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  • Big Green

    In Christ Alone
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    Mar 5, 2018
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    College Station
    Any current or former National Guard folks?

    I've toyed with idea of more military service and called the recruiter earlier this week. Gonna go talk with them later in the week. I have 12 years on the books already between my active and reserve time. Only need 8 more years to be eligible for a retirement one day.

    The deployments to the border are worrisome though. I talked to a Trooper buddy I was in the Corps with who is down south and asked him about those guys and he mentioned some are on one year orders. I don't know how I would deal with that kind of a pay cut for 12 months.

    My brother-in-law mentioned having a chance at Warrant Officer school put into my contract. I need to actually call him to get details on that but that would make it much more appealing.
    Military Camp
     

    gshayd

    Ugliest house on the block.
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    Nov 25, 2018
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    I would look into joining the Army Reserve. Deployments have kind of cooled off now. Don't have to worry about state call ups. It works out good for you at 12 years of active service. You have to serve eight years of service at a minimum to qualify for retirement anyway. If a guy had 17 years of active duty he would still have to serve 8 years of reserve duty to qualify for reserve retirement. With 12 years of active duty, you will draw a pretty hefty retirement check plus the health care benefits. You would start out with over 4300+ retirement points which are worth a certain value depending on your rank. .31713 cents is what a retirement point is worth for an E-6 with 20 years. Your current points for your previous active duty would net you with around $1300 at age 60 and that doesn't include the points for another 8 years. That is why some folks are doing as much active duty call ups for a year. You get a point per day for active duty call ups. I think the max inactive duty points you can get credit for retirement is 90 a year? with that, you could earn 1600+ a month at age 60 for retirement pay. Right now I am not 65 yet and I pay $21.00 a month for USFHP/Tricare medical insurance. At 65 I will have to enroll in Medicare part B and be enrolled in Tricare for life. I will have to pay over $100 a month for part B. However Tricare for life is free. My wife is on Medicare and has no copay for an office visit. so less the $21.00 a month I pay now and no copay It will come out even or better since I have a $20.00 copay for the doctor and a $30.00 copay for a specialist. I have probably spent $200 in copays this month. so it will even out paying for Part B on Medicare. Put that 12 years to work....
     

    toddnjoyce

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    Hmmm. The only reason I would consider a Guard slot would be for Warrant Officer Flight Training, but you may be too old for that.

    If you want the time towards retirement, look at Civil Service and buy back your military time.

    If you’re really considering this, you need to have an ESGR-friendly employer.
     

    karlac

    Lately too damn busy to have Gone fishin' ...
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    Glad to see that serving your country can be helpful in many ways in old age. Seriously!

    Know quite a few older folks who never knew of the options that existed, or even had the opportunity to take advantage of them.

    Good to see it ... Interwebz are good for something.
     

    Bozz10mm

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    With 8 more years of service in the National Guard you will be eligible for retirement pay and medical coverage at age 60. With your 12 years of active duty, plus 8 years of Guard time, that will be a very nice retirement income in your later years. Weigh that against the temporary loss of income, if any, during a deployment.
     

    toddnjoyce

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    One thing I’ll add is to have a long term goal. Whether that’s as a technician, title 10 final tour, buying in to Civil Service, or the traditional route.

    When you know that goal, you can work backwards on the best way to make that happen.
     

    Big Green

    In Christ Alone
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    One thing I’ll add is to have a long term goal. Whether that’s as a technician, title 10 final tour, buying in to Civil Service, or the traditional route.

    When you know that goal, you can work backwards on the best way to make that happen.
    Two things I’m unfamiliar with in first paragraph, what’s the importance of a title 10 FINAL TOUR? And what do you mean traditional route? Just going through normal time and retiring when the time comes?

    One is the retirement/insurance. Mostly though it’s an itch I didn’t completely scratch. Sure there’s all the things we love to hate about our time in but there were a lot of good guys and some good things. There were several things I was interested in over the years that would have kept me in on active duty if things had played out differently. I enjoy being a civilian now but miss serving.

    One thing to note, my active duty time was 9 years with 3 years in the reserves for a total of 12 years. I’ve already done the part time thing before, all of that was USMC though. Had they not combined my MOS with another into something I did not want to do, I’d probably still be in the Marine Reserves.
     

    toddnjoyce

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    Last edited:

    mp_tx

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    Aug 21, 2009
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    Texas has both a WOC program and an OCS program. You can sign up in either pipeline—these options don’t have to be “written in” the contract. Do you have any college hours?

    I would not worry about the border mission. There is a waitlist a mile long for volunteers that WANT to go. They are a long way from involuntary call ups.


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
     

    gshayd

    Ugliest house on the block.
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    Nov 25, 2018
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    The healthcare you retire with is great. The wife is older than me and on Medicare part A&B and Tricare for life. She has no copay to see a doc or specialist and has not had to pay anything. I just got an injection in my neck at an outpatient surgery center. Only cost me $61.00
     

    Big Green

    In Christ Alone
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    Mar 5, 2018
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    College Station
    Need to add a few addresses to the Guard “application” and submit.

    Still deciding on MOS. Recruiter is also going to contact a few units and see who may need an E-6. I know I’ll probably loose my rocker but I’m gonna try. Of course I’d be an E-5 “promotable” but who knows how long that takes to get promoted again.

    For prior service they have ONE YEAR enlistments. That’s kind like a test drive before you buy the car. I’ll do one of those and see how it goes.

    Gotta start pounding the pavement again every day. Haven’t run in a while so that’ll be fun. Oh, and push-ups. No more pull-ups for a PFT.
     
    Every Day Man
    Tyrant

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