55 year old joining Army Reserves

PurpleLVN · Jan 11, 2010

Congratulations!! Is this your first stint in the military? I was in the Air Force Reserves many years ago and I loved it!! Have thought about rejoing now that I'm a nurse....You can do anything you put your mind (and body) to!!! Good Luck!! :yeah:

Kabin · Jan 11, 2010

Been some of that in the news lately. Thought the age cap was under 50yrs.

barlcsw · Jan 11, 2010

no, they moved it and with the Army, they can waive most things....

CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN · Jan 11, 2010

Boy that does take guts to go for it when other's exmilitary are retired and reaping full health coverage benefits gratis, drat!!!

Emergency RN · Jan 11, 2010

Boy that does take guts to go for it when other's exmilitary are retired and reaping full health coverage benefits gratis, drat!!!

That's no longer true. After 2003 (thank you President Bush, a supposedly "pro military" republican) the VA has a severely restricted VA benefits for what they determine to be "high income earners" (see here):

http://www4.va.gov/healtheligibility/application/

I remember when I went to college on my old GI Bill, they also instituted a thing where my veteran's GI Bill benefits were counted as financial aid, in effect lowering any other federal financial aid that I could get (thank you President Reagan, another "pro military" republican).

So while veteran benefits are good, they're not quite what they used to be. I would suggest that anyone thinking of signing up read the fine print first, or else you may think that you qualify or are entitled to something that later turns out to something time limited or be nothing more than wishful hearsay.

And Good luck to the OP.

Trauma Columnist · Jan 11, 2010

Free health care is via Tricare now for military retirees. My husband is retired USAF and I'm a USN vet and no, we don't qualify for ANY vets benefits except Tricare. However, it is a wonderful benefit that we are so happy to have.

caliotter3 · Jan 11, 2010

While Tricare is a great benefit, it is not free, and when I couldn't scrape together the money to pay for it, I went without health insurance at all. Although retired, I don't qualifiy for VA care and it is too inconvenient if I did. So, when without money, I do the same thing as others without money do, I do without.

newtress, LPN · Jan 11, 2010

Can a person over age 50 really join a branch of military reserves? I'd like to know more about it because I had wanted to join air force or navy for quite a while and then with years of commitment to college and then nursing school I maxed out at the age of 42. Is there bonified recruitment I can contact to find out?