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Active duty to reserves.. the transition?
So a little extra info. H signed a contract for 3 years active 5 years reserve almost exactly 2 years ago. He is a rigger (92R) in the Army and is currently deployed, due back sometime the end of year. He is due to ETS 4/2013. He is in an MOS that is being phased out/outsourced, so they are requiring an MOS change to reenlist under E-5 (he is an E-4 currently, got an early promotion waiver at 18 months). After evaluating his new MOS options and our life goals, we have decided it may be in our best interest for him not to reenlist.
The plan is for both of us to start school in July 2013 in AZ. H is a skydiver and would love to jump for a living, but I insisted he had something to fall back on, and he has always wanted to be a pilot, so this is what he will go to school for. I would like to be a x-ray tech and will attending school for this at the same time. He plans to set up his contract for reserves in AZ sometime over his 30 days off after deployment when we go to visit and check out schools.
My questions are
I am aware we would have to pay a premium, but can we keep Tricare Reserve Select as long as he is in the reserves? This is hopefully only a concern until I get a job in my field and then can get health care through work, but I want to make sure, as I have preexisting conditions and cannot go without health care, nor do I think he should either.
Will he be able to keep his job if he goes reserve or will he have to go to AIT again anyway (possibly messing up his chances to start school as planned). H said this might also depend on where he joins? Though I always thought reserve was more nation wide, and Guard was more state specific?
Will he lose his GI bill if not used right away (if he ends up having to go to AIT and missing enrollment for July 2013 and having to wait for July 2014)
How often will he be paid? Will they take Tricare out of his pay each month or will we write out a check separately?
Do they take into consideration being in school when it comes to duty weekends and training?
Thanks in advance! Please let me know if any of this breaks OPSEC or PERSEC, I tried to be vague but since I normally don't post, I'm not totally sure what is too much info!
Re: Active duty to reserves.. the transition?
short answers to most of your questions:
yes, you can have Tricare Reserve
no, he will not lose his GI Bill. It's his for life. I used mine 8 years after leaving active duty.
If he goes to drill monthly, he will get paid monthly. Usually 2 weeks after drill. and yes, Tricare will be deducted from his pay.
Whether or not they will take school into consideration is highly dependent on his unit. I think the rule is you can reschedule training twice per year and can have 2 excused absences per year (that means you don't go to drill and don't get paid) I've been able to get out of drill very easily many times, but I'm in an extremely flexible unit.
I'll pretty much ditto this.
My unit is pretty understanding which is why they try to schedule our two week AT in the summer. They're especially helpful with splitting drills(making up the weekend later) around finals time. But like Krista said, it's entirely dependent on the unit.