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Question for you all: I'm coming into my forties, so if I want to volunteer for the reserve, I need to start now. Is it a ridiculous thought? If SHTF, I'd like

Question for you all: I'm coming into my forties, so if I want to volunteer for the reserve, I need to start now. Is it a ridiculous thought? If SHTF, I'd like to have some more useful life skills than typing at a computer. I do have responsibilities to my family, so it would not be an easy sell. That said, it does appeal to me. Thoughts? Opinions?

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
SaintGhurka 5y ago
If your family responsibilities don't prevent you from going away for ~5 months for the initial training (depending on MOS), then it's not utter madness to join at 40 if you're in decent shape. It may be a pride-swallowing experience at first. You'd be thrown into a barracks with a lot of 17-20 year olds and you'd be treated like one of them. We had a 35 year old in my basic training. The trainers gave him only a tiny bit of slack. You'd also spend some time as a 40 year old private - which might get you some looks. Whatever you do, pick your MOS carefully. Look around and see what type of reserve and guard units are local because that's going to dictate your job choices. If there's nothing but infantry locally, then you're going to be infantry or something that supports them. If that's the case, be a medic. Everyone likes the medic.