Careers: Military--Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, Coast Guard/Pay For the Coast Guard Reserve

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Expert: Rod Powers - 6/1/2007


Question
Hi my name is Luke I'm currently a Jr. At Slippery Rock University. I'm thinking
about joining the Coast Guard Reserve, and once graduating hopefully going
active/fulltime. I'm wondering first off how much I would get paid for basic
training and drill. Secondly, is this a good idea to go this route or should I
wait until I get my degree and then go OCS? I'm not real sure if you go
enlisted, if they allow you to switch to Officer while under contract or not.

Answer
Hi Luke,

During Active Duty For Training (Basic Training), you'll receive full base pay (see charts at: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/2007paycharts/a/2007basicpay.htm).

After basic training, you would receive four days worth of base pay for each drill weekend (see charts at: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/2007paycharts/a/drill.htm).

If your ultimate goal is to attend Coast Guard OCS, I'm not sure enlisting, then applying for OCS as an enlisted member is the best route. According to this site (http://www.uscg.mil/hq/capemay/e-oprograms.htm), which is an official Coast Guard site, the the Coast Guard is selecting approximately twice as many civilians as enlistees for OCS. The site lists the probable reasons for this.

For more information about the United States Military, feel free to visit my U.S. Military Information Site at: http://usmilitary.about.com

Hope this helps!

Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com

Careers: Military--Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, Coast Guard

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Rod Powers

Expertise

Rod Powers is considered one of the premire experts about U.S. Military career information on the planet. He has more than 30,000 articles about U.S. Military career information on the About.com U.S. Military Careers Information website at: http://usmilitary.about.com. Additionally, he is the author of "ASVAB for Dummies," "ASVAB AFQT for Dummies," (available in Dec 2009), and "Veteran Benefits for Dummies," all published by Wiley Publishing. He is also the author of "Barrons' Guide to Officer Candidate School Tests," published by Barron's Educational Series.

Experience

Rod Powers is a retired Air Force first sergeant, with 23 years of active duty service, 11 of those years as an Air Force First Sergeant. He has helped thousands of military members, recruits, and military applicants since he took over the About.com U.S Military Careers Information site in 1999. He has a reputation for "telling it like it is," so questions may not be answered based on "what you want to hear," but will be answered based of the bast available information, concerning the service/situation.

Education/Credentials
Rod is a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Noncommissioned Officers Academy, the Air Force Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy, and the Air Force First Sergeant Academy. He also holds an Associates Degree in Personnel Administration from the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF).

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