who is a reservist?

[mustangmike6996]

Before the military i was an ASE master tech (still fully certed) for Lexus and Mercedes, I do miss it. I am currently active duty USMC and im sure im not going to re-enlist active duty. Who here is a reservist? I am thinking that the reserve side of the house is a better option for me, plus i do enjoy the military and i would still like to retire (at a pro-rated percentage, i know)

what kind of advice do you all have on the subject?

 

[blackfang]

I tried it and it sucked. Granted I went from Active Duty Marines to Army Reserves and in my personal experience from what I dealt with are a joke. I am not sure how they function as a component. BTW, I am a service advisor myself.

First you have the command trying to pull late last minute schools or tasking on you with little to no warning. This pisses the employer off because they are not the military and now have to find a suitable replacement while you are gone. They do not care that in the military anything beyond 1 hour is actually long term planning that requires a training meeting.

Also mobilizations. They do not have to give you any notice. I mobilized with less than 5 days notice. Hell I fought for weeks to get uniforms and gear needed because they were in such a rush to mob me. I had a friend mobilized with less than 24hours notice. It can happen and it sucks for your employer.

I left the reserves for the above reasons and the fact that a majority are ****ing lazy. I spent 6 years trying to get retirement points, medical records and my file correct among other things and still it never was correct despite many a talks with Sergeant Majors, Colonels, Lt. Colonels and even the AG. They did not give a **** that paperwork kept getting lost after my First Sergeant would hand it over to the UA because people empowered in the position didn't care. Let's not forget all the SRP and standing around for hours with our thumbs up our ass pretending we are doing it but instead pen****ing it.

I still have First Sergeants asking me to come back and that they will "ensure" my crap gets fixed". No thank you. I know I have 14 1/2 in but 6 is missing and was wasted so I have nothing to gain by coming back in. I could go on for hours how ****ed up the Reserves can be. At the same time, I have friends who have good units and a locked on support staff as well.

 

[TrevorR90]

Ymmv

 

[Chosyn1]

Also an active duty Marine, my advice if you've made up your mind to get out is just make sure you have something lined up and not go backwards(same pay or better). i've had a few friends that say they love it because they have more time for school or they make more at their civilian job so in that sense, reserve seems very attracting. everything is gonna have bullsh*t though, just depends if that b/s is worth putting up with or not. good luck w/ your decision. Kill!

 

[Mach1USMC]

I did 4 active then did 7 in the reserves before I went back AD. I will say this, I would never have gone back AD if I could have gotten promoted in the reserves.

It all depends on what type of reservist you want to be too. It's not just SMCR or IRR. There's also IMA and AR. I was IMA out of CLNC. I was a full time student so IMA worked great. They really worked with my schedule and I was able to do both plus ADOS in the summer. The best part was I could work when I wanted for how long I wanted. I ended up working about 10 months out of the year. Plus I had the option to go on deployments if I wanted to. Phenomenal program. Especially if you are a student or teacher or if you just need a flexible schedule.

 

[Matts00GT]

I tried it and it sucked. Granted I went from Active Duty Marines to Army Reserves and in my personal experience from what I dealt with are a joke. I am not sure how they function as a component. BTW, I am a service advisor myself.

First you have the command trying to pull late last minute schools or tasking on you with little to no warning. This pisses the employer off because they are not the military and now have to find a suitable replacement while you are gone. They do not care that in the military anything beyond 1 hour is actually long term planning that requires a training meeting.

Also mobilizations. They do not have to give you any notice. I mobilized with less than 5 days notice. Hell I fought for weeks to get uniforms and gear needed because they were in such a rush to mob me. I had a friend mobilized with less than 24hours notice. It can happen and it sucks for your employer.

I left the reserves for the above reasons and the fact that a majority are ****ing lazy. I spent 6 years trying to get retirement points, medical records and my file correct among other things and still it never was correct despite many a talks with Sergeant Majors, Colonels, Lt. Colonels and even the AG. They did not give a **** that paperwork kept getting lost after my First Sergeant would hand it over to the UA because people empowered in the position didn't care. Let's not forget all the SRP and standing around for hours with our thumbs up our ass pretending we are doing it but instead pen****ing it.

