What are your personal pros and cons for Army Active vs Army Reserve?

Whether you go Active, Guard, or Reserve it's a really good gig. I don't know where the Army Reserve Aviation units are, but I know that every state has at least one aviation unit. It's going to open a lot of doors for you once you start racking up flying hours. It will take you longer to progress from RL3 to RL 1 in a reserve component as opposed to Active. Sometimes RC units will put you on orders for brief periods of time to work on that. A problem that a lot of flyers have on the RC side is trying to get their civilian employers to understand that their commitment requires a lot more than the typical 1 weekend a month/2 weeks a year. You have minimum flight hour requirements that you have to meet annually and semi annually for day, night, and night-unaided flight.

Your fiancé also has to understand the commitment that you're undertaking and that she has to be a part of. It's going to require you to be away from home more often whether your AC or RC. On the RC side I know guys that are away from their families more than they're with them and most of them are fortunate enough to have understanding spouses that support what they do.

I don't know if I answered your question or created more but there's plenty of us here that can offer more information.

While I cant answer Army specific questions (even though I was active duty Army years ago), I can help you with active duty vs Reserves duty.

The basic difference is that in the Reserves you will have to maintain civilian job to pay your bills. Active duty is your one and only job.

The first thing to remember is that whichever way you choose, you will still have to attend the same training. That could be many months or even years of training depending on your MOS. Being gone for that length of time will have a huge impact on your civilian job.

Once you complete training, you will still be on the hook for 2 days a month (usually the 2nd weekend of each month) and 2 weeks a year (minimum) for Reserve training. Depending on your unit and career field, you are also exposed to being deployed every few years. That deployment can last anywhere from 6 months to a year. All that time away will effect your civilian job. Many employers are not very happy about having you gone so long either.

On the active duty side, you still face the same stuff as above. Except, you will have no control of where you get stationed after training. It could be someplace nice or crappy. You may even get stationed in a place where you have to leave your fiancé at home. It would be advisable to marry your fiancé before or shortly after you enter the Army. Being married you will have access to housing and other benefits.

The short answer is that active duty will have a larger impact on your life than the Reserves as the Army will control every thing you do. Being in the Reserves you can stay at home and be close to family. However, there still is a large commitment involved.

Good luck with your decision.

I was reserve for 6 years and did 2 tours. I would recommend going active first so you get use to the military lifestyle and you only have to worry about one career at a time. If you go reserve or Guard you have two worry about 2 jobs and how you going to pay you bills if you only in the reserve or Guard. Going active guarantee you a career, food and place to live!