I was wondering has anyone or is anyone in the army reserves?.. I was thinking of enlisting if I like what I hear First hand on monday?
I was thinking of joining as a Officer or a Admin Clerk.
Whatever they tell you is only going to be the good stuff. I bet you like whatever you hear Monday.
A guy I knew went into the army reserves after high school. From what I remember, everyone has to do basic training for like 6 months or a year (but I could be wrong). He said that everyday you feel like you want to just quit but you can't so you keep on. He said when they got their leave they all visit the whorehouses together. Last time I saw him he said he was going to do officer training.
I want to join the reserves cause i can quit and if i dont like military way of working and if i do i will transfer to full time the other reason i want to finally buy a good car Toyota of course (MX83 or AE86 DERKA)
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Hi Danish, i asked my mate who has been in the reserves for a number of years and he replied with the following. It's a bit long but worth a read if you're seriously thinking about enlisting;
"Mate,
Feel free to cut and paste this for him to read.
Hmmmn, let me count the ways for the young padawan.
Um, first up, don't do it for the cash, prestige, 'image', to attract chicks etc, etc or whatever.
Do it because you love your country and community. I originally joined for the cash, I was a broke uni student who needed (and liked) having about 1500 bucks in my wallet after a 2 week exercise. And I got to look like a man amongst men, trained killer, jump in and out of armoured vehicles and helicopters, blow sh!t up, live like a mongrel dog sleeping on the ground, not eating properly, carrying more than half my bodyweight in kit, be eaten alive by mosquito's, infect ticks and flea's to the household pets when I got home and all the other good fun stuff. I was lucky, I got more opportunity to do that than most reservists.
Then I realised what kept me coming back was the training puts you in good stead. I don't get upset when things get pear-shaped, I just keep fluid and flexible while following the old mantra: Improvise, Adapt and overcome. The other thing that kept me coming back was the blokes I worked with. My mates and team were a good bunch of blokes (and blokettes) that I managed to click with. Also quite rare in the reserve system at times. It gets quite fragmentary and "lonely" if there is a lack of junior leadership to maintain coherency.
Later, my motivations matured into the good I could return to my country and community. I've always wanted to do good for others around me, but as a young bloke, often unable to do really useful stuff like counselling. To be quite honest, I don't have the patience to deal with other's when I perceive them to be useless, whingeing ba$tards. It felt damn good to be able as a junior leader to mold younger people, often with little direction in life and few life experiences into productive, useful and relatively upstanding members of society. To produce and be part of a good team is something else. It's a feeling of job satisfaction that I have never been able to replicate since I left the army reserve.
No matter what job you decide to apply for, and often, you don't choose it, the job chooses you, is that it's going to be damn hard. That's why they call it service. You are serving the common good through your sacrifices. As a digger, you have more "fun". Shooting, blowing sh!t up is just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, most people I knew and still know in the reserve do something completely different from what they do normally. Most of my mates were engineers, corporate lawyers, nurses, electricians, professionals from white and blue collar industries who just wanted to blow sh!t up and be an infantry soldier or what have you on their weekends. It certainly makes for some interesting conversation around the office during the week. There is however, no such thing as a free lunch. Service as a digger means work parties, dragging heavy stores off trucks and lugging them up to various locations. A lot of "make-work" just to keep you busy, away from important stuff and at the whim of people with ego problems who have a need to take them out on you. It does get very frustrating. And remember, you are at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to the Defence Force Displinary Act, ie. sh!t rolls down hill, and you're currently sitting in the steep, deep and cold valley with the sign "Sh!t Creek" right in front of you.
As an officer, you will find it a bit more lonely and difficult. Maybe not as physically difficult (even though you MUST be fitter than most of your soldiers) but mentally more lonely. You are in command. EVERYTHING is your responsibility. That includes answering for your subordinates mistakes, you hold their lives and wellbeing in your grubby little w@nking spanner. Trust me when I say it's a huge job. I've only had 30 soldiers as a junior non-commissioned officer once, and it scared me. I would hate to do it as a commissioned officer. You must remember that those soldiers have been programmed (almost absolutely brain-washed) to react to your orders without hesitation. Half the time, they won't even think before reacting, it's just programmed response. Hence why so many other ranks (OR's aka enlisted folk) get a tad hostile and dis-respectful of a commissioned officer who does not appear to have their best welfare at the top of their mind. No-one likes to working for a fool, especially when that fool controls every aspect of what remains of their lives. A badly given or inappropriate word of command (hell, even a bl00dy good one) can mean death and dismemberment to the soldiers under your command. You are the one who has to live with that.
To be honest, there are a lot of negatives to the service. A lot of sacrifices have to be made.
Amongst other things:
- You have to get your hair cut short
- You have to stop smoking marijuana and other recreational pharmaceuticals.
- Can't talk to the media
- Can't tell family about certain things
- Have to put up with some very weak-minded, egotistical individuals
- Deal with the inanities of a large buaerocratic organisation
- Be treated like a retarded child by those above you
- Back-breaking work that should be done via machine, which is actually sitting right there in front of you
- Partners walking out on you while you're on exercise / deployment (Don't laugh, I've seen it happen)
- Discriminated against by members of the public because you wear a uniform for a job (Red-necked baby-killer, anyone??). Yes, the very people you have sworn an oath to die for if necessary, couldn't give a stuff about you.
- Discriminated against by your comrades-in-arms simply because you are a reservist and not regular army.
But there are some great things about the service:
- You make friends for LIFE. Real mates, who won't ever sell you out, talk sh!t behind your back and will literally give you their last 10 bucks or the shirt off their back simply because you are their mate. And you'd do the same for them. I have blokes who are closer than my own siblings.
- You become a member of the brotherhood. You can now stand tall in the presence of anyone when you mention you have sworn the oath to defend our great country. It's a very small club, and entirely voluntary, which is what sets us apart. We chose to make a sacrifice. What are they doing besides gob off how tough they are?? Money ought to be placed where mouths are.
- Major changes occur in your outlook in life. Simple annoyances are just that, life just becomes challenging and increased options rather than impossible. I picked up a philosophy of "It could be worse" and to try and get on with it. Improvise, adapt, overcome. You'll also notice certain habits of your civvy mates will suddenly become dis-tasteful. It's not what real mates do for each other.
- A better appreciation for what you have, since you've probably worked harder than you ever have before to earn it.
So that's pretty much my take on it. If you have any further questions, don't hesitate to ask. "
I hope it helps.
tell your friend thanks
He said to say your welcome and if you did decide to join up, he can tell you about the fitness training and give you some pointers.
Good luck with it.
Sounds like your mate Simon is a true champion.... what an excellent response ...
yeah i m going to a booked day on october 14 to get a feel of what its like I will most likely become a adminclerk as i failed english by 1 mark lol
this is in no way constructive advise, just thought id share some tragedy cos we all love it.
dude in my mates pilot's degree class thing, joined reserves, and copped 'nade shrapnel to one eye. he had finished his degree, got his wings, and then that happened.
as you might guess you cant be a one eyed pilot cos u have no depth perception. therefore his entire future earnings from that career evaporated, not to mention the sixty thousand dollars he'd dumped on his course.
the reserves compensation: ten grand.
i shit you not.
once again this probably has no bearing on whoever was asking about the reserves. i have mates that love it. just thought i'd share a tale of utter brutal unfairness.
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