Military Hotrod Club - Army Reserves, whats the catch?

Besides possibly getting deployed is there anything else? My roomate went and talked to a recruiter today and on the outside it sounds like a good deal but Ive heard some bad stories about being in the armed forces. The sign on bonus alone would make me debt free, and with work slowing down Id actually have time to go back to school and if I go a minimum of 7 hours a week they give you 600-700 a month so thats a big plus too. Along with being able to possible work with the corp of engineers which would be good for my construction science degree and being a construction inspector already it would help. I just want to make sure Im not missing something. The recruiter he has been talking to has flat out lied to him about a couple of things so I dont trust any info I get from him. What decides how much of a sign-on bonus you get because it says up to, and do you get the whole thing in one payment or multiple. How good is the insurance? I already have insurance through my work but if its just as good then Ill go with the army since its about half as much as I pay now. If anyone has a contact number to someone I can talk to and trust to tell me EVERYTHING Id appreciate it.

Cody

your best bet , talk to a recruiter

your best bet , talk to a recruiter

The recruiter he has been talking to has flat out lied to him about a couple of things so I dont trust any info I get from him.

Might want to read my whole post;)

http://www.goarmy.com/reserve/nps/money.jsp

http://www.goarmy.com/reserve/nps/health_care.jsp

1. Suspect pretty much everything a recruiter says, they have a quota (which you probably already know)

2. You could be called up to serve, either in a combat zone or not (which you already know)

3. If your young, single, go for it. You'll have some great experiences, and some horrible ones most likely, but the experience you'll gain for your career AND your life will be difficult to get anywhere else.

I should put a disclaimer, I was active military only, in the Navy during Viet Nam and Army during the 80s cold war.

Good luck, and let us know what you decide!

Besides possibly getting deployed is there anything else? My roomate went and talked to a recruiter today and on the outside it sounds like a good deal but Ive heard some bad stories about being in the armed forces. The sign on bonus alone would make me debt free, and with work slowing down Id actually have time to go back to school and if I go a minimum of 7 hours a week they give you 600-700 a month so thats a big plus too. Along with being able to possible work with the corp of engineers which would be good for my construction science degree and being a construction inspector already it would help. I just want to make sure Im not missing something. The recruiter he has been talking to has flat out lied to him about a couple of things so I dont trust any info I get from him. What decides how much of a sign-on bonus you get because it says up to, and do you get the whole thing in one payment or multiple. How good is the insurance? I already have insurance through my work but if its just as good then Ill go with the army since its about half as much as I pay now. If anyone has a contact number to someone I can talk to and trust to tell me EVERYTHING Id appreciate it.

Cody

I'm not in the army but can anwser some of your ?
#1 Being Deployed- depends on your MOS(job) and how badly they need you.
Some guys have been in awhile and haven't went, some are on a regular schedule...

#2 Sign On Bonus- See above^^ MOS dependant, and what you have to offer the army. If you are new never been in service then you most likely won't max out that bonus they are showing you. If you were a relinestee, and had say 10+(just for shits) years in then you would probably get the max amount depending on the afformentioned things like MOS, Time in, Rank....etc

#3 Bonus Payment- Just depends, sometimes it's a lump others it is contingent on you serving out a certain term...etc

#4 Insurance- The insurance is not bad but then again I have only seen the premiums and use my civilian insurance because it's cheaper, so sorry if that didn't help. I will say the premiums are reasonable, don't know about the care.

For any particulars I would ask some of the army reservists (brad in particular) as they could tell you the nitty gritty details.
Hope that helps some...:chug:

I think we are going to go talk to another recuiter and see what they have to say. I would think with the experience and certifications I have in the civilian world would allow me to get a good position in the army. Im 23 and single so thats not a problem. I also need to find out the exact details for how they pay for school.

Not sure if all parts of the army are the same but civilian certifications and experience usually don't mean squat to the army unless you are going for officer and have your bachelor's. The notion is they will train you to do anything they want you to do. Now...if you do have certifications and experience and want to go into a MOS where you can use those...you would most certainly have a leg up.

Not sure if all parts of the army are the same but civilian certifications and experience usually don't mean squat to the army unless you are going for officer and have your bachelor's. The notion is they will train you to do anything they want you to do. Now...if you do have certifications and experience and want to go into a MOS where you can use those...you would most certainly have a leg up.

:stupid: this is true. Normally you can pick up some rank before you go in if you have x amount of credit hours done of school, or some similar training, and you will have a leg up on the others but all in all you start from scratch like everyone else.

