6 Things You Should Know About my Active Guard and Reserve Family
About 5 years ago, this month, we were packing up for our first PCS in the Army Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) program. My husband had been in the Reserves for several years at that point and was itching to go active duty. Well, the problem was going active duty from the reserves was easier said than done, so we decided AGR would be a good way to get his foot in the active duty door.
Being an AGR family means your soldier is a reserve or National Guard soldier who is active duty. Now, being active duty as a reserve soldier doesn't automatically mean an overseas deployment. While most reserve soldiers have civilian jobs to pay the bills, AGR soldiers work full-time for the Army (or other branch) on top of drilling with the rest of the soldiers at that particular unit. AGR soldiers, along with civilian and Department of Defense employees are the people that keep things functioning on a day-to-day basis at reserve units throughout the country.
Though, we are still fairly new to the AGR lifestyle—only having PCSed 3 times—I have learned a few things along the way I wish active duty families knew about us:
It's not all butterflies and rainbows. We were at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, an active duty Army post, for our last tour. Living on an active duty post, most assume you are regular Army and not a reserve soldier. When it came out that we were AGR, we received comments like, “You've got the dream gig! Coming in and leaving when you feel like it and taking as long as you want for lunch!”, “Must be nice not to have to wear your uniform every day,” or “I bet it's nice not having to move around so much.”
These statements could not be farther from the truth. My husband leaves for work at 0715 and usually does not return home until about 1800. Even then, he brings his work computer home and continues working after the kids are in bed. He typically works through his lunch breaks and the only day he doesn't wear his uniform is the Monday after a Battle Assembly weekend (a.k.a. drill). And as for the moving around comment
We move around just as often, if not more frequently, than our active duty counterparts. A typical AGR tour is around 3 years. A deployment could make that longer. Some might even get lucky and have their tour extended (but from my understanding, that's pretty rare). If your soldier is an officer, you're looking at a PCS every 2 years, and sometimes more frequently. The need for full-time soldiers fluctuates in the reserves, whereas all regular army units are full-time.
We will more than likely NEVER be stationed at amazing overseas locations, like Germany or Japan. As much as we want it and as amazing as it would be, Germany will likely never happen for us. There are a few AGR positions overseas, but not many.
When we PCS, we typically do not move from post to post. When you live on post, everyone knows you're affiliated with the military. Even when you go off-post into the community, people ask what you or your spouse does for a living and you say he's in the Army, they don't give it a second thought. As an AGR family, it's never that simple. I've gotten responses like, “Are you sure he's active duty?”, and “Here? Is there a military installation here?” I've gotten the “Are you sure he's active duty?” question so many times I want to scream every time I hear it!
AGR soldiers promote slower than if they were on active duty. I will never understand it, but that's the way it is. You have amazing officers who are a year and a half behind others who have the same date of rank, simply because they decided not to go active duty.
Resources, though abundant, are not as easy to find. Moving to a large Army post, I was impressed by all of the resources I came across on a daily basis. From MWR events to the lending closet. From ACS to the FRG. Fun runs, spouse groups, the fitness and childcare centers on post, child and youth activities and classes. The list goes on and on! When you're a military family moving into a community that's mostly civilian you have to do A LOT more research to find resources applicable to you because the military community just isn't as visible.
In my opinion, AGR soldiers and their families are stuck in a sort of gray zone. I sometimes feel like the people of Whoville in Horton Hears a Who yelling, “WE ARE HERE! WE ARE HERE! WE ARE HERE!” We aren't quite active duty and we aren't quite reserves. We experience the best and worst of both worlds. Everyone has their own opinion of whether being AGR is worth it, but just like any other job, somebody has to do it.
Is your family part of the Active Guard and Reserves? What would you add to the list?
Posted by Andrea Bitterman, military spouse and NMFA Volunteer
I’m AGR in the National Guard. We never leave our home state. Reading this article opened my eyes to how lucky I am not to be a reserve Soldier. Thanks for your service.
Yeah I likely would have went National Guard but the Reserves recruiter beat the Guard recruiter to the punch. My main priority was just getting back in and continuing my military career whether it was Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard or any component.
I’m an AGR Soldier in the Reserves and you hit the nail right on the head. Thank you for writing this article. We are US Army Soldier regardless of what component.
Hi there, i have some specific questions regarding AGR as a reservist. I was hoping maybe you or your husband could offer some insight. We initially starting an AGR tour, how early did you receive orders? Weeks or months prior to start date? Did you know where you were being stationed prior to receiving orders? How quickly were you able to obtain housing (civilian, not on a base)?
Is this a troll blog? I’m active duty and the negative points that are stated in this post are most definitely not negative. Leave’s at 0715 and comes home at 1800, that would be a dream come true if I could stay at work that short and sleep in lol.
My husband is AGR for the Army and I can definitely relate to being asked “are you sure he’s active duty?” constantly. His current duty station is not on a post, it’s at a reserve unit and the closest post is Fort Drum which is a 3 hour drive. Hardly any doctors around us accept Tricare, I get stuck paying copays most places I go because it’s so hard to find medical facilities that accept it. Because of his MOS sometimes he has to be gone more than the 1 weekend a month for drills, and trying to tell my civilian job that I can’t be at work due to lack of child care because my husband is gone for the military is difficult because most people think of reservists as “less” of a soldier. When I meet new people and I tell them my husband is military, they always ask me where he’s deployed because they assume he’s not around and I’m here to stay around family while he’s gone. It’s definitely a blessing to have him not be a normal active duty solider and still get the pay, but it can be exhausting.
AGR is not active duty. They are separate entities. To tell people you are active duty while in the AGR is wrong. Yes you are full time and receive the same benefits but it is not active duty. That is why people are looking at you weird.
Not just benefits. I know as an AGR NCO you must attend any required NCOES courses for your rank on an active duty level too (unlike the Reserves Soldiers you work with, over or under) I don’t exactly agree with it but it is what it is. You may be gone for a month or two for phase 2 and 3 which means someone may need to cover down in your absence.
Active duty is a status. He is active duty but he is not Regular Army (RA) he’s Army Reserve (USAR). For example when an Officer accepts a commission he does so in either the RA, USAR, or USNG. All of the RA is on Active Duty status. The USAR has soldiers on Active Duty status under various titled orders, as does the NG, while the rest of the USAR and USNG sit on Select Reserve, Ready Reserve, or Inactive Ready Reserve, there’s more reserve statuses as well. To further show this point, if that Officer wanted to transfer to the RA or “Active Duty” he would have to Resign his USAR commission and accept an RA commission, after which his duty status would change to “Active” by function of service not component of the force.
While stating that he is Active Duty might confuse some people, it’s not wrong. Maybe a more policy-correct way to state his service to the army would be: “My husband is in the Army Reserves, but he’s currently on Active Duty Orders/Status with the Active Guard and Reserve program.”
Yeah I had to explain things basically that way. Either way frustrating at times.