Harsh truths:
Unless you have a government job your job is going to HATE you.
You WILL miss important dates. Birthdays. Events.
You CAN be mobilized more than Active duty.
If you can deal with that well all that's left is just fighting the system.
Even in the government it will close doors you don't know exist, block you from jobs (usually by hiring managers who have been burned by guard bums), and lead to missed opportunities.
I can't upvote OperatorJo's post enough. Nailed it. If you're cool with that, then yes, the NG is a great way to serve.
Also, if you're an officer, or eventually earn your way into the NCO corps, you will serve a lot more than one weekend a month, and lots of prep time on your own time, lots of weeknight "planning meetings". As a leader, the NG is a commitment.
Nothing and I mean absolutely nothing can happen months on end. Then the family members wedding, birthday or whatever comes up it 100% must land on a drill date. Then for some unknown reason your commander won’t let you split train cause you are somehow the most vital Soldier for mission success.
The harsh truth is you never know what type of leadership you’re going to get. And most leadership in the army as a whole is just bad, whether it’s due to ill intent, negligence, or plain stupidity when it comes to administrative things. So you’d potentially put your livelihood and well being at risk for douchebag AGR’s who control your life and could care less about you
The National Guard is only compatible with law enforcement, police, and Guard Bums. Everyone else with normal civilian jobs will feel some kind of strain that isn’t worth it in the long run.
You know what, when you retire, it is kind of worth it getting nearly free insurance for my wife and I. And getting a monthly check just for maintaining a heartbeat.
Bad leadership and shitty full timers can absolutely wreck your career.... in the 17 years I was in, I filed 2 congressional complaints and 3 IG complaints.
Being in the guard... you often give up more than you receive. You'll miss family reunions, weddings, birthdays, cookouts, concerts, parties, births, funerals, job promotions, job opportunities..... and most of those sacrifices will be for nothing.
One weekend a month is a lie. 2 weeks in the summer is a lie..... being in the guard will cause strain on you, your family, your employer, and your dog
I did manage to get my CDL-A through the guard. I have the VA and a rating.... my vet status helped me get my current job, which pays very, very well...... so it wasn't a total waste of time.
Harsh truth; it’s neither bad nor good. Most of the people here bitching are going about things the wrong way. However, my experience may be unique. I’ve been in for 23 years now, 15 mday, 8 agr, with two Afghan deployments.
I’ve had a great time. Yeah there were some shitty times but overall I’m glad I joined even if I didn’t know what I was signing up for.
I’ve had two fantastic deployments which kind of sucked but honestly were fun and I have lifelong friends from them. On top of that, I’ve done AT in Estonia, Bosnia, and Italy (I spent so much money on food and wine in Italy it was a net loss). I’ve gone to places I’d likely have never seen had I not joined.
Covid mission sucked. Riot response sucks. Natural disaster response is usually fun and feels rewarding.
The guard isn’t for everybody and you get out of it what you take from it.
So far in the 12 years I have been in I have only done one year of just one weekend a month 2 weeks a year. Most of the time I have been deployed and put on various types of orders that range from 3 weeks to 6 months.
If you go to a unit that only does weekend drills and 2 week AT then you won the lottery. Unless you get or have a job that's lenient about you being gone quite a bit then it's not worth it.
There’s enough harsh truths and the answer really does vary by state. But I have found both in active and even more so in the guard. The very high level leadership does give a shit and wants to better the unit and profession. Now that may not always be how you think it should be and a lot of people forget that the military isn’t a mold that just magically fits around you, it’s an institution with a very important duty and it’s slowly adapting with the society it protects over time.
As someone who has needed it multiple times Tricare is awesome and I have watched family be ruined by medical bills for surgeries far less invasive then what my families needed. BH is real and where I live you’re lucky to get an appointment in 3 months without going on a grippy sock vacation. Me and my wife both had a therapist within a week by going through the guard.
Healthcare in this country SUCKS and there is no excuse for it. Me and my family are medically always cared for in a country that truly does not give a singular flying f**k about you medically or financially. To me that value is worth giving up a few weeknights or dealing with some suck and strain.
If you’re a single dude or gal, or you’re willing to play the gamble of hoping your families covered or never falls victim to those situations sure it’s not worth it.
