Hey guys, I'm 37 years old, and seriously considering joining the navy reserves. I'm looking for information on what to expect when it comes to timeline. How long is boot camp, officer school? Time commitment in terms of years of service, do you get choice of monthly weekend service locations or is it all assigned? I'm trying to prep for questions my wife and 2 daughters will have for me.

37 might a little old to join unless you are a chaplain or medical guy? If you fit into one of those categories, life is pretty good and the boot camp plus service commitments are great! Everyone I have met is happy and content. You'll have talk with a recruiter to get the best info.

If you want to enlist.....well I don't recommend it for your age and life situation. It is not an easy life, imagine college life but with lots of people yelling at you and trying to control every aspect.

What makes you want to join the Navy Reserves anyways?

I have always wanted to serve, dad talked me out of marines after high school, wife talked me out of full service after college. It's now or never for me at this point and i can still have a civilian career while in the reserves so I'm very tempted to pull the trigger.

The maximum age for active-duty officers non-prior service Navy applicants is 39 years as of 2019. It was increased from 34 in 2018.

Should you like to join as an intelligence officer, you can apply for direct commissioning program if you have at least a Bachelors Degree and feel you have a good grip on history and current events and can write pretty good. You will be put before a board of senior officers who will interview you and hopefully give you a good recommendation. Then, your application will be forwarded to the annual selection board where it is even more competitive for selection for a billet. If you get selected, you will be assigned to a unit. You will attend an in-house intel training school during your monthly drills. Your first year annual training duty will be to Basic Officer Training in Pensacola...it is the officer equivalent of boot camp and is affectionately known as "knife and fork school". Then, back to drill site to finish up the year of in house schooling. Once you finish that, you will be assigned an operational billet in the unit and work that job. Your next annual training will likely be to an intel unit or to the command that your reserve unit supports. The following year, you may want to attend a secondary intel training school. And so it goes.

Hope this helps. You can get direct commissions in other specialties, such as engineering officer or supply officer depending on your degree. Last I heard even the "boat drivers" (Line Officers) have a direct commissioning program. Talk to the local Reserve Officer Recruiter at the closest reserve center for up to date info.

Regards,
Lee '72
CAPT USN (Ret)

Lee,

Thank you, this helps tremendously. Intelligence is exactly what I am wanting to do. If you have the time, I would appreciate any more advice or light you can shed on this for me. Perhaps I can shoot you a direct email.

Sincerely,

Paul '04

I just left the Navy Reserves where I was in the intelligence field. It was a great experience, I left due to family issues. I'd be happy to discuss offline. Blake050 at yahoo, if you want to shoot me an email.