I still have First Sergeants asking me to come back and that they will "ensure" my crap gets fixed". No thank you. I know I have 14 1/2 in but 6 is missing and was wasted so I have nothing to gain by coming back in. I could go on for hours how ****ed up the Reserves can be. At the same time, I have friends who have good units and a locked on support staff as well.

I can't speak to your personal history with the reserves, but mobilization with less than 5 days notice is ridiculous.

I'm an AGR officer in USAR. Currently, I'm in a year four unit and we've known for half a year that we were not sourced for deployment.

A lot of the issues you have appear to be "unit" driven.

Unfortunately in the reserves, a unit can go to shit quick, fast and in a hurry if a poor command team is put in place.

I can go on and on about the pros and cons of the reserves but I'd be here all day.

If you do choose to join the reserves, RST with a unit once before joining. The right unit will make all the difference.

 

[mustangmike6996]

My plans are to go back to Detroit and either get back into the auto industry (way more pay obviously) or become a state trooper (ive always wanted to do that as well.)

If everything falls through, as stated above, i still have my certs and tools to get back into the dealerships, which pays very well.

It seems to be hit and miss with every reservist i speak with. Depends on the MOS or unit i guess.

My MOS is a non-reservist USMC MOS (as far as I know) but i would be willing to try a new career path.

 

[Mach1USMC]

My plans are to go back to Detroit and either get back into the auto industry (way more pay obviously) or become a state trooper (ive always wanted to do that as well.)

If everything falls through, as stated above, i still have my certs and tools to get back into the dealerships, which pays very well.

It seems to be hit and miss with every reservist i speak with. Depends on the MOS or unit i guess.

My MOS is a non-reservist USMC MOS (as far as I know) but i would be willing to try a new career path.

What is your MOS? Have you spoken with a prior service recruiter? They can explain far better than most on this forum about the pros/cons of reserve duty and where your MOS is rated. They can also tell you what MOS's rate bonuses if you lat move into them as a reservist. It's worth a look- while it's not perfect by any means its still got a lot going for it.

 

[mustangmike6996]

Im a 6469 by trade but handle all of the ECM avionics on the EA-6B Prowler. As far as I know, there are no I-level reservists unless you are navy, we get them once or twice a year.

Our career planner here is a not the best by any means. When I get back from this DET I will be speaking with my C.P. on base though. I figured I would get less B.S. and runaround from people on here as opposed to a recruiter or C.P.

 

[Mach1USMC]

Im a 6469 by trade but handle all of the ECM avionics on the EA-6B Prowler. As far as I know, there are no I-level reservists unless you are navy, we get them once or twice a year.

Our career planner here is a not the best by any means. When I get back from this DET I will be speaking with my C.P. on base though. I figured I would get less B.S. and runaround from people on here as opposed to a recruiter or C.P.

That's why you need to speak with a prior service recruiter. Most Career Jammers no nothing about the reserves. It sounds like you'd most likely have to latmove though. I picked up 2 additional MOS's in the reserves. You could always go Ospreys! Lol

 

[Smileyboy]

Reserves is all about the unit. If there is a sorry CMD group, expect a horrible experience no matter how good the rest of the unit is. And like someone else said, it can go to hell in very little time. i.e. 2 drills a unit can go from feeling shit hot to look like sh*t. Check around the local area to get an idea before committing. Last minute stuff comes up all the time which can be either good or bad, its just up to you. I've been in for 8 years in the reserves.

 

[hotcobra03]

good thread..i was in army national guard,,we found that you can get full time position at unit that gives 20yrs as full than 40 in reserves...retire at 57

my son is in marines now and has been thinking of doing this...

 

[Smileyboy]

good thread..i was in army national guard,,we found that you can get full time position at unit that gives 20yrs as full than 40 in reserves...retire at 57

my son is in marines now and has been thinking of doing this...