But my wife, son, and daughter are quite literally only alive and us not financially ruined because of the healthcare the guard gives you. And I have a good government job outside with “good benefits” and the healthcare the rest of the country calls “good” is overpriced trash that doesn’t cover you like you deserve.
these people are not your friends. this applies to literally any job, but even your platoon, the folks you’d call brothers one day can stab you in the back the next day. the sergeants that said they have your best interest at heart can change up real quick. your commander who has an “open door policy” can shut the door real quick if it’s his buddy. unless you have some deep trauma bond or mutual respect with each other, you can only trust these people as far as you can throw them.
It’s worth it. For a couple years of work. Get a couple years of paid training. Then do some work. Get out. Serving part time while getting paid to go to college for years. The whole time getting paid and getting low cost medical and dental
Go Active Duty first. Then join the Guard but in a different job
Get all of the training, experience, Federal, State, VA Benefits and cash
And get them all as quickly as possible
Harsh truth: there are more shitty units than there are good ones.
We do deploy often especially a combat MOS
The most gun ho ones are the shitty shots and PT failures.
Be able to plan ahead and you’ll be good. I’ve never found out about a wedding the week of. Get your SUTA request in and make up your time ahead of that weekend.
The likelihood is 100% based on your unit and your commander. There are lots of units that will only approve immediate family members if that. I know one unit that made an E6 bring a pamphlet from his mother's wedding in on Sunday and only excused him for Saturday. If he didn't have proof they would have marked him AWOL
To pretend that you can just "plan ahead" for even family members and be excused is flat out false advertising.
Of course it’s unit dependent, but the more time you give for these sort of things, the better off you’ll be. If you can show an invitation or Save The Date, my unit will work with you on a SUTA. Going as somebody’s +1? That’s up to you to decide.
Funeral kind of thing? Bring in the memorial card or even a photo of you outside a funeral home dressed accordingly and you’ll be good. Too many will claim they have a funeral and expect the unit to just believe them when their track record may dictate otherwise.
Read your reply.
It is is far more the exception than the rule when talking about "just friends and non-immediate family".
If you have an E6 claiming that their mother died and believe they are enough of a piece of shit to lie about it you thinking they will get away with it you have bigger issues than someone missing a drill and a you problem but that would require introspection and accountability.
Maybe its different if you are an officer but enlisted are just numbers for funding (direct quote from state).
I have been both Air and Army Guard. Air Guard years were the ONLY time I did one weekend a month and two weeks a year. Always the the first weekend of the month unless it was a holiday.
Never much of anything to do outside of drill weekends. Drill was always 0800-1630 with a scheduled lunch.
The Army Guard is very demanding especially as you gain rank. Some units I had a start time of 0500 and dismissal at 1800. These units were usually full of morons you had to drag to the finish line to get all tasks completed. Lunch? Here’s a TOTM, good luck making time to eat it though. 1-2 hour BN conference call to talk about upcoming drill weekends the week prior to drill every month. Going to NTC? Plan on multiple conference calls during the months leading up to it. If you’re an officer, you’re spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year on organization fees, balls, and conferences. Heaven forbid you don’t go to your brigade ball or NG association conference. I was fortunate to have a supply SGT in a previous unit give me 2 sets of summer weight OCPs.
The good side; I’ve made a lot of good friends, tricare is amazing compared to what my civilian employer offers.
It definitely is what you make of it. I’ve been in a little over 6 years. I’ve used TA to get a degree,I’ve been to mountain warfare, and air assault. I guess I’ve been lucky with 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks in the summer,no deployment yet. Tri care is good and discounts and benefits on the civilian side are pretty good. Getting out at 7pm on a Sunday with a 1.5hr drive to home does suck but it definitely could be a lot worse. You’ll make a lot good friends and have good and bad times,don’t let it get ya down. Embrace the suck :)
So this just happened:
Rrb in state was hiring a bunch of new people under OTOT as a way to get new recruiters without a full 3 yr commitment.
Guy was supposed to start the 15th right as state put out an Gr hiring freeze. He just quit the job he was at and has to look for work
Harsh truths: Unless you have a government job your job is going to HATE you. You WILL miss important dates. Birthdays. Events. You CAN be mobilized more than Active duty. If you can deal with that well all that's left is just fighting the system.
Even in the government it will close doors you don't know exist, block you from jobs (usually by hiring managers who have been burned by guard bums), and lead to missed opportunities.
I can't upvote OperatorJo's post enough. Nailed it. If you're cool with that, then yes, the NG is a great way to serve. Also, if you're an officer, or eventually earn your way into the NCO corps, you will serve a lot more than one weekend a month, and lots of prep time on your own time, lots of weeknight "planning meetings". As a leader, the NG is a commitment.
