Lifers vs. draftees.

There were drawbacks to being a reservist. I had a total of six years obligation, 3 of monthly meetings with a two week active period each year, 2 years active duty, and one year standby reserve. Those monthly weekends got pretty old. And, the only training classes I got were three short C schools on particular equipment.

I had a good job. The military was not something I really wanted. It was just something I had to do, like a lot of guys in those days.

Don
 

Funny, I never sensed any of that. Maybe I was lucky. Like I said, I was a reservist and served two years active duty. I had a lot of respect for the career guys. It just wasn't the thing for me.

Don
I heard some nonsense from people who looked down their noses at reservists when I was a junior enlisted man, but not among the senior enlisted or the officers. As a staff officer at the O-4 and O-5 level, I worked with a fairly large number of senior reserve officers and enlisted. If they were tasked with the right short term project, had right background and the information they needed to prepare then you could get great results. If you failed to help get them prepared, then you were unlikely to get good results.

Some of the best I ever worked with included a Bank President (Reserve O-6) from Seattle and a Civil Engineer (Reserve O-5) from New England. They always got a lot done. The Engineer went directly to a remote site and helped with the initial design of a new facility. The Bank President helped us "count our beans" and allocate reserve manpower in the Pacific.

Among the worst included an executive (Reserve O-4) from Boise Cascade who we sent to South Korea to perform a fairly routine task lasting three weeks. He whined the entire time he was over there and didn't exactly impress the Active Duty Army he was supposed to support. Another worthless one was a High School Principal (reserve O-6) who thought that it was his duty to entertain himself. I did not get a lick of work out of him.

I was a guest speaker at a reserve conference in San Francisco one year that had representatives from multiple units that I had been tasking for a couple of years. These units were performing a valuable service and my main objective was to thank them.

So I don't knock reservists. I do knock the poor performance of some active duty types who should be providing better guidance and tasking.
 
I enlisted, did my time and got out. I was lucky and enjoyed my time in the military. I served with some good people
and saw parts of the world I would not have otherwise seen. I'm glad for the experience but would not want to
do it again.
 

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