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Military Families
National Guard?
I'm just wondering...how many National Guard people are here? Air or Army. And if you aren't AGR do you think you should only serve one weekend a month and two weeks a year?
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Re: National Guard?
I'm not ANG now, but I was for 10 years. I transferred to the IMA when we moved overseas.
As far as the time commitment, I don't really understand your question. Are you asking if we think 1 weekend a month/2 weeks a year is not enough? I've never had an issues with it. It's a part-time job for most of us, and the majority of NG employees do also have full-time jobs as well.
And in my experience, most of us DO serve more than the minimum. I've never gone an entire year without a deployment or TDY of 30 days or longer.
**ETA nevermind, I found the post that prompted this question. I've got no problem supporting active missions. That's why we're here. It's a part-time job until you're called to serve, and they make that abundantly clear. And yes, sometimes that service is going to be involuntary. Thems the breaks.
What's the point of the NG if the training time is all they're ever expected to do? Hell, what's the point of the training time if you're not training to actually perform your duties in a real life setting?
I'm currently ARNG. I work full time for my unit(not AGR, ADOS)
I'm also confused by your question. In the last 5 1/2 years, I have deployed for 18 months, went on an AD tour for 1 year and I've only been to 1 AT, ever. Most of my time is AD.
The "livid" post below clarifies.
I'm in the Army Reserve and my fiance is Army National Guard (Not AGR). We serve everyday...we live the soldiers creed, and by the Army values everyday, we just don't do it in uniform. Most Reservists do train, go on missions, and deploy more than one weekend a month, 2 weeks a year. We train and fight with regualr Army. Our uniforms are the same!! We live by the same Ethos and Values!!
Ha. No. I thought the same thing. Check out the Livid post down the page a bit.
OP - Some people are always going to say that the ARNG is for home use. You should see the looks I get when I tell people I've been in the ARNG for almost 6 years but have 4 1/2 AD. They get all confused. Let it go, unfortunately you won't change a lot of peoples minds.
yeah...your probably right...it's just irritating knowing that you get deployed just as much as active duty and people still look down on reservists.
I checked out the "livid" post. It makes sense now.
DH has 17 years in...4 AD enlisted in the Navy and the last 13 as an ARNG officer where he has been AD since 2005 and I can tell you in the over 10 years we've been together (i.e. before the war started) the National Guard has never ever been just a 1 weekend a month, 2 weeks a year gig. He's dealt with multiple hurricanes, Queen Elizabeth visiting Jamestown, and all kinds of other random missions over the years occupying more of his time. Including a 15 month long deployment to Iraq.
He feels really strongly about the ARNG having a dual mission and fully supports the combat side of things. The only caveat is that he thinks it's important to have enough Guard troops stateside to deal with natural disasters (wild fires and hurricanes) because that is a committment the Guard has to the States and because a lot of first responders (firefighters, cops and EMTs) are members of the Guard.
The thing is, most people don't really understand the Guard at all and there's no use even trying with some. I can't tell you how hard it is to explain that DH's full time job is being an ARNG officer....nobody gets it until they see him walk in on a weekday in uniform coming home from the office. When he worked at the legislative liaison office they wore regular suits so that they would "blend in" on the Hill and then I got really funny looks and people would say oh so he's a contractor or some nonsense. It can be frustrating.
Yep. Exactly.