I’ll keep it straight.
I did 3 years active duty, went IRR in 2023, then joined the Reserves in 2024 on a Try 1 to reclass from maintenance into a medical MOS. When I was still active, I was told reclassing there would be a nightmare and that going Reserves first would give me a better shot at switching MOS and going back active. That turned out to be complete BS. From day one, my unit couldn’t care less. No outreach, no guidance. I had to chase them down just to get inprocessed. When I finally got there, I had no real leadership tracking me—no NCO, no direction. Just me, a SPC at the time, trying to figure everything out on my own. I would try to put myself out there as a SPC. Volunteer myself for whatever tasks. Ask if anyone needed help with anything and even ask what could I do to help the unit.
For an entire year, I pushed to get into a school slot. Every time it was something new:
“SFC ___ isn’t here this BA.”
“You need an updated PT test and weapons card if you even want to be considered.”
“Don’t talk to SFC ___, go through your first line.”
“Actually, you don’t have enough time left—you need to extend.”
So I hustled. I passed my PT test and qual’d in summer 2024. Then in August 2024, I get told the unit has no funds—after being told they did. To wait for the new fiscal year. I still gave them the benefit of the doubt and extended under a Rule J (biggest f*cking mistake).
Finally, S3 gives me the time of day in November 2024. I get slotted for a school date… and it gets denied that same month. Shortly after, I get promoted out of the unit in December.
I try reaching out to the NCO who submitted my packet—turns out they retired. Now there’s no school NCO, no tracking, no accountability.
I didn’t want to give up on going medical, so I transferred back to the unit. When I got there, nobody even knew I had left or come back. I was basically a ghost.
So I’m right back to square one, chasing people who either don’t know or don’t care.
Summer 2025, we get new leadership. New 1SG trying to clean up the mess left behind, which I respect. I just wish that kind of leadership was there when I first joined. Around the same time, we get a new S3. I talk to her and get told—again—that I need to extend my contract.
I didn’t mind retaking a PT test or going back to the range. But extending again? That was it for me.
Since August 2025, I’ve had nothing but animosity toward the unit—and honestly toward being in the Reserves in general.
I’m finishing my bachelor’s in Spring 2027, and at this point, I have zero interest in continuing anything with the Army. Being a part-time soldier feels like a joke. No structure, no accountability—just half-ass answers and half-ass effort around half ass people. What bothers me more than anything is hearing “we’re a family” while people turn around and gossip like high schoolers. Seeing people walking around like they're hot shit but they look like they're gonna buss out of the uniform and have the nerve to call other people fat. I’m tired of putting up a façade just to exist in that environment. I talk to my therapist about these petri dishes a week before drill so that I can mentally prepare for the units stupidity.
The only reason I joined was to get back to active duty in a different MOS. Instead, I got stuck in a system where nothing moves unless you drag it—and even then, it still falls apart.
I ETS January 2027, but I’m hitting a wall. Motivation is gone, patience is gone, and showing up just feels pointless. I really want to say to hell with them all and stop showing up.