Might want to read my whole post;)
With your smart ass attitude you should go far.

Not sure if all parts of the army are the same but civilian certifications and experience usually don't mean squat to the army unless you are going for officer and have your bachelor's. The notion is they will train you to do anything they want you to do. Now...if you do have certifications and experience and want to go into a MOS where you can use those...you would most certainly have a leg up.
Well I want to do something with the corp of engineers, and Ive got 4 years experience as a cosntruction inspector, Ive got my ACI Level I, NICET Level I and II, PTI Level I and II, PCI Level I and II, HMAC inspection certified and Im TXDOT certified so Ive got quite a few certifications along with ~40 hours of college so Id imagine that ought to count for something...?
With your smart ass attitude you should go far.
If you would have read my post you would have seen that I had already talked to a recuiter and found that he couldnt be trusted, thus this thread. Ive already come quite far, so Im not worried about not being able to go further in life. Im sorry if my comment came off like a jackass, sorry.:cheers:

I did read your post and your statement is really weak, thus my reply that you see a recruiter.
As a Army recruiter myself from 10 years I take offense to your accusation of a recruiter of lying to you. If you believe, perceive that a recruiter was derelict in his or her duties through perjury, then report it. The Army Recruiting Command take this stuff seriously AND IT WILL BE FOLLOWED THROUGH FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE.

Since you do possess the basic qualifications to log on to a webboard and navigate around , try signing up at GoArmy.Com and go to the discussion board there.
You may or may not get something out of it.

Also sounds like you have qualifications that the Army Corps of Engineers can use . You can join the Army Corps of Engineers as a government employee if you have the qualifications.

Check out the link below.
USACE Careers page (http://www.usace.army.mil/CEHR/Pages/Home.aspx)

Truthfully, dont go reserves.

Its great for most people but if you are a young single guy, just go active duty. Do your 4 years and get out and use your GI Bill. Yea, youll deploy but itll be with a much more trained and competent unit and leaders. Ive worked with 2 reserve units and they were exactly the same. No offense to all the people in the reserves but there is no comparison.

I always ask people wanting join the reserves if they would trust their life in the hands of a doctor that works only a month and a half a year or one that works the full year.

Enlistment bonuses for the Reserves aren't dependent on MOS right now.. everyone's getting 20K. The minimum you can serve in the reserves is 3 years which isn't much of a commitment. All you have to do is take the ASVAB, and as long as you're a High School Grad and don't require a moral waiver, the recruiter can pull a list of jobs for you from the office. Pick the one you want to do most, have your recruiter take you out to the unit during one of their drill weekends and to talk to some of the guys out there. If you don't like that recruiter.. go see another one. If he's lying to your friend.. go tell his station commander. What did he lie to your friend about?

Come to find out it was the reserves office that didnt know what they were talking about and the recruiter was actually right so we are going to give him another chance and go talk to him next week. His office said you only have to sign on for 3 years and he said 6, my roomates buddy come to find out is a army reserve recuiter also and he confirmed its a 6 year deal. So Im confused about the actual term requirement because everyone seems to say something different.

Im not going to go active mainly because I have a damn good job right now and I dont want to give that up, after all this recession stuff is over with, I should be able to have my degree finished and be able to move up into a Project Manager position. Being a PM my salary would start at 60K a year, plus a 5-10K bonus, 3.5 weeks paid vacation, company truck, 8-5 M-F, low stress and a good work environment. I dont want to give that chance up. Plus my grandma(practically raised me) isnt going to be around much longer and I dont want to leave for 4 years and miss all that time.

Im not going to go active mainly because I have a damn good job right now and I dont want to give that up, after all this recession stuff is over with, I should be able to have my degree finished and be able to move up into a Project Manager position. Being a PM my salary would start at 60K a year, plus a 5-10K bonus, 3.5 weeks paid vacation, company truck, 8-5 M-F, low stress and a good work environment. I dont want to give that chance up. Plus my grandma(practically raised me) isnt going to be around much longer and I dont want to leave for 4 years and miss all that time.

Id check into what unit you are going to go to and see how much they deploy and so on. Yes, the reserves say that youll have your job when you get back but the fact is that a lot of the people who are reserves end up coming back and their job is filled.

Im only an E4 yet I almost earned 60k last year if you add in all the benefits and so on. The pay isnt bad at all when you add in everything you get along with the job. A lot of people leave that out when figuring how much they will make when joining.

Regardless, do your own research. Join a few army boards and youll find anything you need to find. Recruiters will say things to make you believe what you want to believe but they wont straight out lie.