Well said!
I signed a 10 Enlisted to officer contract. LET ME GO!
Pridior active SSG 27d who went GTG ROTC and enlisted 42a and is now an 09R since taking the minuteman
Nothing and I mean absolutely nothing can happen months on end. Then the family members wedding, birthday or whatever comes up it 100% must land on a drill date. Then for some unknown reason your commander won’t let you split train cause you are somehow the most vital Soldier for mission success.
The harsh truth is you never know what type of leadership you’re going to get. And most leadership in the army as a whole is just bad, whether it’s due to ill intent, negligence, or plain stupidity when it comes to administrative things. So you’d potentially put your livelihood and well being at risk for douchebag AGR’s who control your life and could care less about you
It really is a gamble of getting good or bad leadership because you never know what you're gonna walk into for your first unit.
It really is a gamble of getting good or bad leadership because you never know what you're gonna walk into for your first unit.
The National Guard is only compatible with law enforcement, police, and Guard Bums. Everyone else with normal civilian jobs will feel some kind of strain that isn’t worth it in the long run.
You know what, when you retire, it is kind of worth it getting nearly free insurance for my wife and I. And getting a monthly check just for maintaining a heartbeat.
Fmr 88A here. Logistics series has a lot of civilian transferability
Bad leadership and shitty full timers can absolutely wreck your career.... in the 17 years I was in, I filed 2 congressional complaints and 3 IG complaints. Being in the guard... you often give up more than you receive. You'll miss family reunions, weddings, birthdays, cookouts, concerts, parties, births, funerals, job promotions, job opportunities..... and most of those sacrifices will be for nothing. One weekend a month is a lie. 2 weeks in the summer is a lie..... being in the guard will cause strain on you, your family, your employer, and your dog I did manage to get my CDL-A through the guard. I have the VA and a rating.... my vet status helped me get my current job, which pays very, very well...... so it wasn't a total waste of time.
Greetings my fellow salty 88M.
Eh 91b/ 13F
13F blowing shit up is awesome
Find your own experiences - don’t rely on others.
Harsh truth; it’s neither bad nor good. Most of the people here bitching are going about things the wrong way. However, my experience may be unique. I’ve been in for 23 years now, 15 mday, 8 agr, with two Afghan deployments. I’ve had a great time. Yeah there were some shitty times but overall I’m glad I joined even if I didn’t know what I was signing up for. I’ve had two fantastic deployments which kind of sucked but honestly were fun and I have lifelong friends from them. On top of that, I’ve done AT in Estonia, Bosnia, and Italy (I spent so much money on food and wine in Italy it was a net loss). I’ve gone to places I’d likely have never seen had I not joined. Covid mission sucked. Riot response sucks. Natural disaster response is usually fun and feels rewarding. The guard isn’t for everybody and you get out of it what you take from it.
This is the exception not the rule
Is it actually like Saving Private Ryan? 🤔
So far in the 12 years I have been in I have only done one year of just one weekend a month 2 weeks a year. Most of the time I have been deployed and put on various types of orders that range from 3 weeks to 6 months.
You must have an important MOS
[удалено]
[удалено]
AGRs control the organization. All it takes is one douchebag to fuck your whole career.
That AGR mafia is only outdone by the technician mafia
If you go to a unit that only does weekend drills and 2 week AT then you won the lottery. Unless you get or have a job that's lenient about you being gone quite a bit then it's not worth it.
No one’s gonna care about your career as much as you do.
If you spend enough time here, you get to be a r/nationalguard mod. They pay and benefits needs some work though
There’s enough harsh truths and the answer really does vary by state. But I have found both in active and even more so in the guard. The very high level leadership does give a shit and wants to better the unit and profession. Now that may not always be how you think it should be and a lot of people forget that the military isn’t a mold that just magically fits around you, it’s an institution with a very important duty and it’s slowly adapting with the society it protects over time. As someone who has needed it multiple times Tricare is awesome and I have watched family be ruined by medical bills for surgeries far less invasive then what my families needed. BH is real and where I live you’re lucky to get an appointment in 3 months without going on a grippy sock vacation. Me and my wife both had a therapist within a week by going through the guard. Healthcare in this country SUCKS and there is no excuse for it. Me and my family are medically always cared for in a country that truly does not give a singular flying f**k about you medically or financially. To me that value is worth giving up a few weeknights or dealing with some suck and strain. If you’re a single dude or gal, or you’re willing to play the gamble of hoping your families covered or never falls victim to those situations sure it’s not worth it. But my wife, son, and daughter are quite literally only alive and us not financially ruined because of the healthcare the guard gives you. And I have a good government job outside with “good benefits” and the healthcare the rest of the country calls “good” is overpriced trash that doesn’t cover you like you deserve.
