I am an Army Reserve wife.

Well... in a few months anyhow. Thak and I saw the Guard and Reserve recruiters today. He chose a slot as a mechanic instructor right here in El Paso, and it is a Sergeant First Class slot, so he will probably be promoted next year. He will have to be away for a little bit of training (before he can be promoted particularly), and will drill one weekend a month, and two weeks in the summer. He will have two years of stabilization with no deployments, and we will keep some of our military benefits. He has chosen a two year contract, which he will sign the final version of, week after next.

I think it's a great decision. We really didn't want to throw away 18.5 years. At the end of his contract, we'll decide whether he stays or gets out. Since he'll have 20 years of service at that point in time, he will be able to drop a retirement packet, and be in line for a very nice pension starting at the age of 60. We found out that since he served 14 years Active Duty, his pension will be a lot better than a normal Reserve one, nearly as good as a comparable rank's Active Duty one, and with the job he chose, retiring as a Sergeant First Class will be an added benefit.

They offered full time National Guard slots also, but we chose this one because we also want to try the private sector so that Thak's schooling that we've sacrificed so much for would not be for nothing, and so that we can use the Reserve as a transition to just plain old private sector if that's what we want to do. As it is, the timing is amazing. The pay he'll receive for his drills once a month amounts to my car payment. We will keep our health insurance for free for six months, and after that, will pay to keep it, but only a couple hundred a month, far less than civilian policies. When he is eligible to get out of the Reserve, we will have both vehicles paid off, and will be out of the baby stage with Chaiyo/Sirikit (so less pediatrician bills), so we'll be a lot more set financially to transition fully to the private sector and never look back. We just need Thak to do these two years in the Reserve to make our transition less rough. If we like it, he'll stay. If not, he'll retire, and we'll live happily ever after, as veterans and nothing else.

The ball is in our court, but for the next two years, we are an Army Reserve family, which frankly, we don't mind a bit.