family price to purchase Tricare for Reservists (I don't remember the official name) just dropped to $180, or something close to that. I had been paying $253 for the same policy. It covers medical and pharmacy, no dental or vision. Be careful if he decides to use it, depending on where you live there a few or no participating providers. I've been both active and Air Guard since 1984, with a few breaks in service. I'll be retired within 2 yrs. If he's serious about it, have your son call recruiters at different bases. Benefits and bonuses can vary greatly, depending on what's needed on that particular base at the time. There's a big difference between Guard and Reserves, have him compare both groups. The Guard tends to add additional state- provided benefits for school, state park admissions, hunting/fishing licenses, etc. Also the Air Guard tends to be deployed less often and for less time, much less then the Army Guard.
Your ds can also look for a civilian job on base. I'm not sure what the active duty bases have, but Air Guard bases have personnel in 3 categories, usually. They can be AGR, which is the same pay and benefits as active duty, only assigned to the guard base. They can be federal technicians, which pays less, depending on the job, you pay for federal benefits, but the retirement system is better. Technicians wear the same military uniform as AGR, do the same job, but the pay is different and they're basically civilians in a uniform all week. They must be in the guard to keep their job. The 3rd category is state employee's, who are paid by the state, receive state benefits, have no requirement to be in the guard, and wear either a state issued, non-military uniform, or their own clothes. Each base has jobs in each category, what type of work you do decides which category you fall into. Usually civil engineering and some police and fire dept personnel are under state, everything else is divided into AGR and technician. Each state has a certain quota of AGR vrs technician, but it doesn't follow any pattern. Some states, or even some bases in the same state, have many more or alot less AGR slots then others, with no explanation of why they have more or less then another.
to your DS and DDIL. I hope the insurance works out for them.
sad2
