Military Nesties
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Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Joining Natl Guard at 34?
Hey everyone, I don't frequent this board since we're not a military family, at least not my immediate family. My grandpas, dad, 3 uncles, & several cousins enlisted (mostly Navy) but that was usually at 18-19 years old. They served from 6-20 years, usually starting out as single guys, so that's my frame of reference.
DH talked about joining the Natl Guard 1-2 years ago, but then realized with his current job it wouldn't work out. I think he has always regretted never serving in some way, and brought it up again last night.
I assume he'd have to take a LOA from work for basic training, but haven't thought too much about the rest of it.
Has anyone (or their SO) joined later in life? Can you tell me your experiences?
TIA!
Re: Joining Natl Guard at 34?
DH is switching from AD to the Guard. He's 33. It's not exactly the same thing, but if you come up with some specific questions I can try to help. He's taking some time off and doing the Guard training, then going back to school. So he will be more or less unemployed except for Guard income and BAH from his GI Bill for the next 3-4 years.
A lot of it will depend on what his Guard unit is doing. Length of deployments and frequency of training is more varied than I had realized. Some do one weekend/ month, two weeks/year, while others are more flexible based on how they need to meet their objectives. Any idea what he'd want to do in the Guard? He may want to check out what his local unit(s) are doing along with neighboring states. DH and I live in VA, but a unit in N Carolina fits with my DH's strengths best. He will probably stay with that unit as long as possible, and he may even commute there when we someday move to Philadelphia.
Hi there! I personally have not but I've been in the NG for 6 years now so I'll try and help. The cut off age(without a waiver) is 35, so if he is serious, he should move soon. I knew from a young age that I wanted to serve and enlisted right at 17. Everyone I have spoken too say that the urge to serve never does go away unless you fulfill it.
Does your husband's employer offer a military clause? Some employers will let their employees/SMs do a certain amount of time where they don't have to use a LOA or vacation time. My husband is also employed and he can take up to two weeks every year for military duty without using any vacation days. I know it doesn't cover the 9 weeks for BCT but it may help.
Does your husband have any idea what he would like to do in the NG? Has he looked at various branches? Would he be going enlisted or officer? Has he done any research?
The one thing I will say(and again, just my experience) I had a female in my last unit who was in her mid 30's. She had originally entered into the office program but washed out and became an enlisted member. I was higher rank than her and she found that difficult to deal with. She didn't like being told what to do by someone literally a decade younger. So.....just something your husband may need to consider.
I*'m a little late but here's our story; D was 30 when he went to BMT for AF NG. He thought he would be one of the oldest but he was near the middle of his BMT squad. Now in Tech School he was the oldest but it worked out well, the guys looked up to him and he came home for an appreciation for the stage where we are in our lives. As PP noted, there will be officers who are a decade younger but your DH has to have the military mind set that rank has its privilege and everything is earned. D had considered OCS but there are no openings in our state's NG and we were not ready for AD.
As far as work goes, I work in HR and your DH would be covered by USERRA. It would be a leave of absence but he just has to tell them he's enlisting and leaving for basic, they will likely have a process or request orders.
I'm actually a MOB who has been in the Guard for 25 years and I do it fulltime (active Guard Reserve).
First off for you and one of the other pp's - an employer can never ever ever ever require an employee to use vacation time for military obligations..did I say ever? Any employer who is doing this should be reported to the dept of Labor. It is illegal from a to z.
A girl who works with my daughter just happens to be a traditional (part timer) Guard member in my command. She has been on orders working for us for several months. Her employer, who is very supportive by the way, can't fire her, can't demote her, can't do anything. Her job must be held for her for when she goes back.
Please - if an employer is requiring your DH's to use vacation time don't tolerate it. It is against federal law. OK - stepping off the soapbox.
OP - there are a great many benefits in joining the Guard if that is what someone really desires. Whenever someone asks me about joining I always tell them it is 100% certain that they will deploy - are they ok with that?
Are you OK with that? Being a military spouse is the toughest job in the military. We do not succeed without the support of our spouses. With all due respect to the wonderful ladies on this board, I am married to the world's BEST military spouse. I was already fulltime in the Guard when we met and we have been together for going on 20 years. I have had to pull crazy hours for extended periods of time, change family plans at the drop of the hat, cancel plans and work all weekend. The ONLY thing that man ever says is "what can I do to help?" He is phenominal.
All of the ladies on this board know exactly what he has dealt with because they do too. If your DH is really interested in joining the Guard that is great! It is also tremendously important that you share that enthusiasm and are on board with the decision. It will impact you more than you realize, but I have to tell you this has been the best road to travel with my DH and we wouldn't have it any other way (until, of course, I retire next Spring. 10 drills 1 weigh-in, 1 PT test left!