6 services — 1 choice p1 - Military Career Advancement - Military Times Edge

Soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines from each branch of the U.S. military’s reserve component stand poised to support military missions with steady training — fulfilling a commitment that’s meant considerably more than one weekend a month and two weeks a year since war began in the Middle East.

“In this day and age, Reserve is a serious commitment,” said Lt. Col. Francis Piccoli, director of the Marine Forces Reserve public affairs office. “You cannot be Pollyanna-ish about going into the Marine Corps Reserve and think you are going to sit idly by. ... Reservists die in combat, too.”

The reserves have a long history of military service. The Army Reserve celebrated its 100th anniversary last year. The Navy Reserve is in its 94th year. And many reservists are former active-duty service members. The Air Force, for example, says that of its 65,771 reservists, 41,008 come with prior service experience.

Reserve duty can complement a civilian job or even, in some cases, replace it. In addition to the basic “one weekend a month, two weeks a year” deal, it may also be possible for a reservist to serve in a full-time capacity. The Army reserve calls it Active Guard Reserve, or AGR. In the Marine Corps, it’s the Active Reserve Program. Whether in a full-time or traditional reserve commitment, it’s common for members to transition from one branch to another, from active duty Army to Marine Corps Reserve, for example.

And considering the ongoing news of a global economic downturn, reserve service may look increasingly desirable. It generates a paycheck roughly equal to a monthly car payment and allows you to keep up your skills, build retirement benefits and continue to enjoy the feeling that comes with being able to stand up and serve.

But how do you know what the other team’s game is like? Who do you want to go to bat for as you transition from active to reserve duty?

Here are some specifics to help you decide:

National Guard

The Army and Air National Guards have a distinctly local flavor. They’re organized at the state level, and benefits can vary from state to state. New Jersey gives Reservists free admission to state parks. Virginia won’t tax drill pay for captains and below.

A 16-year veteran of the Guard, Army National Guard spokesman William Layer says there’s a camaraderie that unites reservists.

“You know their weaknesses. You know their strengths. You probably can finish their sentences for them,” Layer said. “Of course, you can do that in other places, but the Guard just seems conducive to that.”

Some specifics:

å Who leads: The Guard operates under command of the state governor. This means you can be called up for state emergencies, anything from hurricane recovery to prison riots.

å State benefits: Unlike other services, Guard members may draw benefits from the states. In New Jersey, Guardsmen get free use of state parks. In New York, the members of the Guard do not pay income tax, Layer said. In Ohio, National Guard members receive state tuition assistance in addition to their federal entitlement.

å Special pay for special jobs: Paratroopers get extra pay while on jump status; aviators get flight pay; other specialties get added pay.

å State lines: Guardsmen can cross state lines to serve. For example, most of the Washington, D.C., Army National Guard lives in Maryland or Virginia.

Air Force Reserve

In the Air Force Reserve, a culture of professional networking has evolved over the years, said Dirk Palmer, a retired Air Force Recruiting Service colonel and now chief of the Air Force Reserve Command Recruiting Service’s recruiting operations branch.

Air Force Reserve service presents opportunities to make meaningful professional connections that go beyond the one-weekend-a-month encounter. “The people you are participating with are usually active in their communities. They work out in the community, and in a time of recession, that kind of networking is going to be of some value,” he said.

Some specifics:

å Eligibility: “If you have previously served in the military, to join the Air Force Reserve you must make the magic number of 40,” according to the service’s recruiting site. Subtract your years of active duty or active reserve service from your age, and if the result is less than 40, you may be eligible to join.

å Are you “prior?” The Air Force defines “prior service” as serving at least 24 months of active duty service in the armed forces.

å Enter as an officer: Certain professionals may enter the Air Force Reserve as commissioned officers. If you previously served in the enlisted ranks and have a college degree, you may be offered a commission. New officers will need to complete Officer Training School.

Marine Corps Reserve

Forty-thousand strong at the end of 2008, the Marine Corps Reserve prides itself on upholding the longstanding Marine Corps motto, “First to Fight.” Reservists who are called up to serve don’t just shuffle paperwork. “We don’t activate a unit to keep them stateside,” said Francis Piccoli, director of the Marine Forces Reserve public affairs office.

Marines pride themselves on being a tight-knit group, and many reservists view their part-time service as a way of maintaining the bonds of camaraderie they established while on active duty.

Some specifics:

å You start from scratch: Unlike other reserve branches, the Marine Corps regards those coming from other services as newcomers. You’ll keep your time in service, but you’ll have to go through boot camp and earn your rank from the ground up, according to Public Affairs Officer Maj. Shawn D. Haney.

å Jobs in high demand: Signals intelligence, electronics maintenance and military police, according to the Marine Corp Reserve Affairs Division.

å What you’ll do: Marine reservists may elect to affiliate with billets based on their military training and qualifications, location, the needs of local units and career aspirations.

Navy Reserve

Since Sept. 11, 2001, a program of Active Reserve Integration has brought the Navy Reserve in closer alignment with active duty forces, enabling the Reserve to more readily and effectively deploy. In this context, reservists find themselves with ready access to a range of opportunities.

“In the Navy we fly planes, drive ships, dive in submarines and serve ashore around the world. No other service offers more options or opportunities,” said Cmdr. Flex Plexico, a Navy Personnel Command public affairs officer.

Some specifics:

å Back to sea: If you were discharged from the Navy or Navy Reserve more than four years ago, your pay grade and rate or rank may be modified based on Navy Reserve needs. Otherwise, you will most likely enter at your previously held pay grade and rate or rank.

