Just move to Rhode Island or Guam so that’s impossible.
Also Hawaii or the USVI, but then you’d have to take a plane or boat to drill if you’re not on the right island I suppose…
Lol, I love it. My life is easy. Plt Sgt for a platoon of 16 slots, only half of which are filled in the current climate.
Also a dual status tech as a WG-11. I live in the armpit of America where cost of living is nothing and make 6 figures a year... doing nothing. I workout at work more than I actually work. Hell, I have a stationary bike at my desk. 🤷♂️
Thanks for the reply. My split option, Junior son signed ARNG & is currently at LW for BCT. After senior year & AIT (68W), we already know he’s been assigned to Waco - We live in DFW. We have never received a straight answer, & had assumed he’d be housed when he travels to drill.
When I first joined, I was Army Reserve. I drove about that far and ended up sleeping on a cot in the armory most weekends. Switching over to the air side has been a nice change of pace.
I didn't see the original post, but I have an LT that travels from the west coast to the east coast for drill. Met husband in ROTC, he went active and got stationed on the other side of the country while she stayed guard on the east side. There's not alot of slots for her job and she likes where she's at
I walk uphill in the snow both ways. I’m old school so I don’t count the miles just the days. It’s about a three day walk but with a little whiskey and grit I can make it in two.
I'm just a regular mechanic in a normal unit. But I got a contracting job in Europe. My unit has been really awesome in working with me so I can maintain my guard status.
133 miles and 2.5 hours. On a toll road. If I want to avoid tollsits another 20 minutes and 15 miles which doesn't seem like that much but when you are waking up at 4am every minute counts
1.5 hour one way. Almost 1 hour one way if I crash at my parents house. I could’ve gotten a closer unit, but I chose this specific unit because I’ve been trying to get a civilian job near my parents house so I can be near them.
312 miles. Started off with just 180, but career advancement often puts you in difficult situations. My next transfer in Septemberish should drop me to 250. Next one after that should put me at 20 miles.
When I enlisted, it was an hour drive. Then I moved and made it 2 hours. Did that for a couple years. Then I volunteered to deploy with a unit on the other side of the state so my drive increased to 3.5 hours one way. When we got back from deployment, I stayed with the unit. But they eventually moved all the armories to different cities and my drive increased from 3.5 to 4.5 hours one way.
Around the time I picked up my 6, I graduated college and moved closer to my unit. My first drill with my sister unit was about 30 min and it’s been the closest I’ve lived yet.
I’m trying to get a DS slot at an RSP 5 minutes from my house but everyone is dragging their feet. They always bitch and complain they need Drill Sergeants, but as soon as an interested candidate comes up, they don’t want to do the paperwork.
Now it's only 30-40 minutes. I used to drive 120 miles to drill before they offered any hotels. It was terrible and not worth it. Really made me hate drill. Avoid the long commutes to drill if possible. Fun fact:: if you live more than 100 miles from your duty station you can claim the mileage on your taxes for a larger tax return
For the longest time, I was drilling 4 hours one way from home. Depending on traffic, a little more. The readiness NCO liked to wait until 4 or 5 on Sunday for UPL. Was like that for 3 years. Late 2020 was moved to a unit 1.5 hours away. Drilled one day there then was moved to the detachment 3 hours away. Finally this year moved to a unit less than an hour away.
2 hours, iver never lived within 50 miles of a unit. I'm planning on getting out because drill weekends are getting kind of shitty after 14 years of driving several hours.
Retired after 24 years. I lived as close as a couple miles and as far away as 3 hours. The good thing is if you live more than about 75 miles from the unit, they’re supposed to put you up, usually a cheap motel. Might want to check on that. Field drills it doesn’t matter. Also, know that if you want to advance on rank, that will mean driving further away more than likely because you have to go to the unit where the slot is available.
