SPC(P) Private RallyPoint Member 3353 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>what is your thought about both pro&#39;s and con&#39;s 2013-11-04T21:19:17-05:00 SPC(P) Private RallyPoint Member 3353

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>what is your thought about both pro&#39;s and con&#39;s

2013-11-04T21:19:17-05:00 2013-11-04T21:19:17-05:00 SFC Private RallyPoint Member 3358

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>WOW, the difference is huge. Its very hard to determine the pros and cons. It depends on the perspective one is looking at. I personally would love to be on Active duty at this time based on current personal and global factors. It gives one the stability and greater potential for the future. However, being in guard/reserves may or may not be the best answer to some. It also depends if an individual is single or married because that plays a tremendous role in life and relationship. I could go on and on about this, however, its a broad subject and you would have to be more specific about what exactly it is that you are looking for.

2013-11-04T21:32:16-05:00 2013-11-04T21:32:16-05:00 SFC James Baber 27069

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div><p>Too many perspectives to try and cover, it all comes down to what you want out of it, before anyone could give you the abundance of both.</p><p><br></p><p>What exactly would you want out of it and what do you not want to do?</p>

2013-12-24T23:39:23-05:00 2013-12-24T23:39:23-05:00 SFC James Barnes 242967

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Both have pro and cons I personally enjoy being guard yet I also sometimes miss being on active duty. either way its what you make of it and both have their sacrifices whether personal or professional.

2014-09-16T03:22:47-04:00 2014-09-16T03:22:47-04:00 Lt Col Private RallyPoint Member 249928

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I cant speak for the Army. For the Air Force I would say the pros are<br /><br />Being able to still serve but also have more flexibility to pursue other avenues of interest in life that you can not always do on active duty. I find that at least in the AF the Guard/Reserve are able to focus more on the mission and training during dwell times. On AD we when not doing anything mission related we had to invent work for ourselves just to justify getting a paycheck. The reserves tend to work more on a basis of mutual respect versus having to do things because you are ordered to. Also because when working with a reserve or guard unit you are in that much longer than a normal AD unit you tend to have better unit cohesion because you get to know each other better than being on a base for 3 and PCS'ing. <br /><br />The cons are of course you are not getting a regular military paycheck every two weeks unless you get on some extended orders or go AGR. Your benefits are not as robust as AD like Tricare etc. Sometimes if you do not fit in your unit well the above can be a detractor. A lot of AD especially NCO's have a hard time adjusting on the less formal nature of the guard units. I can speak personally as an reservist that does duty embedded in AD units, sometimes it takes a few days to get readjusted to the Active Duty ways of doing things.<br /><br />All in all so far I would say I personally find being a reservist being a little bit more enjoyable than my time on active duty for the most part.

2014-09-21T17:44:55-04:00 2014-09-21T17:44:55-04:00 CPO Private RallyPoint Member 340826

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>As a deployed reserve, my team had a very diverse group of civilian skill-sets that were extremely valuable to to us in theater.

2014-11-24T17:38:24-05:00 2014-11-24T17:38:24-05:00 MSgt Dennis Dudley 340873

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Had the pleasure of serving both active and Air National Guard. While active duty provided me great training that I have used in my civilian jobs, the Guard gave me the best of both worlds. I was able to enjoy the life as a civilian while at the same time maintaining that "connection" with the military. <br /><br />I only have one gripe, for what it is worth. I feel, as a reuirement to serve in the Guard or Reserves, a person should do at least one enlistment period as active duty. I find that anyone who has served active duty has a stronger sense of the mission, traditions, and rationale behind the Guard and Reserves. <br /><br />When I hear that someone is getting out of the military, I'll ask if they are considering the role of citizen soldier. I get mixed reactions, but I'm just curious.