I got as far as the thread title, there is no catch. The catch is you will be a fucking soldier and will be expected to honor that commitment.

Don't be one of those fags that starts crying when the Army comes knocking because you thought the Guard would keep you from deploying.

Good luck to you

Advice A) Don't listen to people's advice if they have no had experience with what you are asking. That's like asking someone to build your car that has no mechanical experience, but has read a lot of forums.

B) Don't listen to recruiters. They don't lie to you, but they usually don't tell you the whole truth. As mentioned before, they have a quota. They must meet that quota. You are just a number to them.

As far as answering your question...

I have been in the Active Army, Army Reserves, and Army National Guard. Of all three, I'd recommend the Army Reserves to you.

Don't look at the enlistment bonuses. They mean NOTHING. Again I will say, DO NOT LOOK AT THE ENLISTMENT BONUSES. Yeah sure.. $20k looks nice, but it's 20k over a span of 6 years. That's about an extra 275/month. Hardly much to decide the rest of your life on. If there is one thing you should take away from this thread, is this: Do not look at the money, look at the benifits/experience.

You never get your bonus in a lump sum. You only get it in a lump sum if you are overseas.

The only "downfall" I can tell you about the Army, in general, (to include the reserves) is that you are commited to it. You sign the contract, and you are obligated to it. If you sign up for 6 years active duty, 8 months in figure out that it isn't for you.... well you just wasted 5 years and 4 months of your life.

I got as far as the thread title, there is no catch. The catch is you will be a fucking soldier and will be expected to honor that commitment.

Don't be one of those fags that starts crying when the Army comes knocking because you thought the Guard would keep you from deploying.

Good luck to you

:jest: Wow, you are a piece of work, obviously the "prestige" of being a soldier has gone to your head. There is no catch but then you proceed to tell me the catch?:rotflmao: If I couldnt handle being deployed why the hell would I even consider going into the reserves?

Anyway, Im really looking at it for experience to help me in my civilian career, something on my resume to set me apart from the masses, school benefits and the money, in that order.

Anyway, Im really looking at it for experience to help me in my civilian career, something on my resume to set me apart from the masses, school benefits and the money, in that order.


Pick an MOS the closest to your civilian job. This will help you in two different ways.

1) Obvious. Experience.

2) Retirement. Say you want to become an engineer (sorry, I forgot what you said you wanted to be, so I'm using this as an example). You do 4 years in the Reserve. After that, you work for the government as an engineer. Those 4 years can be used towards a retirement as a civilian.

School benefits...

You have a few options. Just being in the reserves, the government will pay most, if not all of your tuition.

Then there is the GI bill. It will pay for most, if not all (depending on how pricey of a school you go to) of your tuition. You will also get another incentive. You will get living costs of what an e-5 with 1 dependent. That amount varies on your location, as the cost of living varies with different locations.... I know for me, its about 1200/month.

Money....

That's easy. Don't join the for money. You will get an extra ~200/month for being in the Reserves. Except for the two weeks you have to serve in the fisical year, which you will make a little less than 1000. Those are of course rough estimates.

Im getting a degree in construction science which basically is a degree to help you be prepared to be a superintendent for a construction company. I already know most of the structural aspect of buildings I just need to learn the architectural and MEP stuff. Im sure there is something in the army that is close to that, or close enough to help. Again money isnt the biggest part of this thing, its a nice deal, and honestly what got me looking into then I started to realize how much it could actually help besides just paying off some bills. Ive read through the army reserve website pretty thoroughly and I need to ask the recuiter some questions about the various ways they compensate you for school. Due ot all the kicker and add on programs the amount you can actually get out of the programs starts to get a little blurry without someone to ask some specific questions.

:jest: Wow, you are a piece of work, obviously the "prestige" of being a soldier has gone to your head. There is no catch but then you proceed to tell me the catch?:rotflmao: If I couldnt handle being deployed why the hell would I even consider going into the reserves?


You should slow your roll and quit acting like a jackass, you would be amazed at how many people think they wont deploy in the guard or reserves, so quit popping off at the mouth like you know so goddamn much in a thread where you are seeking answers.

If you notice I never asked any questions about deploying, Ive got three friends in the reserves but they all signed up over 4 years ago and a lot has changed since then thus I asked for specifics on what the deal is now. Im not scared to go fight for my country in the least, my number gets pulled Im going to take care of business and do my best to fullfill what is expected of me. You just came off like an ass in your post, just relax, you came in way to fast on your high horse. If you have nothing constructive to add to my thread please stay out of it, PM me if you want to continue this discussion.