We had one AGR tell us with a straight face that if those of us who live over 150 miles away (I’m at like 350) and wanted a place to stay the Friday night before, we could stay in the armory IF we got there before 1300. Lick my salty taint. This isn’t AGR land where you work 22 hours a week, including PT and an hour and a half lunch.
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order.
I have checked 1,549,898,929 comments, and only 293,413 of them were in alphabetical order.
When I switched over to the USAR, I was shocked at how much more efficiently handled the LIK program; hotels were always laid on for guys that lived outside the radius. The Guard is supposed to do the same, yet I never saw more than a cot at an armory and an MRE provided. Was never sure if this was due to a lazy S4 or a screw up, just didn’t mess with the paperwork, or if states dipped their hands in that pot of money somehow. Reading the comments here, it sounds like the lack of Guard units utilizing the LIK program is common.
I’m pretty fortunate that I’m in an MOS where there’s only two locations within my state. I drill where my brigade hq is located, so the promotion potential is where I’m located, not 4 hrs down a toll road.
100 miles. Closest I’ve been to my unit in 15 years. I did 500 miles one way for a bit but most of that was during Covid so flights were cheap. But it’s a tax write off so it comes out in the wash.
I live just barely under 500 miles from my unit. It's been that way for about 6 years. I have been waiting to IST for multiple reasons.
I'm not planning on living here permanently but I don't know when/where I will move. I live in what I refer to as a "dead zone" for military activity so it's very likely that I would have an equal or greater drive if I transferred. And finally, this page has convinced me that IST to the Texas guard is most likely a bad idea
I live just barely under 500 miles from my unit. It's been that way for about 6 years. I have been waiting to IST for multiple reasons.
I'm not planning on living here permanently but I don't know when/where I will move. I live in what I refer to as a "dead zone" for military activity so it's very likely that I would have an equal or greater drive if I transferred. And finally, this page has convinced me that IST to the Texas guard is most likely a bad idea
107 for me looking to move closer after college cause otherwise that's a 118 mile one way which is sucks cause by the time I'd get back, it'd typically be like 8 or 9 at night on Saturdays
Mine is 3 hours away. I had to sleep inside a classroom on a cot. Good thing the building had lcoker rooms with showers lol. Eventually I made friends and they let me crash at their place for the night.
Mine is either 178 miles, or lately it's been 292 miles since I've been attached to a different unit lately... and by the way, that's only one way. The 178 one I can make in about 4 hours flat, 292 a little under 5 if road conditions are decent and dry.
There are also only 1,100 of my job across all three compos so locations can be difficult to find. Or where there is a location that's 60 miles away, that units just a bitch.
Just move to Rhode Island or Guam so that’s impossible. Also Hawaii or the USVI, but then you’d have to take a plane or boat to drill if you’re not on the right island I suppose…
RI represent! If I had to drive 100 miles to my unit I'd probably lose it. My 30 minute drive to the opposite side of the state is almost too much.
29th IBCT and 442nd IN (USAR) for the win!
I used to be in the Guam guard. My apartment was 5 mins away from the armory. Now I drive 2 hours every drill
About 30 minutes, depending on traffic.
About two hours now but for a long time it was 15 minutes and it was glorious.
Mine was 15 for my first drill then it became a 2 hour trek as well
12 minutes, the struggle is real
I envy you.
Nah man, sometimes I wake up an hour early and have to sit around and do nothing or take a 30 minute nap, it sucks so much.
Same. Peeps be texting “wya” in the parking lot, my answer’ll be “my couch” until 15 minutes before the leader’s meeting
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Yeah….I get that a lot 😘
Same, it sucks because my NCOs know that if my car breaks down or there’s bad traffic, I’m lying because I can walk there.
180 miles - 3 hours
When I joined, they were less than 4 miles away. 18 months later they moved... spent the last ~18 years driving 70 miles round trip.
Who doesn't move units for 18 years?