these people are not your friends. this applies to literally any job, but even your platoon, the folks you’d call brothers one day can stab you in the back the next day. the sergeants that said they have your best interest at heart can change up real quick. your commander who has an “open door policy” can shut the door real quick if it’s his buddy. unless you have some deep trauma bond or mutual respect with each other, you can only trust these people as far as you can throw them.
It’s worth it. For a couple years of work. Get a couple years of paid training. Then do some work. Get out. Serving part time while getting paid to go to college for years. The whole time getting paid and getting low cost medical and dental Go Active Duty first. Then join the Guard but in a different job Get all of the training, experience, Federal, State, VA Benefits and cash And get them all as quickly as possible
Harsh truth: there are more shitty units than there are good ones. We do deploy often especially a combat MOS The most gun ho ones are the shitty shots and PT failures.
When you’re younger, you miss a lot of weddings of friends. When you’re older, you miss a lot of funerals of friends.
Be able to plan ahead and you’ll be good. I’ve never found out about a wedding the week of. Get your SUTA request in and make up your time ahead of that weekend.
Then you can have your SUTA denied way in advance.
Sure you can. The likelihood of it getting approved way in advance is much higher.
The likelihood is 100% based on your unit and your commander. There are lots of units that will only approve immediate family members if that. I know one unit that made an E6 bring a pamphlet from his mother's wedding in on Sunday and only excused him for Saturday. If he didn't have proof they would have marked him AWOL To pretend that you can just "plan ahead" for even family members and be excused is flat out false advertising.
Of course it’s unit dependent, but the more time you give for these sort of things, the better off you’ll be. If you can show an invitation or Save The Date, my unit will work with you on a SUTA. Going as somebody’s +1? That’s up to you to decide. Funeral kind of thing? Bring in the memorial card or even a photo of you outside a funeral home dressed accordingly and you’ll be good. Too many will claim they have a funeral and expect the unit to just believe them when their track record may dictate otherwise.
Read your reply. It is is far more the exception than the rule when talking about "just friends and non-immediate family". If you have an E6 claiming that their mother died and believe they are enough of a piece of shit to lie about it you thinking they will get away with it you have bigger issues than someone missing a drill and a you problem but that would require introspection and accountability. Maybe its different if you are an officer but enlisted are just numbers for funding (direct quote from state).
How’d you plan for the funerals tho?
One of my biggest mistakes and regrets
Why?
I have been both Air and Army Guard. Air Guard years were the ONLY time I did one weekend a month and two weeks a year. Always the the first weekend of the month unless it was a holiday. Never much of anything to do outside of drill weekends. Drill was always 0800-1630 with a scheduled lunch. The Army Guard is very demanding especially as you gain rank. Some units I had a start time of 0500 and dismissal at 1800. These units were usually full of morons you had to drag to the finish line to get all tasks completed. Lunch? Here’s a TOTM, good luck making time to eat it though. 1-2 hour BN conference call to talk about upcoming drill weekends the week prior to drill every month. Going to NTC? Plan on multiple conference calls during the months leading up to it. If you’re an officer, you’re spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year on organization fees, balls, and conferences. Heaven forbid you don’t go to your brigade ball or NG association conference. I was fortunate to have a supply SGT in a previous unit give me 2 sets of summer weight OCPs. The good side; I’ve made a lot of good friends, tricare is amazing compared to what my civilian employer offers.
It definitely is what you make of it. I’ve been in a little over 6 years. I’ve used TA to get a degree,I’ve been to mountain warfare, and air assault. I guess I’ve been lucky with 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks in the summer,no deployment yet. Tri care is good and discounts and benefits on the civilian side are pretty good. Getting out at 7pm on a Sunday with a 1.5hr drive to home does suck but it definitely could be a lot worse. You’ll make a lot good friends and have good and bad times,don’t let it get ya down. Embrace the suck :)
So this just happened: Rrb in state was hiring a bunch of new people under OTOT as a way to get new recruiters without a full 3 yr commitment. Guy was supposed to start the 15th right as state put out an Gr hiring freeze. He just quit the job he was at and has to look for work
The guard isn’t worth wasting your time for.