Now let me start out with saying Im not complain about the hours. Its the military. It is what it is. I was in active duty military and I got talked joining the guard after my active time was up. It was a terrible decision financially speaking.
I was an E5 Sargent in 2016 when I started drilling in the Army Guard. I made about 320 on a muta 5 (Friday starting at 5, Saturday and Sunday) drill.
6 things that are important to understand.
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My unit did not pay ANY type of mileage reimbursement to drive to drill. I lived about 200 miles away (in one direction) which wasn't even close to the longest distance traveled.
I spent about $80 in gas on a typical weekend. (How I miss cheaper Gas prices) -
They did not provide any sleeping accommodations nor offer to reimburse for them. You had two options. Rent a hotel room out of pocket or sleep on the armory floor.
I rented a cheap hotel at 65 a night. 65×2= $130 -
They only provides certain meals. Typically only lunch. They release us early so me could “eat at home” and often expected us to have breakfast by the time we got there despite 80% of the people living hours away.
Lunch and dinner Friday because of drive times. Breakfast and dinner Saturday and Sunday for 6 meals at roughly 15$ a meal for total of $90 -
Employers are obligated under law to give you time off but there is NO obligation to pay you those hours you missed (in my state). Unfortunately I worked 45 minutes in the opposite direction I lost about 6 hours of work on Fridays.
6×18= $108. -
The emailed us every month to do online training courses BEFORE drill and they didn't offer any extra pay. The classes varied from a 30 minutes to 14 hours plus. They consistented of everything from harassment training to driving safety.
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Not all Army guard units are the same. I live in a rural area and I've heard some units actually do provide more of these things. (Air Guard live like kings). Hopefully things have gotten better now.
80+130+90+108=$408. My insurance also came out which was 200 (I believe) for a net loss off 288$ ($408+$200=$608, $320-608 = -288)
Another kicker is that higher enlisted and officers did receive hotel rooms and mileage reimbursement. Some weekends I would just bring a cott and sleep on the armory floor to save money. (Along with lower enlisted who got paid even less and couldnt afford hotel rooms.) Once in a while I was able to car pool and save money.
Edit: You have to train with people in the same military occupation as you. For occupations like infantry there are usually multiple locations. More specialized occupations are often limited to a few training areas per state. Some even less.