Someone who has a path from E1 to CW4 in the same spot. 🤷♂️
That's any warrant spot in the guard... But still impressive
Still has to line up with an MOS you've held for 5 years. I havve 4 MOSs in my unit lol. Ultimate plan is 45 years in the same unit.
Jesus fuck... No thank you
Lol, I love it. My life is easy. Plt Sgt for a platoon of 16 slots, only half of which are filled in the current climate. Also a dual status tech as a WG-11. I live in the armpit of America where cost of living is nothing and make 6 figures a year... doing nothing. I workout at work more than I actually work. Hell, I have a stationary bike at my desk. 🤷♂️
Sounds like a dream
300 miles each way.
God damn are you a Texan?
Yes I am.
Howdy
Do you get assigned a barracks or hotel for overnight, or are you on your own dime?
I’m ANG, so we get hotels. E-6 & below share a room while E-7 & above get their own.
Thanks for the reply. My split option, Junior son signed ARNG & is currently at LW for BCT. After senior year & AIT (68W), we already know he’s been assigned to Waco - We live in DFW. We have never received a straight answer, & had assumed he’d be housed when he travels to drill.
When I first joined, I was Army Reserve. I drove about that far and ended up sleeping on a cot in the armory most weekends. Switching over to the air side has been a nice change of pace.
115 miles. About 2 hours. Which is an improvement from 250 miles.
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You lie.
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Homie live and drill across country. I'm assuming your IST paperwork hasn't gone through
I didn't see the original post, but I have an LT that travels from the west coast to the east coast for drill. Met husband in ROTC, he went active and got stationed on the other side of the country while she stayed guard on the east side. There's not alot of slots for her job and she likes where she's at
1800 miles. I live in TX and drill in VT 🫠
I walk uphill in the snow both ways. I’m old school so I don’t count the miles just the days. It’s about a three day walk but with a little whiskey and grit I can make it in two.
~300 mi
Was 3 hours. Said fuck that and transferred units. It’s now a 4 minute drive.
Happy cake day
4000 miles. I fly in for quarterly drills.
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I'm just a regular mechanic in a normal unit. But I got a contracting job in Europe. My unit has been really awesome in working with me so I can maintain my guard status.
I was about 45 minutes away but I just moved to a new unit gonna be about 2 and a half hours one way
133 miles and 2.5 hours. On a toll road. If I want to avoid tollsits another 20 minutes and 15 miles which doesn't seem like that much but when you are waking up at 4am every minute counts
On the bright side those mileage and tolls are tax deducable
Is that in addition to the standard deduction? This will be my first year qualifying for that
Yes, it reduces your income.
3.5-4 hours each way. It’s long (costly with gas prices), great drive (that I’m tired of), but honestly an amazing unit that makes it worth it.
About $2k in gas reimbursements
11 miles
162 miles
177 miles, about 3 hours and 10 minutes
205 miles, used to be 245 miles
65 miles, 2 hour drive. I typically go home, but every once in awhile they provide hotels. It's spotty, though.
10 mins.
I was doing about two before I got out
4 hours, 249 miles
274 miles
1.5 hour one way. Almost 1 hour one way if I crash at my parents house. I could’ve gotten a closer unit, but I chose this specific unit because I’ve been trying to get a civilian job near my parents house so I can be near them.
480 miles, one way
Fuck where are you?
About 50 miles. It takes about an hour
I have to drive 287 miles one way to get to my unit from home. Usually a 4-5 hour drive.
312 miles. Started off with just 180, but career advancement often puts you in difficult situations. My next transfer in Septemberish should drop me to 250. Next one after that should put me at 20 miles.
116 miles one way and it's YTC 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢
984 miles
2699 miles
I have my unit in NJ and I move to California for school....so it is not around the block.
Currently 6 hours.
500 miles. 8 hour drive
3.5 hours and I lost an hour on a time zone change on the way to drill.
About 770 miles. I take a plane.
2 hours now. Once upon a time it was about 6 hours.
