Any Help Would Help :)

[mw457]

Hello, I am a college sophmore interested in joining the Reserve. I just want to know, would it be best to join now, or wait until I graduate? Is it worth it? Also, what are the benefits (emotional, professional) Any help would help :p

[kmullins]

you'll get a higher rank if you are a graduate. also, it is possible for your unit to get called to duty while your in the middle of a semester, so that would suck. nightflyer is in school, wait on his reply and he will give you some better insight on his college/army life.

[MSG Glenn]

If you waited until you got your bachelors degree you'd be able to attend OCS after Basic & become an officer. It depends on what you want to do in the Army Reserve. I'm not real sure but you'd probably have to put some active duty time in. Most states have a military academy run by the Army National Guard. You could attend that & get a commission in the USAR. That's something you could check out while waiting to graduate.

College graduates enlisting in the Army go in as a Specialist, E4.

Any route you take, Active Army, Army Reserve, Army National Guard will probably entail a deployment. All will get you Reserve time as your enlistment obligation of 8 years is split up between active duty & Reserve/Guard duty.

My son is getting out of the Army in May after 4 years, 16 months. He'll be a Reservist until his 8 year obligation is up. He's planning on joining the WI Army National Guard. Otherwise he'll spend the remainder of his time in the IRR, Individual Ready Reserve, & is subject to getting activated & placed where the Army needs him, in his case an Infantry unit. He wouldn't go back to a Ranger Battalion. By going Guard he'll get activated with his unit & will at least know the people & will have had a hand in training them.He'll be exempt from deployment for a year or two but would still report to active duty with his unit. He'd stay behind at home station.

You'll also have to consider that Guard units are Combat Arms & Reserve units are mostly Service or Service & Support with some training divisions thrown in.

By the time you graduate things might be altogether different so you'll have to keep researching updates on enlistment including bonuses & bonus MOSs.

[mw457]

Thanks so much for your response. It has given me a lot to think about :). Enjoy your year!

[Nightflyer]

Thanks so much for your response. It has given me a lot to think about :). Enjoy your year!

Thanxs, 457....You can go into the reserves or Army Guard now..You could enter as an E-4 and wait till your officers sign off for warrant school slot..You'll know your unit from the ground up..."expert" at your mos and your field plus having the benifits of one day being Warrant Officer status...or ....Wait till you finished school and enter into the Army and Army Reserves or Army Guard and off directly to OCS school...You'll need 90 credits either way...

Im done with school in about a year and a half and then Im set....I have to wait till I finish school to enter into warrants office school....It's a great set up and it works...The Army has been very good to me...Good Luck....


Spc. Nightflyer.