What unique advice would you give a new reserve component soldier?

** Updated 11/9/2024 with TRS costs for 2025 and some rule changes that have occured in the last ten years **

Looking back over my mixed active duty and reserve component career, three bits of advice I usually give new reserve component soldiers are:

1) Maximize your points. Reserve Component soldiers can accumulate 130 points for non-active duty time conducted during the year. IDTs, unit membership points, correspondence course, etc. all count towards this 130 point cap. Annual Training and other periods of active duty are in addition to this cap. A soldier doing their "one weekend a month, two weeks a year" will normally get 78 points a year (48 from UTAs, 15 membership points, and 15 points from annual training). You can maximize this to 145 points. In the world of retirement calculations, that equivalent to a bit over 40% of the 'points' that an active duty soldier gets each year (total points / 360 * 2.5% = retirement percentage), or roughly a 100% increase in your retirement pay if you

One of the easiest ways to maximize those points MAY be correspondence courses (situations will different based on your service and component) - Previously, you would get 1 point for each 3 hours of instructions (regardless of how long it actually takes you to do the course) for correspondence course, computer based training, etc.

Much of that changed for the services around 2015/2016. For example, the Army generally disallowed retirement points for courses taken after 16 April, 2016 unless they are part of a structured Electronic Based Distance Learning (EBDL) program. It's still possible, but I won't address it specifically here (do an internet search on EBDL retirement points reserve xxxxx" where xxxxx is your Service).

2) Tricare Reserve Select (TRS). I know many people have horror stories about treatment at military facilities, but I'm talking about the health insurance side. TRS is basically Tricare Standard with a monthly premium. Before I came back on active duty, I had a very good health plan with my employer (I won't say it was gold plated ... more like silver+). TRS beat it. I have a special needs child and I've never had any issues with coverage on a whole host of medical care procedures and no referrals were necessary :) I was concerned about who would take it and found that even in the remote areas where my in-laws lived, there were still over 40 docs and hospitals within 10 miles that accept Tricare.

The kicker is the cost. I was paying about $200 every pay period (this was back in 2014) through my civilian employment ($5,200 a year just for premiums - and then add on top of that the co-pays, deductibles, etc). TRS costs $256.87 (for CY2025) a month for the member and family ($3,082.44 a year for premiums) with a family catastrophic cap of $1256 annually. That means the most you'll pay out of pocket is $4,338.44 a year (normally .. there are a few situations where it could go higher, but they are the exceptions, not the rule) compared to the $5,200 as a starting point with the other plan.

3) Retired Reserve vs IRR: Since RC soldiers don't start collecting until age 60 (normally - it can be reduced for certain types of active duty after Jan 2008), when they get to 20 years, you have a couple of choices - it's much better if you have an idea in advance of what you want to do. Most either continue in their current status (Reserve, Guard, etc) or retire (transfer to the retired reserves). If you're going to transfer to the retired reserves, you may want to consider transferring to the IRR instead. The main differences are that you will still be able to accumulate points in the IRR, can still be promoted, etc.

Probably the worst option (benefit-wise) you can chose is to request you be discharged. I've seen some reservists who had 'a bad taste in their mouth' because of something and instead of being transferred to the Retired Reserve or the IRR, opted to be discharged because they wanted nothing to do with the Army and/or didn't want to face even a remote possibility of being recalled to active duty (which is possible if you're in the IRR or Retired Reserve based on declared mobilization status). If you are discharged, then you won't have benefits of being a 'gray area retiree' (i.e., being in the Retired Reserves) or a current member of the IRR. Until you start collecting your military retirement you'll only have those benefits a former service member would have based on their service history.

Make sure if you want to lead that your realize it is way more like active component than reserves. It is not just one weekend a month and two weeks a year. Rather that is the time off you may have. Be willing to put in the extra effort to advance your career and make it meaningful. Otherwise just stick to being a member of a squad. Even then you need to do medical appointments and online training throughout the month. It is not your Cold War reserves, it is the new online is everything and you cannot show up unless you are medically ready with your GOVCC with zero balance.

I would say that you have to realize that there is one standard across the Army. There isn't a standard for the Regular Army, Army Reserve, and the Army National Guard. I have seen this and it tears at the fabric of being a soldier. When you have different standards you are setting yourself up for failure. I know it is difficult to maintain your PT while drilling but it is what soldiers do. You will have to put in hours of work during the week and not get paid. When I hear a soldier in the Guard say I don't have time for that it shows you that they are lonely committed to one weekend a month. What is dangerous is when a soldier is only committed one weekend a month becomes a leader. That is not the type of leader you want.