Yep, AGR positions. All the advantages of Active, without the BS as long as your unit isn't stationed on an actual base like Ft. Bragg.epper:

 

[cobraman1024]

Navy Reservist here currently serving on Active Duty Special Work orders.
I had almost 8 years active, a little over a year off and then I've been a reservist for about two and a half years-----2 years of which have been ADSW orders to different locations.
The way I see it is that the reserves are fine if you've got a strong relationship with your civilian employer. If not, then its a great opportunity for temp jobs around the world as either ADSW or IA mobilizations.
We have a website that we go to so that we can register for emails about job openings and temporary duty opportunities. Once the orders are up on one, I can go back to my unit at home, request extension or apply for another temp duty position somewhere else. Granted its not easy to get chosen for these duties being that there are hundreds of other Reservists putting in their resumes, but I've been fortunate to have been selected or By Name Requested for the positions that I've held.

 

[USMC53CHIEF]

reserves was a joke. I hated it. I was a 53 crew chief in ohio, and had to drive to McGuire AFB in New Jersey every month.. I did 5 active before and going there blew my fing mind. I drove all that way to yell at guys for not shaving or...wait for it... LOCK HIS F****ING GF IN HIS BARRACKS WALL LOCKER DURING A FIELD DAY INSPECTION. Being that you are Airwing... if you think the active duty pilots and staff in general are "full of themselves and lax" wait till you see a reserve squadron. There were 3 Captains in the entire squadron and 9, 9 freaking LtCol's!!

 

[mustangmike6996]

do they comp you any pay for making that drive or is that 100% out of pocket?

Im currently finishing a 7 month DET in Japan. We just got a reserve squadron from Fort Worth TX here.... the lack of knowledge is crazy and all the oorah motivation of an MCT Marine in every reservist (who has never been active duty)

Im 99% sure I will not be re-enlisting after my last (of 5) year is up.

 

[USMC53CHIEF]

do they comp you any pay for making that drive or is that 100% out of pocket?

Im currently finishing a 7 month DET in Japan. We just got a reserve squadron from Fort Worth TX here.... the lack of knowledge is crazy and all the oorah motivation of an MCT Marine in every reservist (who has never been active duty)

Im 99% sure I will not be re-enlisting after my last (of 5) year is up.

Ehh I'm not 100% on the compensation part. I know for sure my prior service recruiter told me yes I would be compensated for travel, "but I never saw a dime of that money" (best forrest gump voice impression lol)

The only perk was if you lived outside of 50 miles from the base you get free lodging. I was a little different in the fact that most of the time I went for a week straight, making the trip worth it.

The motivation was actually quite the opposite for me. Fat, disgusting turds. The whole squadron with the exception of a few active guys looked like a bag of smashed assholes throw in formation. Absolutely disgusting. And youve never seen gunny rolls like at my last reserve squadron lol.

 

[mustangmike6996]

Ehh I'm not 100% on the compensation part. I know for sure my prior service recruiter told me yes I would be compensated for travel, "but I never saw a dime of that money" (best forrest gump voice impression lol)

The only perk was if you lived outside of 50 miles from the base you get free lodging. I was a little different in the fact that most of the time I went for a week straight, making the trip worth it.

The motivation was actually quite the opposite for me. Fat, disgusting turds. The whole squadron with the exception of a few active guys looked like a bag of smashed assholes throw in formation. Absolutely disgusting. And youve never seen gunny rolls like at my last reserve squadron lol.

Bag of smashed assholes eh... lmao

I have seen a few Navy reservists waddling around here... Holy F**k... talk about "need to lose a few pounds" there was one that had to be 5'8" and an easy 270 with a 50 inch gut...

 

[USMC53CHIEF]

Bag of smashed assholes eh... lmao

I have seen a few Navy reservists waddling around here... Holy F**k... talk about "need to lose a few pounds" there was one that had to be 5'8" and an easy 270 with a 50 inch gut...

Ive never seen a "brown shoe" that wasn't in need of a ruler and a weight loss program

 

[mr_merkur]

I agree with blackfang...I went from active army to active reserve I drive 350 miles to drill just to become disgruntled and pissed( going from missile monkey to chemical prolly doesnt help matters) . The soliers that really bug me are the ones who have never been active duty, had a full time job and act like your an f****ing noob When half of them dont know what a 240b or iba....ughh rant end, ill be free in june