å From another service: Enlist within four years of discharge and you’ll likely keep your pay grade. Join within four to six years, lose one pay grade; within six to eight years, two pay grades less than when discharged.

å If you have a college diploma in certain specialized career fields, you may enter as an officer, particularly in the medical, dental, intelligence and engineering fields, among others.

Coast Guard Reserve

Reserve Coasties have been just as busy as their counterparts from other branches, but not in quite the same ways.

“There is a certainly the possibility a Coast Guard reservist may be deployed to a combat zone, but there is a much higher probability a member would be mobilized to the Gulf Coast for hurricane or disaster response,” said Lt. Rich Lavigne of the Plans and Policy Division of the Office of Reserve Affairs.

“No capability is more central to our continued success as a military service, law enforcement agency, and member of the Department of Homeland Security than our ability to effectively mobilize for disaster response.”

Some specifics:

å Learn online: Members can access a range of free courses online, including mandated training courses, through the Coast Guard Learning Portal.

å Hot jobs: There’s a critical need for food service specialists, electronic technicians, electrician’s mates and operational specialists, according to Lt. Cmdr. Lane Solak, chief of Recruiting Operations/ Mission Execution for the Coast Guard Recruiting Command.

å Up to speed: Those with prior service typically attend a condensed two-week Reserve Enlisted Basic Indoctrination at Cape May, N.J., focusing on the basics of serving in the Coast Guard.

Army Reserve

The Army Reserve promises to keep you busy in areas such as homeland security and information technology, sure, but also in cool-sounding fields such as biohazard protection and psychological ops. The breadth of options is considerable.

The Army says there are more than a million reservists, many serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. There’s a good chance you could be sent that way, too. More than 170,000 Army Reserve soldiers have been mobilized since Sept. 11, 2001, with 98 percent of Army Reserve units having provided soldiers in the Gulf and elsewhere.

Some specifics:

å Loan relief: Perks include a Reserve Loan Repayment Program, offering eligible recruits who enlist for at least six years in a Selected Reserve Troop Program Unit up to $10,000 toward qualifying student loans. Selected job specialties offer up to $20,000.

å Stay longer, get more: For those with prior service, signup bonuses are up to $15,000 for a six-year commitment or up to $7,500 for a three-year commitment.

å Job options: 180 jobs to choose from, with specialized job training available.

Best of both

Cpl. Frans E. Labranche, 24, loves to wear the uniform, but the time came when he didn’t want to wear it full time anymore.

“While I was on active duty, I got married. I had a son, and I didn’t want to move around so much. The Reserve gave me the opportunity to serve while still being there for my family,” said Labranche, an active-duty Marine from October 2005 to January 2009.

Previously a public affairs correspondent at Marine Forces Reserve Headquarters while on active duty, he now works full time as a civilian editor with the Department of the Interior. As a reservist, he’s a combat correspondent for the 4th Marine Logistics Group. He has kept his rank and continues to add to his retirement benefits.

Despite his Reserve status, Labranche knows he could still be ordered into harm’s way, but that hasn’t kept him from serving. “I don’t worry about it. It never was a concern of mine when I became a Marine. I’ve always been willing to give for my country — and that doesn’t change just because I am in the Reserve.”

Meanwhile he is enjoying having the best of both worlds.

“I like that I can still put on a uniform, still get that feeling of pride, but know that I can still be here with my family and still go back to my civilian job.”

Back in action

Army Sgt. Anne Peters, 34, just couldn’t stay away.

She served from January 1997 to December 2003. Then in 2008, she came back as a reservist.

“I just missed it. I was one of those people who loved the Army. I think everyone should go into the Army,” she said.

Why did she leave? Her husband was on active duty, and their overlapping deployments made it hard to care for their child. As a reservist, she is able to better juggle family and military life.

“Now I get to have both. I get to have my civilian life during the week, and I get to have my Army fix one weekend a month,” said Peters, who serves as an automated logistical specialist in the 275th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion at Fort Lee, Va.

Peters said her prior service has helped her stand out as a reservist.

“I had all this training that other people who hadn’t been in the military before did not have. There is only so much you can grasp in one weekend a month,” said Peters, who also works full time as an analyst with Trak America, an outsourcing firm that helps lawyers recover bad debts.

“You can have both,” she said. “It is so easy to live your ‘real life’ with the family barbecues and the civilian job, and then still get that one weekend each month where you put that uniform back on and get that feeling that you are doing something bigger and better.”

On call, full time

The reserves can mean more than just the occasional weekend. Formerly active duty, Air Force Reserve Lt. Col. David Perrizo, 44, still wears the uniform full time, though in a somewhat altered capacity.

A Navy aviator, he served on active duty from 1982 to 2001 (with a break for college), then did a brief stint in the Navy Reserve before joining the Air Force Reserve in 2003 in search of greater flying opportunities.

Perrizo is serving on “continuous orders” as the operations officer of the 916th Operational Support Squadron in Goldsboro, N.C. So long as the military budget keeps getting renewed, he remains on orders, giving him what is in effect a full-time job as a reservist.

Not everyone has the option of staying on continuous orders. Typically the opportunity exists only for those working in career fields that are in high demand. In this respect, Perrizo’s work as an aviator opens doors.

For those who can secure such a billet, Perrizo says the advantages can be considerable. “This avenue allows me more flexibility in my schedule,” he said.

Perrizo can request that his orders be suspended at any time, giving him the freedom to take time off as desired, as long as his workload permits.

“If I wanted to be off for a couple of weeks to go to the Bahamas with my wife, I can do that. I don’t have to take leave or take vacation. That’s my decision. There are a lot of opportunities that exist as a reservist that I would not have as [a civilian], or as active duty for that matter.”