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I wasn't in the reserves but know plenty of people who were, even went to basic training and AIT with them.



You can't join until you are 17, and that is with your parents permission. You would need a lot more than two weeks training your first year. The way it works is that they will send you to Basic training one summer, and if you are a student AIT the next. While you are on active duty for training you receive the full pay and benefits of any active duty soldier.



The Army and Reserve have what it called Delayed Entry, which is when you want to join now, and not ship out until after you graduate or whatever. I do believe that some reserve units will allow you to drill (and receive drill pay) before you go to basic, that would allow you to become familiar with your unit, its mission, and the way it is organized and operated.

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I guess this is where to post this...



I have been considering the Army Reserve recently. I don't want a career or anything... but our neighbor that was in it says I would really enjoy it. I have thought for a while it is something I would like to try... Just so I don't look back when I'm 45 and say "Man, I wish I had tried that". Seems like an experience that would be beneficial.



I have some questions though...



A) This two weeks of training they say you get every year... is this just some random two weeks, or can it be scheduled? I am 16 right now, and will be 17 in September... shortly after I start my Junior year of High School. I hate missing school at all (I've kind of got a perfect attendance thing going) but a two week chunk of school missed would be nearly impossible (if not impossible) to make up. During the summer would be fantastic... but I hate to miss school.  Before you can do Annual Training - you must attend BCT and AIT.  You can attend BCT after your junior year in high school and then do AIT after you graduate.  But AT is a unit thing - it is not when you want to.

B) If I join up... I assume they would wait until you are 18 to activate you. I turn 18 shortly after my Senior year starts... They wouldn't cut me off mid-year to go overseas or something, right? I don't want to have a month of my Senior year, two years overseas, then come back to finish High School in my early 20's.  Won't happen.  YOu have to complete high school (or get your GED)  they cannot ship you overseas until you complete AIT and have turned 18 years old.

C) I am pretty experienced with AR15s (more than just shooting them... building them, repairing them, etc.). Being very similar to an M4 carbine, would that put me in the running for an armorer position of some sort?  Probably not.  But why would you want to do that?  There is nothing glamorous or exciting about being an armorer.

D) I guess boot camp is 9 weeks... Do you have boot camp basically as soon as you join up, or do they wait until/if they activate you? The situation with this is pretty much the same as A and B... if it is scheduled wrong, it creates huge educational problems for me.  If you are still in high school you will attend BCT between your jr and sr year or after your sr year.

E) What kind of college money is available? I read in a brochure something like $20,000.... How long do you have to stick with them to get this? Is it really $20,000... or is that the number they throw out there as a "under ideal circumstances" thing? Can this money be used towards the college of my choosing? Educational funding is not a very high priority for me wanting to try this... My parents have been doing a great job with the college-fund thing... but I figure if the Army offers it, I shouldn't turn it down. See a REcruiter.



F) Are there any obvious questions I should be asking that I am forgetting?

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Hope this helps.  

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Some of the later parts of the description sound like a bomb squad or something.... Is that something I should be concerned about?