This is my first post so forgive me if I goof on protocol anywhere. A little (okay, maybe not so little) background on myself: I joined the AD USAF back in 02/2003 with grand plans of becoming a PJ. After failing the P.A.S.T. as a direct result of my 19 yr. old arrogance I become a maintenance troop, dreaming of training up to one day becoming a PJ. Two years later, I'm cutting grass as a civilian again in the wake of force shaping. During this time, Katrina and Rita strike and I desperately want to contribute to the rescue cause for future calamities. With my wife's adamant refusal to be a PJ spouse, I joined the Texas ANG as a fuels troop. It wasn't what I wanted to do but I wanted to help out somehow. Six years later, I'm 28 years old with 3 children and my contract with TANG ends next month. I've got 14 months till I finish my degree and I'm pretty set on moving out to Florida after graduating to join the 920th at Patrick. I had hoped to become a CRO but my understanding now is that I can't do that coming in off of the street so I'm happy to serve as a PJ instead with the possibility of maybe going for CRO down the road. My wife is still pretty adamant about not being what in her mind amounts to a single mom and I understand her concerns but I don't really believe that they're founded. I've read the 30-something page booklet posted on this site about the 131st RQS and the TDY commitments sound a bit less than I would expect so I'm turning to you fine folks hoping for some firsthand intel. I want more than anything to become a PJ and serve such a worthy cause and I'm trying hard not to lose my family in the process. My wife is afraid I'll be gone 4-6 months out of the year and while I can fully see this for an AD guy, it seems a bit much for a Joe with a civilian job to keep up with as well. If any of you would happen to be reservists with spouses willing to talk, I'd love it if you could share a bit about the life with my wife and I. After 8 years of marriage, I know that my wife is sick of hearing about this dream but I also know that if I don't go for it, I'll never live it down. Thanks in advance.

Brother, it aint easy being a Reserve PJ, either. You still have your normal job and family responsibilities and then you add another 60+ days or more of training into that life plan. And most guys are gone at least a couple months a year training, maybe more. Not 8 weeks in a row but a couple weeks here, a few days there, etc. It adds up and it isn't easy. So, if your wife is reluctant to see you gone 4-6 months a year, you might want to think about being gone one weekend every month, a couple of weeks here and there, and trying to juggle your work and family schedule with a training schedule. It takes a full commitment from you and your spouse to make it work.

Also, you still have a two year training Pipeline and your wife can't join you until you PCS to Kirtland about a year into it. After you finish the Pipeline, you have about half a year of "seasoning" training at the unit before you return to Traditional Guardsman status.

Give it a lot of though and do a search. This is a very common and well founded concern that has been covered very well a number of times.

Good luck with your decision making process.

Guard MC,
Thanks a lot for your insight, it's much appreciated. I wouldn't expect the career field to be easy, to be honest I don't think I would enjoy it if it were. I'll be searching the forum for confirmation but I was under the impression that the member returns to the guard unit after indoc and each tech school to wait for the next school to open up; feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I'm trying to look at this from every angle possible so I don't wreck my family in the process but I can't say that I'm deterred by a couple of months worth of training broken up throughout the year. That seems a very reasonable price to pay to have the opportunity to save a life. Thanks again.

Each out-of-training extended period waiting for a class to open up during pipeline increases attrition probability and impairs unit capability as it waits for a trained and qualified member.

Any return home to be with family due to wait for a class to open up is for the Air Force Reserve component unit’s man-day budget cost savings benefit and not for the benefit of the member in training to have woopee with wife and bonding time with children.

Consequently you cannot depend on getting this time period of out-of-training between courses and you cannot demand time period of out-of-training between courses either. Circumstances of your training pipeline once entered into training may give you justification to ask, but it is a case-by-case decision matrix.

Thanks for verifying that for me Yukon. I searched the forum earlier and while I'm sure what you told me is already in there somewhere, I didn't find it. I absolutely understand needs of the Air Force dictating home time during the pipeline; after serving both AD and ANG, that lesson's heard loud and clear. My question was more along the lines of "will I be waiting in holdover vs. back on base?" as it seemed more cost effective being back on base instead of on orders awaiting training. In all reality though, it's such a dynamic lineage that a hard and fast answer isn't really possible.

Most of the holdover waits have been ironed out. That was one of the rationales to pull PJs from the 18D course and re-establish the PJ medical training at Kirtland and it was also part of the rationale for the Air Force to establish its Combat Diver Course.

Another element of the past wait for course holding wait time was the fixing the 50% under manned situation of both CCT & PJ career fields of the 1990s plus the approval authorization and establishing of the CRO career field.

Building new CCT & PJ school facilities to handle more students helped reduced the hold over problem too.

The National Guard Bureau, in an effort to save money, has mandated for the last two years that all trainees with a break of over 30 days between schools will return to their unit, be removed from training orders, and then go back on orders once their Pipeline resumes. We (the GA and STS community) have tried to get this waived and made our case but we haven't won. Our answer is to do our very best to minimize gaps between schools and keep you pushing on through.
We (123 STS) have managed to keep our guys on orders all the way through the Pipeline.

So, not much chance of coming home between schools. That certainly used to be the case in the days of long gaps between schools and more lenient budgets but not today.

Thank goodness the Pipeline is much improved over the old days because we would be losing guys left and right if we had to pull them off orders every few months, then try to get them back in mental and physical shape all over again.