Army Reserves vs. National Guard

[SteveDodds]

Hello everyone. This is my first post in this area. I am going to join the military. I am tiredof wasting my life away in a dead end job. I am thinking of being an mp. I can't decide if I want to join the Army Reserves or the National Guard. I am wondering if any of you out there in TNET land could maybe give me your two cents on pros and cons of each of these branches. Thank you in advance.

[birdman]

I think the guard is a bit better.I have been deployed with Air Guard guys and they liked it. You can deploy when ever you want too but you have more say so in it. I would look into the Air Guard and don't forget the Coast Guard reserves as well. The Guard is attached to the state vs the reserves is the government. I was active Navy and then NR and now active AF. I can say being stuck in Iraq was much better then being on a ship hands down. I did 4 years on a ship and they can have that mess.

Navy pros .....see a lot of places at a fast pace.
Navy Cons... LONG HOURS ,poor treatment,watches ,uniforms,fire parties ,standing duty ,deck evolutions,food(all this is more active duty ship board stuff)

Air Force ...much better chow halls, better working hours ,better treatment

(you are going to be deployed overseas in every branch now a days)

The AF is better as far as treatment and living conditions goes then the ship board Navy that I was in.

I have not been a ground pounder (Army/Marines)so I can not speak for them. The military was and has been the best thing for me hands down. Good pay,traveling and making life long friends.

Down side ,you spend LOTS of time away from family....

The gold goose of it all is the active guard positions but they are hard to get but those guys have it made.

[Arizona Bob]

I don't think it really matters- they are both good. My advice to people joining any branch of the armed forces is to be sure to get training in a job category that you can use to earn money in the civilian world. MP's are the Army police. When you are not active/drilling/etc, you could become employable as a city/county/state/etc cop.

[TheHarleyMan2]

I can give you FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE, being I have been in ALL 3 branches of the Army from Active, Reserves, and Guard for a total of almost 21 years.

Active Duty- You get your Active Duty money, leadership schools, promotion, no pay problems, etc.

National Guard- They never have any money for you to go to military schools after basic training, UNLESS you are in National Guard Special Forces. If an emergency or if you are placed on State orders like being placed at the border or a disaster like Katrina. You WILL NOT get FULL Active Duty pay and benefits. Your pay will be less than $60.00 a day on state orders. Unless you plan on not exceeding past the rank of E-4, and don't really want to go to any military schools after basic including leadership schools, if you care to get way less than Active Duty pay on state orders then the guard is for you.

Army Reserves- They are a little better than the Guard. They are federally funded so you will be able to go to leadership schools, Active Duty deployments in states as well as out of country. The DOWNFALL, believe it or not anyone on ACTIVE DUTY ORDERS whether you are in the Army Reserves OR National Guard, you WILL NOT BE PAID ON TIME for TDY, (Temporary Duty deployments), AND it can take up to 6 months to get your money. Fact is I have been dealing with this very same issue as well as others in the National Guard AND Army Reserves since 2008 to present day. Army Times did an article on it back around 2008 and the DOD says the Army STILL has no money, but yet they are building barracks, training facilities, etc on bases but yet they can't even pay their own soldiers on Active Duty orders. Trust me I KNOW, I been in almost 21 years and I got 3 mores years on my contract and the last 2 and a 1/2 years I have fought and waited 4-6 months to get my money AFTER getting back from 6 TDY's in the last 2 years. My utilities were being shut off, bank account going into the negative due to automatic bill pay, etc, and nothing could be done about it. I gone as far as my chain of command as well as the IG, and the IG couldn't even get me paid.

Below is the article from Army Times. If I were you and you are thinking about the service, I would stay as far away from anything Army as I possibly could unless you are going FULL Active Duty. I am not telling you just to persuade you otherwise I am telling you because I KNOW from experience. Don't let these fly by BS Army recruiters tell you otherwise. Join the Navy, Marines, or Air Force instead, they don't seem to have a money problem like the Army has, unless you are filthy rich and can do without your pay, then by all means join the Army. Don't even think about going into the Air National Guard either, it is still part of the Army National Guard adn they are in the same boat.

Think about what I said, I been there and done that. Never once had I had any pay issues for my whole time in service until 2008 to present from every TDY I went on.

Navy, AF money keeps Army running until July

The Army will be able to meet its next military and civilian payroll and all defense operations will continue full-bore, thanks to last-minute congressional moves to let the Pentagon shift Navy and Air Force personnel and operations funds into the Army and other defense accounts, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

Officials had announced May 28 that unless Congress approved by June 9 its remaining emergency supplemental war funding request of $102.1 billion — or, at least, $9.7 billion as a stopgap — the Army would not be able to meet its payroll after June 15.

On Wednesday, Congress gave permission to reprogram $1.6 billion into the operations and maintenance accounts of the Army and other agencies, Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell said.

That came on the heels of congressional approval to reprogram $5.7 billion into military personnel accounts to avert the impending Army payroll shortfall, said Army Lt. Col. Brian Maka, a Pentagon spokesman.

“We will now be able to pay our troops until the end of July,” Morrell said. “And operations and maintenance accounts will remain solvent until mid-July.”

Morrell said the approvals “bought us a little additional time. But we still face a very grave situation if we don’t get our full supplemental funding.”

Officials said the shortfall developed when the Pentagon’s initial $178 billion war supplemental request was only partially funded last fall, forcing it to pay for war costs this spring and summer out of normal operations and maintenance accounts funded by the baseline $471 billion fiscal-year budget.

The Pentagon’s initial $9.7 billion transfer request would have drawn $5.7 billion from the military personnel accounts of the Navy and Air Force and, separately, $4 billion from those services’ operations and maintenance accounts and the Department of Defense Working Capital Fund, for transfer to the Army and U.S. Special Operations Command operations and maintenance accounts.

But the Pentagon came up $2.4 billion short in stopgap funding. The additional money would have allowed the Pentagon to continue operating past mid-July, Morrell said.

Defense officials previously said that if Congress does not pass the entire $108.1 billion supplemental request by mid-July, all remaining military personnel and operations funding will be exhausted by late July, leaving the department unable to meet both military and civilian payroll.

Morrell said details on what will happen if the supplement continues to sit in limbo won’t be known until June 30.

Earlier this week, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England sent out a memo asking all military departments and agencies to begin planning for a possible shutdown and determine which civilian personnel would have to continue working in that event, Morrell said. Responses are due back to England no later than June 30.

Should funding run out, service members and certain “essential” civilian personnel, including those serving in the war zones, would continue to serve without pay. Nonessential civilian employees would be laid off per applicable personnel rules, the Pentagon earlier said.

No furlough notices have yet been prepared, Morrell said.

Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/20...shift_061108w/

[armchairQB30]

If you have a high school diploma, I would highly recommend the Air Force.

Navy- You might get stuck on an aircraft carrier with 4,000 other dudes.

Marine Corp-First to die, every one is an infantryman.

Army-The second to die.

Coast Guard- Rescuing people during hurricanes is not smart.

[ZJBarney]

The reserves or guard aren't going to get you away from "wasting your life away in a dead end job." Active duty will guarantee benefits, pay and a roof over your head as long as you don't screw it up. Age limits for enlisting: Army - 42 Air Force - 27 Navy - 34 Marines - 28 but almost anything is waiverable. Military life can be rough on the family, but it does come with a sense of accomplishment.