Thinking about joining the Air National Guard, what are you fellas experience with it? My thing is I'd like to stay near home unless I'm needed at war, I don't want to be stationed in Nebraska or something in Air Force that's why I'm leaning on guard

I was a member of the Coast Guard Reserve for 27 years. Made a few cruises but drills were always in my state. Viet Nam quieted down not long after I joined.

Made lots of friends. Great training and schools. Received a commission after 10 years and got a pension at age 60. TriCare is awesome and free.

Go for it.

I thought about Coast Guard but I decided against it

Charles, how was your experience with it? I might do the reserves

Back in the '60's, I drooled over the duty those guys got...

One weekend per month of riding up and down the airport runway shooting seagulls or any feathered menace.

The Coast Guard has a different promotion procedure. It is based on skills and academics. A member is not held back because a senior individual occupies the next billet. Once an enlisted member performs the practical factors necessary for the next paygrade, and completes the accedemic course work, the member can sit for a Serviewice Exam. Time in grade and medals add points, but normally the most qualified are promoted. This system assures that the senior enlisted members are the smartest members, and someone will rarely gain a promotion who is not qualified. I think it is a great system for enlisted promotion rather than seniority. No member who is motivated to advance, is ever held back by someone who is less smart and motivated. It is the opposite of a "labor union" sort of promotion.

I retired from the Alaska Air National Guard. The guard has it's issues, but overall I was treated well and progressed up the food chain. If you jump, I have 2 pieces of advice: #1 be prepared to spend more time at it than 2 weeks annual training and 1 drill weekend per month. It takes forever at that pace to become fully deploy able. #2 be careful what career field you sign up for. Recruiters have quotas to fill, and they will lie if desperate to fill. Choose a field that has valuable civilian application, or is fun. For example, I would look at crew chief, boom operator, avionics, communications, flight engineer, civil engineering, to name a few. I don't want to give a list of "avoids", because I might offend an honorable guardsman. My 2 cents.

My last three years in the Navy Reserve , I was gone at least a week out every month , in addition to about 90 days of active duty a year . That was after coming off a 14 month deployment . Prior to that, more of the same.

But !... I loved my job so I didn’t mind . That’s key . So choose wisely. The days of expecting a weekend a month , two weeks a year are long past. So choose a career you’ll most likely enjoy . You may be doing it quite a bit .