, one day he was sitting on his couch and he got a phone call and two weeks later he was sitting in a tank on his way through the Iraqi desert. When you are in the active reserves you can also be called back up for active duty which has obviously been the case in the last several years with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I chose to join the active reserves when I got off of active duty and served those last 5 years of my 8 year contract and then some. Once you have completed those 8 years you are done unless you decide to stay in. I have heard stories in the last several years of the Army trying to call up soldiers past their 8 year contract but I believe all those folks fought it and won in court as a breach of contract. The only difference between the National Guard and the Army reserves is that the National Guard is State funded and the Army reserves is government funded. To add to that the National guard gets some money from the federal government but not a lot. When the National Guard gets activated for active duty those soldiers become part of the regular Army and are paid federally.

When I was serving with the 82nd Airborne division on active duty we used to make fun of all the reservists and National guard and back then they kind of deserved it. That was during peacetime when the last time a reserve unit had been called to active duty was for Vietnam. But these days I consider the Guard and Army reserves to be actually more difficult to serve in than active duty. The differences are that when you are on active duty the Army is your life and job and that is all you have to worry about. You get up every morning and do PT you go eat chow then you report to whatever area you work in. At the end of the day you go back to the barracks and your day is done. You usually get weekends off unless you are in the Field ( on training maneuvers) and you get to enjoy all the federal holidays that everyone else enjoys. Plus you get 30 days off every year in which you can take leave and go home or go traveling. It really is just like having a job with the slight difference that you may have to go to a war and you have to obey lots of rules.

In the reserves you only get that one weekend a month and those 2 weeks in the summer to train on all your military skills and you are expected to be proficient in your job at all times especially these days with all the call ups. Also you have to maintain your PT to the Army standards which I can tell you is allot harder than it sounds. Basically being in the reserves in my eyes requires 3 times the discipline as the active duty does. Plus the fact that you have a whole separate civilian life that you have to maintain. It is also harder for the families when the reserve soldiers get called up because they are usually going through their normal lives then their spouse or whoever has to get up and drop everything and take off for a year. Allot of states have developed new laws in regard to the amount of deployments that their National guard units can be called up. In Michigan if you get called up for a year you cannot be re-deployed for a minimum of three years from their return. Individual soldiers can volunteer for more deployments if they want but the government cannot call up whole units for three years. Those laws were put in place because the Army was calling up units for 15 month deployments then calling them back up only several months after they had returned. Another law that has been put into place in the last year is that units cannot be called up for more than 12 months at a time.
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I am going to add to this posting because it by far gets the most hits. One of the most frequent questions asked is " what should I do, active or reserves" well that is a tough question as there can be so many variables. It really depends on what you are looking for. Did you just graduate high school and you are unsure what to do with your life? Cant find work, unhappy where you are at, need to make a change? Have a job and a life but just looking for more? Want a little adventure in your life?

As you can see there are many reasons people consider the Military option. From a personal standpoint, I reiterate personal standpoint. I think that unless you have a job you are happy with or you are in school and just looking for a little extra money to help you pay for college that everyone that joins the military should strive for active duty first. For one thing going from active duty to the reserves is easy, but going from the reserves to active is actually very difficult. Don't ask me why, it does not make any sense to me either. Maybe it is my military mindset but why do something half assed, this is not to say that there is anything wrong with the folks that just go straight into the reserves. But if you are not sure what to do with your life or you are looking for a change going active would be your best bet. It can be a scary decision for sure, but thousands of people do it every year.

One thing I do want to make clear, and once again this is from a personal standpoint. Do not entertain the thought of or join the military because you think someone else expects it of you or wants you to. If you are going to do it make sure it is for the right reasons. Also do not go into it thinking it will cure all your woes. A good friend told me once "no matter where you go, there you are" words to live by.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Magnificent idea and it is duly

Anonymous said...

8 years is not true, i know someone who only served 4 years active duty. and i married him. 4 years total no reserves just 4 years active duty in the navy. thats it. you are deterring young people and people in general with false information.

Sky Soldier said...

Actually you are not correct. Everyone that signs a military contract signs up for 8 years. You can do 4 years active and not do any reserve time but you are still on the books for another 4 years.My information comes from 14 years in the service, as a matter of fact I am still serving. I also do not understand how I am deterring people.

luck_like_me said...

As a dude looking to join the navy being stuck between active duty or reserves; I'm leaning towards the reserves because from what I've read I can live near my house and work once a month plus the 2 weeks in the summer. But is this true, is it that easy? Or for what it's worth should I just go active?

Anonymous said...

The blog here is correct. My whole family with the exception of me and my mom have been in the military. After 4 years if you choose inactive you can go on with your daily life like you are out, but they can call you up at any time if needed. They for obvious reasons, try not to do that.

Anonymous said...

Not true. All military contracts are eight years. Every single one. Now most people serve four of those years actively then the other four are inactive.

APositiveBeginning said...

hi, im reading your blog because 1: I'm actually considering joining the army, and 2: I'm afraid, or intimidated of what my future with the army could be like. Army blood runs in my family, my dad was in the army as a mechanic for over 23 years and hes now retired, and part of his family members served as well. My dad always praised me to do it; his youngest daughter. I wanted to join, be like him, then I grew out of that desire. But now, with little options, married yet no kids, I'm considering it again, and im scared shitless! i dont know what would be best for me, active duty, or reserve, your blog was very informative, but im still hesitating here. . .

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much! This really clarified a lot for me, and although I'm still undecided about going in at all, it's nice to know all my options.

Anonymous said...

Aw hell

Anonymous said...

Ok. I'm thinking about joining the Navy. I want to be a dental hygienist and I heard the Navy will pay for all of my training. My only concern is boot camp. I've talked to my recruiter and asked people about it. My recruiter says it's easy, but all of the videos I've been watching makes it look intense. Be straight up with me. How is it? plus I cannot do a push up. you can email me at abbyson16@aol.com Thank you!

Sky Soldier said...

Well I cannot speak for the Navy's bootcamp, although if I would hazard a guess I would say it is probably not as hard as the Army or Marines. But I can say with certainty that you will need to be able to do push ups for sure. My advice would be to spend a couple month's to get in shape before going to see a recruiter. Trust me you will thank me for this later, because if you do not #1 it will be harder to get in and #2 you will be saving yourself from a lot of pain in the long run. Also you have to keep in mind that they are making huge cutbacks in the Armed services which means that they will only be taking the cream of the crop so to speak and can afford to be picky and choosy.

Hope that helps, good luck.