Any recommendations and suggestions for a new upcoming officer in the army reserve?

listen to and learn from your NCOs.

List of suggestions is below. Some may be new, some may be reminders of old...

1. Time and calendar management. As a reservist, you will be busy with full-time civilian job or school along with part-time Army obligations. Make sure you plan out schedule to accommodate everything.

2. Physical fitness. Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) is more complicated than previous APFT. Ensure you spend time at the gym doing activities that have applicability to test.

3. Financial management. Your reserve paycheck will help supplement, but is not normally the bulk of your income. Ensure that you can pay bills in order to live and perform required drill (i.e. rent, transportation, computer, etc.). Start saving and investing when you attain monetary stability

4. Fraternization. Be careful about relationships in Army Reserve. While I knew a few dual-military married couples, be careful that you do not develop a romantic relationship with potential subordinate or superior that could hinder you.

Keep your employer informed of your training schedule. While the employer is required to support reservists by law. I had managers who looked at it like you volunteered and they did not care if I need to be off on a weekend UTA 5 or a two week drill. If they have the printed schedule well in advance makes this much smoother !