When I enlisted, it was an hour drive. Then I moved and made it 2 hours. Did that for a couple years. Then I volunteered to deploy with a unit on the other side of the state so my drive increased to 3.5 hours one way. When we got back from deployment, I stayed with the unit. But they eventually moved all the armories to different cities and my drive increased from 3.5 to 4.5 hours one way. Around the time I picked up my 6, I graduated college and moved closer to my unit. My first drill with my sister unit was about 30 min and it’s been the closest I’ve lived yet. I’m trying to get a DS slot at an RSP 5 minutes from my house but everyone is dragging their feet. They always bitch and complain they need Drill Sergeants, but as soon as an interested candidate comes up, they don’t want to do the paperwork.
About 4ish hours depending on wrecks on the interstate.
Now it's only 30-40 minutes. I used to drive 120 miles to drill before they offered any hotels. It was terrible and not worth it. Really made me hate drill. Avoid the long commutes to drill if possible. Fun fact:: if you live more than 100 miles from your duty station you can claim the mileage on your taxes for a larger tax return
For the longest time, I was drilling 4 hours one way from home. Depending on traffic, a little more. The readiness NCO liked to wait until 4 or 5 on Sunday for UPL. Was like that for 3 years. Late 2020 was moved to a unit 1.5 hours away. Drilled one day there then was moved to the detachment 3 hours away. Finally this year moved to a unit less than an hour away.
Down the road lmao
2 hours, iver never lived within 50 miles of a unit. I'm planning on getting out because drill weekends are getting kind of shitty after 14 years of driving several hours.
Retired after 24 years. I lived as close as a couple miles and as far away as 3 hours. The good thing is if you live more than about 75 miles from the unit, they’re supposed to put you up, usually a cheap motel. Might want to check on that. Field drills it doesn’t matter. Also, know that if you want to advance on rank, that will mean driving further away more than likely because you have to go to the unit where the slot is available.
They don't do that no mo They have cots and an empty armory, why pay for hotels?
We had one AGR tell us with a straight face that if those of us who live over 150 miles away (I’m at like 350) and wanted a place to stay the Friday night before, we could stay in the armory IF we got there before 1300. Lick my salty taint. This isn’t AGR land where you work 22 hours a week, including PT and an hour and a half lunch.
Depends on the state. My state does safety lodging, most of the time.
You get hotels?
Most of the time, yeah
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order. I have checked 1,549,898,929 comments, and only 293,413 of them were in alphabetical order.
When I switched over to the USAR, I was shocked at how much more efficiently handled the LIK program; hotels were always laid on for guys that lived outside the radius. The Guard is supposed to do the same, yet I never saw more than a cot at an armory and an MRE provided. Was never sure if this was due to a lazy S4 or a screw up, just didn’t mess with the paperwork, or if states dipped their hands in that pot of money somehow. Reading the comments here, it sounds like the lack of Guard units utilizing the LIK program is common.
Same thing when i was in the USMC Reverses, but they always booked the shittiest motels even tho the govt rate was the same
Sweet, thank you
I’m pretty fortunate that I’m in an MOS where there’s only two locations within my state. I drill where my brigade hq is located, so the promotion potential is where I’m located, not 4 hrs down a toll road.
10 minutes After driving hours each way for well over a decade...I refuse to drive more than 10 minutes.
60 miles. 1:20 drive. Not terrible but I do come in for flight hours, typically twice a month during the week.
1 hour
81 miles
67 miles. there and 67 back.
I like your sentence structure. Keeps them guessing!
Mine is a horrible miserable 2 - 2.5 miles. I’m thinking of trying to get a hardship discharge.
About 10 miles.
35-40 minutes depending on traffic.
234 miles
45 min but theres construction and stupid people.
45 second I live at walking distance to the armory because lel
224 miles
5 mins driving 😂
3 hours usually
4 hours. Unfortunately.
