I'm thinking of joining the National Guard or USMC reserves. I am 27, married with 3 kids. I have a good job, net over 4500/mo. We also have some stiff bills though. Two car payments, a loan, rent, utilities etz. About 3000/mo in bills. The money I would make in basic would not pay our bills, but I could save up what I would need to offset this fairly easily. Would the military let me in with my financial situation. Also, how much does you're pay increase when you are deployed. I'm not worried about the reserve duty, because I can work. But, I realize the military wants you to be ready to go. Thank you
Find out who the HR contact is at the company you work for. Once you get the name and number, call and ask them about the company Military Leave policy. Ask if they have a differential pay for military deployment or for military training. A special note here is that HR works more for the company then it does for you the employee. So if you ask HR, at some companies it's a pretty good bet they will inform your supervisor or manager about your inquiry (not always though).
Differential pay makes up the difference between your civilian pay and whatever the Army pays you. For the company I work for their Military leave program covers up to 36 months after that it's up to the person. They also cover military training as well as initial entry training under the same policy. You should also ask how retirement points, vacation and leave acrual happen at your civilian company when your on military leave.
On the financial front, I don't think they care about your financial condition too much if your enlisting in the reserves. I could be wrong on that. Ask a recruiter.
One the pay front, you can look that up yourself on this website by clicking on Benefits tab at the top of this page, then select Military Pay, then select Military pay explained.
You might want to ask on the Marine Discussion Forums about pay during deployment but I read it was tax free the moment you step into the Middle East.
