Thinking of Joining the Military Reserves.. Any Opinions, Suggestions, or Tips?

Naval Av8Rs wrote:

Hey man

Overall, some pretty poor advice on here. Let me help you out.

I am an active duty Marine Pilot and former collegiate athlete. The process for joining is not quite what he been described above.

In the USMCR going the officer route is pretty tough. Reason being the training for a given job is about 6 months longer than other branches. While I'm not 100% sure on the initial process it goes something like this:

Contact a local OSO

They specialize in officer recruiting and will help you put together your application for the next board the will meet and select the top candidates. You will apply as a "ground contract."

If selected at the board, you will then be given a report date to OCS (while not advertised, you don't have to accept if you are selected). Attrition rate hovers around 40% for OCS- it's not easy. But as a runner you won't have issues as long as you aren't a weak b!tch.

If you pass OCS you will commission as a 2ndLt and then head to "The Basic School" or TBS. This is a 6 month infantry school that teaches the basics of officership and leading a rifle platoon. At the completion of TBS all officers, with the exception of Law and Air (neither are an option for you as a reservist and with no law degree) will be assigned their official military job. This is the weird part for reservists.... You will probably have a good idea of what this will be prior to applying as there is a finite number of reserve USMC officer positions at your closest Reserve station (where you will be working).

Once you are assigned your job, you will then head to a formal course to learn your craft. This can be anywhere from 8 weeks to 6 months.

Once complete, you will head home and begin the "normal reserve schedule."

In all, the process will be around 1-1.5 years till you get back home.

The reserve route is tough because of the length of training. But good on you for considering it. Let me know if you have any other questions. Happy to help.

Military Woes wrote:

Runningart2004 wrote:

Do you have student loans? Comp Sci?

Does this interest you?:

CompTIA A+

CompTIA Network+

CompTIA Security+

Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)

Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)

CISCO Certified Networking Associate (CCNA)

https://m.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/browse-career-and-job-categories/computers-and-technology/cyber-operations-specialist.m.html

I do have student loans. Not an extreme amount that so many other unfortunately find themselves in, but still around the $25,000 range. I figured that would be one benefit to joining the reserves, as the secondary income would help with loans. But that isn't the main reason why I would be joining the reserves. It is more of a bonus on top of everything.

I always really liked the structure of the military and being able to understand your progression to higher ranks, as well as your role within the organization is refreshingly clear (I assume?). I am completely biased, though, having grown up on a military base for half of my life overseas.

I would lean heavily towards a job in the computer science realm since my current job is not in that realm.