Spent 3 3/4 years as a 63W. I have since gotten a degree in Business (4 year degree) and getting the itch to join up again. Is it possible? Any help is appreciated
I’m going to try and answer this as best I can for all the over 40’s out there thinking about going back in.
Now for the reality...
First of all forget about National Guard. They have dropped their max age below 40 and they are not happy accepting waivers. If you are thinking AD or Reserves then subtract your time in service from your age; this will give you your adjusted age. Since you are 45 going on 46 with 3.75 years in service, your age for reenlistment is 42 plus or minus the fraction. A recruiter will be able to tell you how your other 9 months of service will factor in.
Currently the maximum age for enlistment is 42 years old, so you are right on the edge. I just got accepted (given my WTC reservation and ship date) and it took a LONG time to square everything away. Since you are over 40 you will require an over 40 physical. Many MEPS doctors hesitate passing over 40’s through without some form of waiver. I required a waiver for a borderline EKG (25 year ex-smoker = EKG artifacts). A med waiver can take a while because USAREC may need other evaluations completed before they sign off.
That’s the medical side, now if you require any other waivers for moral reasons, expect time to get those approved. If you are expecting to go to OCS there is also an even bigger factor revolving around age. You will need to speak to your recruiter about an age waiver; since I went enlisted I have no personal experience with that side of it.
Now let’s say you get everything approved and you are going in as an enlisted. Depending on your rank and how long you have been out expect to lose a stripe or two. This is another short delay as USAREC needs to do a rank determination. As long as everything else is squared away this shouldn’t take all that long.
As far as available MOS’s go, they can change from day to day. When I sat down the only thing available was 11X. There isn’t a lot of love out there for prior service at the moment, and the Army Times has reported that they are only taking 5,500 prior service this fiscal year. Many of us are leftovers from last year, so in reality that number is significantly smaller. If you are not picky, and fit enough for Infantry then go for it.
Good luck and I hope this is helpful to other over 40’s out there!
For me the grade determination took the longest(3 weeks). I am 42 with over 8 years active Navy. I did have to have a waiver for my good cholesterol being 4 points low. That waiver went very fast (less then a week). My RE code was the best one RE-R1 so I had no issues there.
I'm going to MEPS on tuesday to have the counselor get the HUGE(lol) list of open MOS's from the ROC. Going in as a sergeant, E-5.
