Air Force Reserves...please advise

[GJM]

I am so sorry - does he have a job lined up?

I hope he has really thought this thru, because as I said my DH really regrets his choice, and at the time he couldn't go back into the AF because they were not taking prior reserve.

 

[JB111107]

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.

Air guard deployments are no longer than 120 days, whereas army is up to 18 months. (dh has been both) We've currently been praying for DH to be awarded one of 2 AGR slots here.

 

[ntsammy5]

We've currently been praying for DH to be awarded one of 2 AGR slots here.

Good luck!

 

[jsmith]

Air guard deployments are no longer than 120 days, whereas army is up to 18 months. (dh has been both) We've currently been praying for DH to be awarded one of 2 AGR slots here.

Um not so much-i know plenty of Air Guard guys who have deployed for 180 to 295 days or longer. The current DOD policy is that no reserve component service member will be on command directed federal title 10 orders for more than 377 consecutive days (13 months). They can volunteer for longer. and its the military-so the rules change daily.

If you can get an AGR-especailly a Guard AGR-thats awesome-Guard AGRs are like the best job in the military-Active Duty pay and benefits-but since you stay with in the State you serve-great stability-no cross country PCS's

 

[stm61]

it's true that some Air Guard have been deployed for longer periods, but the majority go for shorter times. It depends on your AFSC usually. I know some who were gone for 6+ months (mostly SP's or vehicle op's), some for 6 weeks, and alot who haven't gone anywhere. Usually they have enough volunteers that they don't have to force anyone to go. The only exception to that, that I've seen personally, was the mass call-up of driver's about 4 yrs ago or so.