Any weekend warriors?

[ledhedsymbols]

After three years off active duty as a Navy E-6, I got the itch to look at the reserves. I'm physically qualified as a "Class B" which means no deployment over 30 days and only INCONUS for a year without special permission. I have to change job fields from FC (Weapons Electronics) to IS (Intel Specialist) but I don't lose any stripes and they give me a bonus.
Add in my active duty time (9 yrs.) and I retire from the reserve in another nine years. I can collect a pension at 60; 50% of base pay at my final pay grade, and I can shop at the commissary and exchange.
Other than the obvious risk of deployment in the future, which I don't really mind doing as an intel weenie OR electronics geek does anyone know of any down sides? I know we have at least one active duty squid (granted he flies helos) but what does the Pelican brain-trust have to say about it?

[944Larry]

go for it. Looks like the military jobs will be all that is left before long. That retirement may come in handy in the future too.

[Joeaksa]

My older brother did the same thing and loved it. It really helped his retirement and job situation.

Go for it!

[Embraer]

ive never heard one guy say "man, i wish i would have gotten out sooner and forgotten about that retirement."

conversely, though....

[Wilhelm]

Go for it. Retire early, double dip and live off the taxpayers money.

[chocolatelab]

thats what my dad did

no regrets from him

[Seahawk]

I am a retired squidly. I was an Aerospace Engineering Duty Officer my last 10 years in the NAV, worked with a lot of intel folks and also did a tour at BUPERS. So:

Becoming an Intel Specialist is a fantastic opportunity, period. I don't know what you do now, but the IS side of life could be fascinating. Make sure you work through the "pay billets/non pay billet" shuffle.

I've worked with a lot of reservists, most love it. But, like the regnav, a lot of where the fun meter pegs depends on the unit you're with.

All the best.

[azasadny]

I was a Hospital Corpsman (HM) on active duty for 9 years and got out in '91 as an E6 and the Navy tried to get me to either stay on as a commissioned officer (I got my BS degree while in the USN) or stay in the Reserves, but I chose to get out because I speak Arabic and knew that I would be getting deployed repeatedly to some of the crappier places (Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq (again!)) and I was angry about the way the Gulf War ended. The war should have ended with an unconditional surrender, with Saddam swinging from a gallows, but with a "cease-fire", you know you'll have to go back and finish the job (like Korea).

I wanted to switch from "medical" to "IT" and the USN wouldn't do that because medical was a "critical rating", so that was another issue that kept me from staying in... Good luck with your decision...

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by Wilhelm

Go for it. Retire early, double dip and live off the taxpayers money.

[ledhedsymbols]

Thanks for the input guys. It sounds like some of you have had some good experiences with the reserve. I should hear back about the rating change package sometime this coming week. Unless I come up with any show-stoppers I think I'm going to jump on it.

[gt350mike]

Can't speak for the Navy Reserves but if you joined the Army Reserves (or the National Guard), you could bet your stripes that you would deploy within 12 to 18 months. The total number of people who have not deployed is shrinking so it's only fair to move those guys/gals to the front of the list. I've been in the Army (active and reserves) for over 23 years and although I had my fair share of bad days, I'm glad I stayed with it.

I'm currently in Afghanistan and I'm surprised how many Navy personnel I've seen at the various bases. I think a majority of them are working with the SeaBees but I have a few in my office as well. I even got a coin from a Navy Rear Admiral this week so I'm waving the Navy flag (well, just for a few more days).

Bottom Line: Sign up and if you don't like it, bail out after you've finished your enlistment.

[emcon5]

I did 5 years in the Navy Reserve after I got off active duty, and I think the experience varies greatly based on the command and the political climate.

When I first joined (early 1991), the Cold War was just about over, and while it was less than it had been in the past, there still was funding to go fun places and do fun stuff.

That changed over the next few years, as the administrative bullshiat to flight hour ratio swung pretty far in the wrong direction. In a given year, there were weekends wasted for:

Change of command
Safety Stand Down
Sexual harassment training
Aircrew coordination training

I think there may have been another one in there, I really don't remember. But when you only have 12 available weekends, using a third of them for bureaucratic nonsense was pretty frustrating.

When if stopped being fun, I transferred to IRR and when it my enlistment was up I was out. Actually, it had stopped being fun about a year prior, I stuck it out longer than I should have.

[Skytrooper]

I just retired in January from the reserves. It worked out great for me.

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by ledhedsymbols

After three years off active duty as a Navy E-6, I got the itch to look at the reserves. I'm physically qualified as a "Class B" which means no deployment over 30 days and only INCONUS for a year without special permission. I have to change job fields from FC (Weapons Electronics) to IS (Intel Specialist) but I don't lose any stripes and they give me a bonus.
Add in my active duty time (9 yrs.) and I retire from the reserve in another nine years. I can collect a pension at 60; 50% of base pay at my final pay grade, and I can shop at the commissary and exchange.
Other than the obvious risk of deployment in the future, which I don't really mind doing as an intel weenie OR electronics geek does anyone know of any down sides? I know we have at least one active duty squid (granted he flies helos) but what does the Pelican brain-trust have to say about it?

I think joining the reserves is great....but you need to adjust your expectations. You need to take a look at how retirement is computed. You will not get 50% unless you are on duty over 300 days per year...and in that case...you might as well do active duty. Most reservists that I know do the minimum amount (about 35 days per year) which will only give you less than 30% at 20 years.

[crustychief]

I still cant figure out why an FC would want to be an IS? I guess I just loved what I did.

[gt350mike]

The retirement system is based on points times the amount allotted for your rank. Since you have three years of AD, you have accumulated 1095 points so far. You will need a total of twenty "good years" before you are eligible to draw a retirement when you turn 60. So if you did nothing but attend drill and your 2 week annual training each year for the next seventeen years, you would accumulate 1071 pts (63 pts per yr x 17 years). The reserves also award an additional 15 pts per year as a member of the reserves so you will you would accumulate another 255 pts, which would bring your net around 1326. Adding your AD points of 1095, your total would be 2421.

I would expect that you will be promoted a few more times so using the scale for E-8s, use .31 per point for 20+ years and up to .358 for 30+ years. Your retirement check would be about $750 per month if you just served the minimum time, but the op tempo for the next few years would put you in a position where you will accumulate more points towards retirement. There are several other ways to accumulate points towards retirement but you're better off talking with someone directly who knows the Navy Reserves and they'll be better suited to address your questions.

[Erakad]

I've often said if I were to do it over again, I'd join the reserves and get a fat GS job. Your employer won't/can't hassle you about your reserve time and at the end of the road you double dip retirements.