Since no one else is going to post, I will give you my best reply.
In the National Guard, you can receive state as well as federal benefits and pay.
You can be mobilized and deployed for federal missions (i.e., Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Africa., etc, etc,.) as well as State emergencies, ie, floods, hurricanes, snow storms, riots.
Federal, or Army Reserves, is straight federal deployments, and benefits. I was a reserve for two years and went active.
Difference is how rank is obtained. While both maintain the standard TIS/TIG reqs, In the National Guard (correct me if I am wrong folks) there must be a slot for that rank available in that unit.
IN both federal and state entities exist the opportunity to go full-time as an AGR (active Guard and Reserve) memeber if there is openings for you based on your MOS and Rank.
I'm sure there is more to it than this, others feel free to chime in. Hope this helped a little.
Originally posted by CMTaMedic: Since no one else is going to post, I will give you my best reply.
In the National Guard, you can receive state as well as federal benefits and pay.
You can be mobilized and deployed for federal missions (i.e., Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Africa., etc, etc,.) as well as State emergencies, ie, floods, hurricanes, snow storms, riots.
Federal, or Army Reserves, is straight federal deployments, and benefits. I was a reserve for two years and went active.
Difference is how rank is obtained. While both maintain the standard TIS/TIG reqs, In the National Guard (correct me if I am wrong folks) there must be a slot for that rank available in that unit.
IN both federal and state entities exist the opportunity to go full-time as an AGR (active Guard and Reserve) memeber if there is openings for you based on your MOS and Rank.
I'm sure there is more to it than this, others feel free to chime in. Hope this helped a little.
CMT
Reserve forces are under Title 10 which means they fall under the President. Guard are under Title 32 which means they fall under their respective state governor (although they do receive federal funding for training from either the Army or Air Force).
There is another main difference between Guard and Reserves on the unit level, I am told that for the most part, Reserves have mostly Support type Units and MOS's but the Guard seems have alot of Infantry/Combat type units and MOS's. I may have stated this poorly but that it basically was I was told.
In the National Guard we are called out to help with natural disasters and stuff like that plus we have AGR(Active Guard Reserve) that is like the reserves it is full time and everything.
Something else about Guard is "Posse Comitatus" . What this means is that the Military cannot police the US public without marshall law being declared. This has not happened since Pearl Harbor durring WWII. Both the National and Coast Guard are excluded for this law, allowing us to act in a law enforcement capacity. When actived by the Governor the National Guard is a State Law Enforcement Agency. Coast Guard is excluded because they are not DOD, they are DHLS and before that DOT. Another fact is the Coast Guard can be transfered to DOD under the Navy during atime of war.
Does anyone out there know if GI Bill benefits are still available after finishing your 8 years and receiving your Honorable Discharge, or does the availability of using your GI Bill end with discharge??
The above is correct about the GI bill. If you have been out too long you can still apply to have the benefit re-enstated. I had used part of my GI bill and then wanted to go back to school after my 10 yrs was up. I applied to have the remaining benefit re-enstated and it was granted. Let me open a "can of worms" by saying I believe that all Reserve/National Guard forces should have thier benefits raised to include drawing retirement once retired instead of waiting until age 60. Face it. It's not that much money anyway so why wouldn't the government agree to that? SOUND OFF!!!
I think 60 is to long to wait but, I dont know that offering a reserve retirement at 38 is the answer. The reserve retirement can often be close to the active retirement. I would say if you retire at 20yrs then age 55 receive they pay or after 30 years service receive an immediate benefit.
Regarding the discussion about drawing retirement, I would refer you guys to the articles in Army & Marine Times. The Feds are talking about making the regulars wait until age 60 before drawing their retirement. The goal is to increase retention - without having to pay higher retention incentives! Thoughts on that one?
I also am wondering the difference between the guard and reserve, I understand the benifit side, but about activations and deployments? All I hear about around here are ARNG deployments nothing about the couple reserve units around here.
With the new GI Bill alot of the info about the GI bill will change so search for it here on military.com and do the comparison. As far as the reserves GI Bill only being good while you are in, that is a complete contrast from what i have in my contract as it is spelled out in detail, while it is less than the active and there is no state suppliment for it like the Guard the statutes are the same for post service usage.
Another key point about mobilization seeing as the reserves are a support force individual or small groups of soldiers within units can be mobilized without the entire unit being mobilized in support of their attached units. IF unit XYZ needs 5 MPS to be full force and you are the supporting unit then the 5 MPS of the specified rank will ship off.