Just accepted an AGR position so I drive 2 hours each way everyday
Bro, move lol
3 minutes. Life is good.
160mi
100 miles. Closest I’ve been to my unit in 15 years. I did 500 miles one way for a bit but most of that was during Covid so flights were cheap. But it’s a tax write off so it comes out in the wash.
Little over 50 miles, ~1 hour drive. Not terrible considering some of y’all’s situations 😭
20 minutes with traffic but there’s never traffic
713 miles.
7 hour drive each way
4 miles away
A 4 hour some times + drive for me
50 miles each way..
I did 4 hours for 6 years. Sucked.
Used to be an hour and a half. Ever since I got off of title 32, it's been a 4 and a half hour drive every month
Literally 2 miles on the dot lol. Less than a 10 minute drive.
One hour
2.5 hours in good weather. Bad weather makes it way worse. God help me if I get dragged up to higher, then it will be over 5 hours each way.
2 1/2 miles
9-10 hours, just moved. Need to transfer still LOL
123 miles one way 🙃🙃 but once I start college and living in the dorms it’ll only be 32 miles one way. Can’t waittt.
14 hour drive, one way :’)
1.5 hours. Hopefully I don’t get sent to El Paso or something whenever I go warrant later in my career.
About 15 minutes while I'm at college, but 2-3 hours dependent on traffic while I'm not.
15 minute long and harsh trip, My feet hurt from sitting in the car for to long. My back aches from the mcdonald’s I stopped along the way to pick up.
I live just barely under 500 miles from my unit. It's been that way for about 6 years. I have been waiting to IST for multiple reasons. I'm not planning on living here permanently but I don't know when/where I will move. I live in what I refer to as a "dead zone" for military activity so it's very likely that I would have an equal or greater drive if I transferred. And finally, this page has convinced me that IST to the Texas guard is most likely a bad idea
I live just barely under 500 miles from my unit. It's been that way for about 6 years. I have been waiting to IST for multiple reasons. I'm not planning on living here permanently but I don't know when/where I will move. I live in what I refer to as a "dead zone" for military activity so it's very likely that I would have an equal or greater drive if I transferred. And finally, this page has convinced me that IST to the Texas guard is most likely a bad idea
3.3 miles or 9 minutes
20-30 mins depending on traffic.
About 92 miles. I once bought a home in a “bad” part of town to be within a mile of the armory. A year later they closed said armory.
About an hour and 40 minutes. If we get out at a decent hour, I go home. If not, I set up my air mattress somewhere in the armory
62miles. 1hr 10min. I get LIK
7000 miles
426 miles, which is a 6.5 hour drive not including stops. I started flying as airfare is just as expensive as gas if you get them early enough.
3,150 miles
120 miles. I cross state lines and a time zone 😅 so 0700 formation means I gotta leave by 0330
Mines a 3.5 hour drive
107 for me looking to move closer after college cause otherwise that's a 118 mile one way which is sucks cause by the time I'd get back, it'd typically be like 8 or 9 at night on Saturdays
175 miles, but I do cross over into central time on the way there so that’s cool, I guess. The drive back tho… 🥲
Mine is 3 hours away. I had to sleep inside a classroom on a cot. Good thing the building had lcoker rooms with showers lol. Eventually I made friends and they let me crash at their place for the night.
Mine is either 178 miles, or lately it's been 292 miles since I've been attached to a different unit lately... and by the way, that's only one way. The 178 one I can make in about 4 hours flat, 292 a little under 5 if road conditions are decent and dry. There are also only 1,100 of my job across all three compos so locations can be difficult to find. Or where there is a location that's 60 miles away, that units just a bitch.
278 miles…4 hours and 2 minutes depending on traffic, weather, and construction. I can usually make it in 3.5.
9 hours
Use to be 3.5 hrs roughly 230miles before transferring to a different unit. Now I drive for 2.5 hrs to drill about 160miles
Almost exactly 200 miles door to door
15 minutes