Pros
Sense of service was great. Job advancement opportunities are hit-and-miss depending on career path you choose. The federal government has the orders set up to extract the most value out of you while paying you the least amount of benefits possible. So, by being in the Guard, you do get to come back home most of the time, depending on what war we're in, but benefits just don't match the active duty army as far as retirement and medical goes.
Cons
If you let them, they'll extract every ounce of value out of you while paying you very, very little in way of money or benefits. This is work that's supposed to be focused as service to your country, which in some ways makes it okay. But it can also make unsustainable. Truly a sacrifice in a lot of ways. Whatever job you take for the Army is rarely transferable to the civilian sector, and few in the civilian sector respect military service or experience. So as far as being a career starter, that's not really the case anymore. However, it is possible to network within your units and still find support this way.
