Posted By coastie2679 on 22 Dec 2011 07:23 AM
srf13 - I don't know how long GM "A" school is (heck, I didn't even know reservists could go GM!), but if going to "A" school is what you want to do (and it's alright with your family to be gone that long) then go for it! I skipped ET "A" school (26 weeks - one of the longest in the CG) because of my experience. That and my wife would've killed me if I went away for 26 weeks with 2 young kids at home! Seriously though - "A" school for me would've been a deal breaker. I couldn't get off from my job for half a year and I couldn't leave my family for that long (the CG only moves your family if you're stationed somewhere for 27 weeks or more...).
That being said, do I feel like I'm at a disadvantage because all of the guys in my unit went to "A" school and I didn't? Yes. But I'm going to "C" school in February to learn some of the systems and I've been able to absorb most of what my first's have shown me. Of course, we're all ET's and the closest thing we get to a gun is a soldering gun! I would imagine that a GM would have to have in depth knowledge of all the weapons they are going to interact with. Can you learn that at your unit? Probably. Do they expect you to know it before you get there? Don't know. But I'd probably go to GM "A" school unless I was a SWAT team member with some local law enforcement and knew guns inside and out.
GM 'A' school is 10 weeks. My wife isn't too happy about it, because I have to go in June, and will gone most of the summer. I have 3 little ones at home... but we all have to make sacrifices, and it's going to be ok as long as I use it to teach them that sacrificing for the greater good of the country/community is honorable and right. I see your point though. 26 weeks would have me thinking twice as well. I know that I'm going to get deployed at some point, and we're preparing for that, but that's different. I'm most likely going to be the SAI for our unit as soon as I'm up to speed (It's what I do in my civilian life as well), so I really need 'A' school to get squared away as quick as possible. I trust that if the unit believed that I could do my job without going, that I would get it done, but I'm a perfectionist.
