Reservist dont live in an equal world

[medicineman18]

You know its silly how you can put on a uniform and you cant see a differance in the eyes of a civillian.
But when you ask if theres a discount somewhere and first thing that comes up is are you active duty? ofcourse I could just as well say yeah but IM NOT LIKE THAT. I dont make much from the navy but I can still be shipped of in a moments notice, I guess it just bothers me how in my comunity We get the shaft. Offers of discounts in the local gym to active duty personel. I live a good ways away from a Base so Im pretty sure none live here. As for reservist Only a handfull actually live in my area. Its like that in other places to. I am proud to serve and I have had active duty time under my belt Its not only shameful to me to be treated this way I feel a sense of prejudice. You see it all over though even in the service itself. How come national gaurd, and active get full tuition and MGI Bill, while Navy reservist only get the MGI bill? How come supply
never gets to the reservist? I've been under contract for over a year I still havent receved my uniforms that I was sized up for. Yes I bought them out of my pocket. Frankly I'm done with it. Its enough to leave after my contract. I have seen no benifit to this ordeal what I have seen is an ugly side of this double edged sword. BUT tell me what you think.

[jeffersj]

You know its silly how you can put on a uniform and you cant see a differance in the eyes of a civillian.
But when you ask if theres a discount somewhere and first thing that comes up is are you active duty? ofcourse I could just as well say yeah but IM NOT LIKE THAT. I dont make much from the navy but I can still be shipped of in a moments notice, I guess it just bothers me how in my comunity We get the shaft. Offers of discounts in the local gym to active duty personel. I live a good ways away from a Base so Im pretty sure none live here. As for reservist Only a handfull actually live in my area. Its like that in other places to. I am proud to serve and I have had active duty time under my belt Its not only shameful to me to be treated this way I feel a sense of prejudice. You see it all over though even in the service itself. How come national gaurd, and active get full tuition and MGI Bill, while Navy reservist only get the MGI bill? How come supply
never gets to the reservist? I've been under contract for over a year I still havent receved my uniforms that I was sized up for. Yes I bought them out of my pocket. Frankly I'm done with it. Its enough to leave after my contract. I have seen no benifit to this ordeal what I have seen is an ugly side of this double edged sword. BUT tell me what you think.

I'll try to address some of your concerns here.

First, I did over 28 years active and reserve before retiring in Jan. 2007. Nineteen years of that were reserrve service, including two recalls to active duty. Think I know a couple of things.

Discounts? I don't recall anyone asking if I was a reservist with the exception of the USO regarding discounts in town. Seeing as your CAC should only say "Navy" on it, not active, reserve, civilian, etc., it shouldn't be an issue. I also live in an area with a very heavy concentration of active, reserve, and retired military from all five branches.

For anyone that wishes to sound off to this Sailor regarding his asking for discounts, I did ask for it and still do as a retiree. Even in a good economy you look for any deals you can get to make dollars stretch.

GI Bill? I'll leave that to someone who knows more than I do to address.

Uniforms - have you broached this issue with your chain of command both in your unit and your NOSC? I've had to purchase out of pocket as well, but that was only in extreme circumstances. Otherwise, I made it a point to constantly keep pinging the supply folks and keep the chain of command involved if there were issues. That way they knew there was a problem and were able to step in when I hit the proverbial "brick wall".

R/
Chief

[fenway]

Hmm

honestly, no reservists do not live in an equal world. it sucks but ....

as far as discounts. You can be an active recruiter or other such, show an active ID and take the discount if offered or not