To join a reserve component, should it be a required to serve X amount of active duty time first?

9 years Army Reserves. Not sure what the question is here? I was in College when I went into the service. No, not for any benefits for school. A buddy at school got me started. Then he left school and went active. I stayed with it. Active wouldn't have worked in my situation. I think it wouldn't change anything, all soldiers are trained the same. Whether they retain their training after Basic/AIT falls heavily on the NCO's in the squad/platoon level. Failures I feel are a result of poor leadership. You could have those same failures in the Active component as well. I am sure there were poor performing Reserve Units, as well as Active units. So if I would have known going in that I was going to have to do 2 years before Reserves, I probably would never have joined.

I am gathering the knowledge that the ARMY is much heavier and experienced in enlisting Non-Prior SELRES Junior Enlisted to straight drilling status after ADT(bootcamp). The Navy tried to copy that format 1984 for a short decade to build manpower in the Reserve Component. It was called the Sea Air Mariner Enlistment. But then the NAVY gave up on it. 1 Secretary of NAVY said you can not have a part time sailor manning a forward deployed Combat Ship.

For all intensive purposes I believe he is correct.

I enlisted in this program.

Trying to integrate into a ship full of full time Sailors was impossible and draining.

I think the Army and National Guard have a much better system. And due the nature of the ARMY they pack many non-prior enlisted SELRES into the same units for comraderie and morale building.

The Navy in my estimation did not do this. 1 SELRES junior enlisted is going to get eaten up when attatched even for a day on a ship full of full time sailors.

I can say that AC combat arms units are usually more equipt to handle those specific missions. That's from my experience. Additionally AC Soldiers (Airman, Marines, ect.) usually have civilian experiences before joining. I've seen a mix of talents and abilities on our side of the house too. I'll agree, not to the extent of the reserve or guard, but significant enough to mention.

RC and guard offer a great mix for support and logistics roles. They bring civilian skills to the table. While police officers, CO's, and other tactical personnel may bring some aspect of combat to the job, these individuals don't make up entire companies or battalions. The majority of guard INF or CAV units are not made up of these individuals. They don't get the level of training that AC does on a regular basis.

These are just my observations. Not a strike at either side and certainly not an AC vs. RC kind of argument. Just want another opinion represented in this thread.

Funny, the current commander of my old ANG unit was a E-5 in my section straight Guard career. When I was E-7 he came up totally ANG and is now a Lt Col. The Guard belongs to the Gov of the State. It has a local mission to the state as well so I have to say no prior service. They do BMT and Tech school along with active. Just my 2 cents.

As someone who retired in 2010, from the Army Guard with 26 years and having served with as an assigned EM with Active Duty personnel I would like to offer this.
There are reasons men and women join the Guard over the Active Duty component. Things like family, job, college or other factors. If they are single that is one thing, however if that person has a family or significant other they can't just look at the enlistment for just themselves.
Different mental attitude, yes; Guard let's get the job done and let's get home. Cross training is definitely a big factor in the Guard. I have gotten involved in many aspects military life. As someone who was in Supply, Food Service, Recruiting and Retention, and during 9-11, as a Chaplain Assistant. We learn how to maintain our own vehicles, generators, and our own equipment. We get to learn how the job that your assigned to is intermingled with that of different MOSs. Bringing outside job skills is a major factor why most Guard Units are successful and relied on.

We had a pilot who graduated in the top of his class at West Point. He was able to pick his school, and he chose aviation. He graduated top of his class, and was told he could pick his assignment, and he chose the Arizona National Guard. Why? Our pilots, on the average, got more stick time than active duty. Before we received Apaches, we took on the AC Apache unit that was rated the best, using our warmed over, Vietnam Cobras, {AH-1S(Mod)} in aviation war games. We beat them hands down.

Another issue to consider is who will fill sand bags? I am not that seriously about sand bags but most slots are for E-1 through E-4. Filling the reserve ranks will be expensive.

SPC Travis Grizzard , I'm not sure how factual that statement is. West Point graduates have to serve their initial obligation on Active Duty. Straight from their website:

"Upon graduation, you will be commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army and serve for five years on active duty (if you choose to depart the Army after five years, you will be required to serve three years in the Inactive Ready Reserve (IRR))"