Come to find out it was the reserves office that didnt know what they were talking about and the recruiter was actually right so we are going to give him another chance and go talk to him next week. His office said you only have to sign on for 3 years and he said 6, my roomates buddy come to find out is a army reserve recuiter also and he confirmed its a 6 year deal. So Im confused about the actual term requirement because everyone seems to say something different.

Its 3. They started it about a year ago. :nod:

OT: But may I ask why the Army???? Not trying to talk shit just want to know.

All the people I know who are in the reserves are in the Army Reserves so I know a bit more of what Im getting into as far as the actual job is concerned. Im open to suggestions to go into other branches if there is maybe something I havent considered. I just dont think in the other branches I can do anything to do with construction like I can with the army, I could be mistaken. Im here for suggestions so if youve got anything constructive to add post up:cheers:

Navy reserves is also a GOOD GOOD reserve program. You can learn an "actual" skill with it.

Air Force reserves is also good.

Texas Air National Guard is a good one too. Not sure if they are openly recruiting though.

All the people I know who are in the reserves are in the Army Reserves so I know a bit more of what Im getting into as far as the actual job is concerned. Im open to suggestions to go into other branches if there is maybe something I havent considered. I just dont think in the other branches I can do anything to do with construction like I can with the army, I could be mistaken. Im here for suggestions so if youve got anything constructive to add post up:cheers:

If you open the door to the infamous "Which branch should I join?" all I'm gonna say now is.... :hijack:

Your thread will turn into a 40 page long pissing contest

Yeah I didnt think about that:jest:

Im pretty set on the Army, I dont think i can do anything with construction in any of the other branches so Im pretty well stuck on that. Now I just need to find time to make it to the recruiters office to get all the numbers.

I have to LOL at this entire thread and the BS in it. I have been on both sides, active and reserve and I know the ins and out of both. OP if you want some specific info on the Army Reserves shoot me a PM with what you want to know.

You never get your bonus in a lump sum. You only get it in a lump sum if you are overseas.

Funny because the Army reserve standard reenlistment bonus is 15k lump sum right now. I think initial enlistment bonuses are still not lump sum, although thatmay have changed too.

Funny because the Army reserve standard reenlistment bonus is 15k lump sum right now. I think initial enlistment bonuses are still not lump sum, although thatmay have changed too.Reenlistment bonus is still lump sum and tax free in a combat zone. Initial entry bonus is still given out every anniversary of the entry date when the soldier joined.

If given a 20k bonus for a 4 year enlistment youll get 10k when you graduate AIT and then the rest over the last 3 years given in equal amounts. Not sure what the current percentages are but that is pretty close.

Guess Ill update this thread. I signed up for 6 years, I leave July 13th, Ill be a a secure readio communications repairer 94E. Ill be gone 37 weeks, should be fun. My AIT will be at Ft Benning GA.

Yeah I didnt think about that:jest:

Im pretty set on the Army, I dont think i can do anything with construction in any of the other branches so Im pretty well stuck on that. Now I just need to find time to make it to the recruiters office to get all the numbers.


I guess its to late now but im bored so ill say it anyway. Look up the Navy SeaBees and what they do. Im leaving for boot 2 days after you and going in as a Heavy Equipment operator but they have alot of different jobs that would have probably benefited you. There made up of mostly reserve units and last time i checked there bonuses were 20k, im going active so I dont know to much but good luck with basic mid summer is going to suck more so for you being down in GA.

Got the 20K sign on bonus:)

20k for a 94E??? Plus your reserves!!! WTF

Most MOS's are shelling out 20K, its not lump sum though. 10K after AIT then 2500 for 4 years.

20K bonus, 832/mo for taking 6+ hours a week of school, 4500/yr tuition and 20K student loan, not a bad deal at all :D

Not at all. Im just a little pissed at how much bonuses are now. Even to re-up in my MOS we get 8k at MOST. Nobody ever gets a bonus when they enter either.

Yeah be happy with that bonus im going active and had to join for 5 years with a 7k bonus. I had to argue with the lady at MEPs to get that too she wanted me to join for 6 years to get the bonus but i wouldnt do it.

I know a couple of other people who signed up around the same time as me got the 20K sign on bonus too, and they werent going 94E...

The sucky part is that about 30% of your bonus is going to be taxed. Hopefully, you wont make enough money and get it back at the end of the year when you file taxes. If you deploy within the first year, youll certainly get it back.