Hi everyone,
first let me say, I have searched this website and others and I haven't been able to find much specifically, but if this has already been addressed, I apologize and will not ask again.
Background: I'm a dual US-Canadian citizen. Born/raised in the states, married my college sweetheart who is Canadian. Served 8 years in the US military as a commissioned officer. Moved to Canada about a decade ago for my wife's career. Became a naturalized Canadian citizen recently and have been considering joining a local reserve unit (enlisted or officer, don't care) or the cadets as a CIC officer just to get involved again because I miss the camaraderie and discipline. No plans to ever go full time again or make this a career.
My questions are: Is there anyone else on here who has a similar background to me and has successfully joined the reserves with prior US military service? If so, was your prior service an impediment in any way? I'm debating whether to try joining. All I have as proof of my prior service is my DD-214 (which includes an honourable discharge and a clean record with several personal/service related awards) that I received when I was discharged over ten years ago. I have not kept in touch with any supervisors and at this point I'm pretty sure my previous CO's are all retired anyway. I certainly can provide references for some of the subordinates I served with, but I haven't kept in touch with my old supervisors. I have no idea how complicated this would be in terms of what the CAF might want beyond my DD-214, old US military references, my old US military medical files, etc. and whether this whole thing would just be a can of worms or whether I'm making this out to be more complicated than it will be.
If there is anyone on here who has gone through this I'd be much obliged to read about your experience joining.