In regards to the difference between reserve an
Oldgateboatdriver said:
The US Navy Reserve (unlike their "Army" and "Air Force" counterpart who are mostly made up of National Guards under the lead of their State) is directly under the Control of the Department of the Navy and is made up of already trained personnel that continue to serve after their regular service is over. So, unlike Canadian resevists, they are already trade trained when joining.
This is for the most part correct, but let me expand on it just a little.
It isn't that the reserve is unique to the Navy and the National Guard is unique to the Army, branches of the military can have both.
The Air Force and Army have BOTH National Guard and Reserve components. The Navy and Marines have only a Reserve component.
I'm currently in the Army National Guard and, yes, it operates in a manner similar to the reserve, the difference being that we are funded by and under the authority of the state (in my case Vermont). But there is also the Army reserve, and they actually train in the same building as we do. Like you said, the reservists are funded by and under the authority of the federal government. We can, however, be basically loaned to the federal government. That is why despite being National Guard, which is traditionally responsible for responding to things like local natural disasters, we can also be temporarily activated and sent to Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. Like both the Reserves and active duty, we are typically sent as units or brigades. The guys I train with one weekend per month are the same ones I deploy with. Prior to a federal deployment we are sent to pre-mobilization for an unspecified period of time, usually a month or two, to make sure we are sufficiently trained.
Also, though a large portion of them are indeed prior service (when I got out of active duty Navy I immediately had recruiters sending me letters asking me to join the Reserves), they also have those without prior service.
roxie roller said:
Thanks for your insight, Oldgateboatdriver.
From what I was reading online I did get the impression that many of the US Naval Reservists were former regular serving members although it seems there are some who have served only as reservists in the more traditional sense.
The reason I was asking is because I was interested in exploring whether or not there might be opportunities to set up some joint CAN/US Naval Reserve training, but I'm starting to get the idea that the differences between the way the two systems are set up just might not be conducive to such training. I'm no expert in the logistics that might be involved so this is just about sending out feelers at this point. I wonder if there is anyone out there with any experience with this type of joint training?
Thanks for your assistance, all.
Though it might be very difficult to get some joint exercises scheduled during the monthly training, it might not be out of the question on the two week annual training. For that, they are somewhat flexible, though they do plan ahead quite a ways in advance. My unit already has a pretty good idea where we're going for our annual training both this coming summer and two years from now. In the past, that training has been everything from camping for a couple weeks at a local base to deploying for an actual two week mission to Africa. I assume the Navy Reserve operates in a similar manner, so it might actually be worth getting in touch with a Navy Reserve division and seeing if they'd have any interest in working something out.