I’m very new to the whole military life. My DH just joined the National Guard and is leaving in less than 30 day for basic and AIT. He is 21Echo Heavy ConsConstruction Equipment operator. I still have a lot to learn and hopefully his recruiter will be able to answer all my questions before his shipment. I’ve been hearing that the National Guard actually goes on more deployments and spends more time away from home. The reason that DH joined it was because it was part time and they are last to deploy. He wants to serve our country, but I’m thinking the recruiter sort of lied to us about some of the facts of the National Guard. Either way we are totally prepared for anything, and my son is still young and I know we will make it. But I just need to know the true facts, so I know what to prepare for. Why is it that the reserves and NG deploy before anyone else if they are part time? Are they essentially human suicide and are expandable? They send in the least untrained, probably get killed or seriously injured from lack of training and than send it the more prepared? How does it work?

As a CW2 (Chief Warrant Officer grade 2) I can assure you that no one in the Army is viewed as expendable. Your son will be trained to the same high standard that we train every active duty soldier, and be ready to face anything he encounters while deployed.
As for deployments: Rotation schedules differ for every unit, but on average- National Guard and Army Reserve units typically have a lower operational tempo than active duty units. Schedules are still very dynamic, but you can likely expect to have him home for 2-3 years between deployments. Good luck to you and your family!

I’m a 26 year old male. Growing up in the 90’s I LOVED to watch fascinating documentaries on the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, and National Geographic. I could watch those channels all day, because EVERY show was interesting. Every show had something unique to offer. You could turn to one of those channels at any time and expect an enjoyably educational experience. In fact, I attribute much of my education level today to those hours spent watching educational TV as a youngster.

When I flip through the current and upcoming programming on these channels now, however, I am deeply disturbed. Go ahead, fire up your DVR right now and see; between those 3 channels in particular, I can guarantee with about 95% confidence that at least two of them will be showing something relatively mindless about blue-collar workers on the job. It’s either a reality series about loggers or truck drivers, a documentary series about Heavy ConsConstruction Equipment or coal mining or motorcycles, or some damn other god-awful thing. Not only that, but chances are that one or more of them is not only showing such a program now, but is in the midst of a 10 to 14 hour marathon of said show. Let me point out now that I have nothing against these industries, nor do I believe that they have nothing to offer in the way of interesting subject matter. I might, once in a while, feel my interest stoked by something about dump trucks. But will somebody with knowledge of this please tell me what has happened to everything else? Why can’t I Discover on the Discovery Channel? Why can’t I learn History on the History Channel? (You get the idea)

It seems Discovery Channel was the first to go, because looking back on it now, I realize I haven’t watched anything regularly on that channel for many years. It started when I realized "American Chopper" seemed to be all they ever showed. History and National Geographic held on a little longer but began to be overtaken by the madness (and I don’t know what else to call it) probably about 3 years ago. These days I feel lucky if I can find just one interesting show on any of these 3 channels in a full day (and that’s with the modern convenience of DVR, scanning all 72 hours [3 channels times one day] of programming at once!

I love Discovery Health. These channels are just keeping up with today. Everyone is into reality t.v. Surprisingly they have really high ratings which keeps those shoes on for more than one season. They try to place shows on that people will want watch.

Have you tried buying educational dvds that interest you?

May you should broadcast your own channel, so that others can learn something. Show them what their lacking!

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