I’m an enlisted 11B 19 year old natty guardsman who’s trying to balance college and moving out on what my current job can afford in this area. to me, there’s 2 big things to consider; pay difference, and education. I personally believe the guard is a great way to help your community and broaden your personal and occupational experiences/trades/skills. but it quickly becomes (especially for combat MOS’s) less of a “once a month” type of gig, to more of a second life 50/50 split.

things to note;

1) you work on Uncle Sam’s schedule, not yours: you’ll get a drill schedule, but it is never set in stone, and often changes multiple times through out the year. pre planning vacations and reserving time off or scheduled events with your chain of command IS A MUST. however it’s not guaranteed, even months-in-advance plans can be voided.

2) what you make monthly shouldn’t be calculated by your civilian job income x 40 hours a week, 4 weeks a month: for enlisted, you are almost guaranteed to make significantly less than your civilian job while at drill/or on orders. so when it comes to budgeting and making monetary commitments (auto loans, apartment leases, rent, insurance etc) you can’t look at your income as if you were working the exact amount of scheduled hours for your civilian job. the army has a nice way of dragging out drills from a weekend to 5 or 6 days, even weeks at a time. that takes away from what you’d originally make at your civilian job. always expect to make a couple hundred dollars less than what you would on a regular pay cycle, when on orders that month.

other than that, being a guardsman is a great experience and a good first step for anyone trying to further their education, support their community, or just trying to see what the world has to offer (in a positive way).