2014-11-24T18:06:04-05:00 2014-11-24T18:06:04-05:00 MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca 342973

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>So many things. AD is great if you want to live the life but NG is just as great to lead a civilian life yet keep yourself involved. I chose the latter after 3 years on AD because I wanted the stability of one location and no moves in order to raise a family. Not saying you can't do it on AD, it was simply our choice. After 9/11 all bets were off as I deployed more in 3 years in the NG than I did in my 3 years on AD.

2014-11-26T07:43:14-05:00 2014-11-26T07:43:14-05:00 SPC Thomas Lema 346109

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I did active duty in the air force then years later went Army national guard, to me the main diff was the dual life' and around summer time 1990 the guard became more active duty than one weekend a month and two weeks a year' also I feel imoho the army guard was more intense and less comfy than the air force'. But the two branches have their own objectives, I am 55 now and i now wish that i would of stayed the full 20 years either active or guard, i enjoyed both branches and knowing what i kow now i would of never left

2014-11-28T20:00:00-05:00 2014-11-28T20:00:00-05:00 PO1 Ron Clark 348522

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I know that the Guard is as valuable department as any other in the military, that being said, I would not want to serve in the Guard, only because the top leadership is normally the Governor of a particular state and not the Commander in Chief.

2014-11-30T15:57:48-05:00 2014-11-30T15:57:48-05:00 SPC(P) Private RallyPoint Member 426645

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>never thought this post would be this popular. thanks guys.

2015-01-20T08:43:05-05:00 2015-01-20T08:43:05-05:00 SFC Bobby Carney 2596982

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>So I spent six years on AD with my final unit being 3/2 ACR. I loved the Cav and my NCO&#39;s were great. That was 1995. From 1995- 1999 I was traditional guard. I always remember the 1SG giving his re-up speech while on AD. You know, we can ETS, flip burgers, join the nasty guard and drink beer and have bonfires in the field. Hell, that actually sounded fun!!! Well, the Cav troop I joined in the Guard trained like beasts!! The only time we ever had beer in the field was when I smuggled a sixer my last AT with the unit. I went AGR after that and retired in 2014. During my time I went to both AD and RC courses. I can tell you, when it comes to professionalism and dedication to student success the RC schools were by far the best.... and it wasn&#39;t even close. BNCOC instructors were only interested in harassing students they didn&#39;t like and punishing them on the smallest infractions or in some cases making some up. That was 2000. In 2004 I was in ANCOC. I was looking forward to learning from NCO&#39;s with recent combat experience. Couldn&#39;t have been more disappointed. The instructor was more concerned with his college homework and retirement than his students. About of quarter of my class mates showed up to PT hammered. The course itself changed the training schedule 16 times culminating in a FTX with no weapons. That was the first time I saw a fire in the field btw, along with a hammock, dome tent, and camp stove. True story!!! Before I retired I noticed that AD NCO&#39;s were more concerned with promoting themselves over the health and welfare of their soldiers. That&#39;s not to say every AD NCO is that way, just to say that seemed to be the majority. On the other hand, most RC NCO&#39;s don&#39;t know how to take care of their troops. This is because the culture of the RC allows the NCO to rely on the unit FTUS to be the Platoon SGT for 120. That&#39;s a culture I worked very hard to change in my units. Another issue is that leaders don&#39;t generally switch units as they progress so they are leading their friends. So, what you get are leaders who don&#39;t undrstand what the relationship between NCO and soldier is supposed to be. That&#39;s just been my personal experience. There are outstanding leaders in both, in fact, the best CO I ever had was NG. But unfortunately they seem to be in the minority. Again, just my two cents.

2017-05-24T19:25:02-04:00 2017-05-24T19:25:02-04:00 CPL Ralph Moschler 2688209

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Guard standered are low , army will train you better

2017-06-29T13:47:31-04:00 2017-06-29T13:47:31-04:00 CPL Ralph Moschler 2689511

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Go army , training better , once your there troops become brothers,

2017-06-29T22:41:34-04:00 2017-06-29T22:41:34-04:00 2013-11-04T21:19:17-05:00