You're jumping the gun on a lot of things. Military benefits, especially for a reservist, isn't as cheery and rosey as you're picturing it.

For example VA loans are only given to veterans, the same goes for the health insurance coverage.

In addition, I find it somewhat disingenuous that people (this might not apply to you, feel free to email me to say I'm a pompous douche) are interested in the military, to only want the benefits but not the burden that few carry.

It's a big commitment, active or reserve. My only advice to you is that if you do this you do it for the right reasons and think of the benefits that you do accrue as bonuses, but don't expect them.

Talk with a coast guard recruiter and find out exactly what you are or are not eligible for. If you do sign a contract make sure you read it multiple times and that whatever you discussed with your recruiter is listed on that contract right there and then.

Edit: Coast guard boot camp is pretty demanding -- more so than Navy or Army. Unlike Marine boot camp, I've heard it focuses more on practical skillsets than just strict discipline and marksmenship. If you enjoy maritime activities, you will definitely find the challenge rewarding.

Being a Coastie looks like a rewarding, challenging life, but it ain't gonna be easy!

By the way, here is the article where I learned about the Patriot Express loan:

http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/49297/

For what it's worth I really enjoyed my bitter time in the military, it influences every single aspect of my life. Once you cross over you'll the world in a different light. A lot of the vets here on YC apparently don't share what I feel. Like a poker game it's all about the cards you're dealt with and trying to make the best of it.

1 -- Typical time commitment is 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks per year; no matter how fast your startup is moving, you can swing that. It's probably a healthy break.

2 -- Diversity is good for computer geeks. Life -- esp a startup -- takes a range of skills. Life in any of the armed forces will help build your character and experience.

3 -- Your enjoyment will be closely tied to your reserve duty station. There are absolutely places that will suck the life out of you, but there are also places where you will feel like you are in a movie. I am very lucky to have made contacts during my active duty years that got me a great reserve position. Take the long view. If you're not happy with your first assignment, talk to people and work the system to move.

4 -- health insurance for reservists is usually not effective outside your duty time (1 weekend/month, 2 weeks/year) note this is a political football; several years ago there was limited coverage for any reservist that did not have health coverage elsewhere. I'm not certain of the current status, and the coast guard is certainly a bit different than the other services.

5 -- the pay helps. it's not a lot, but nor is it chump change -- esp if you get the officer slot.

anyhow, my two cents. good luck.

edit -- reading more of the comments: don't be too scared by the threat of deployment. (1) I'm slotted in the system as a computer engineer, and engineers don't get deployed. 10 total years in, and never even the threat of time overseas -- and that's during the wars. (2) deployment builds character, and is reasonably safe given how many people we have over there. you recall the study from a couple years ago? you're more likely to get murdered living in DC or Chicago than as a soldier in Iraq.

Here are some random points, but PLEASE CONTACT ME if you are looking into the Army (I know jack about Coast Guard) because I simply can't write out all I could say about it.

- Most people don't get a bonus, at all, when joining the military. Bonuses are generally for jobs where there is a high demand and these jobs usually blow. Maybe that has changed though; I joined during a different time.

- You'll meet new people, but most of them will be idiots. I am in Psychological Operations, pretty much in the top 5 of military communities as far as intelligence goes, and I still take orders from morons once in a while.

- Being a reservist doesn't give you the flexibility you think it does. After my deployment I started TicketStumbler with my co-founder and moved to Boston to take part in YC. Since then I have had to skip two months worth of drills because working on our business is more important than sitting on my ass in a drill hall for two days. The military doesn't like when you do this. Furthermore, moving is a giant pain because you have to find a new Unit; I imagine this would be even harder for Coast Guard. Let's put it this way: They will probably kick me out before I can find a suitable way to integrate the military with my new life.

I don't know anything about the Coast Guard, but from what I've heard it's not "serious" enough to waste your time with. After serving 5 years I am of only one opinion when it comes to joining the military:

Go all in or don't go at all. Eight years is a long time to be tethered to what amounts to an inconvenience (attending drill, so forth) because chances are you will spend most of your time doing... bullshit. I have been on a combat deployment (which was a perspective-changing event) and have traveled many places, but it's not like the commercials. Most of your time is spent doing what equates to nothing.

We say the military is 95% bullshit, but the 5% makes up for it. That isn't always true. So, if you are going to join, hell, try to get into SF or Delta or SEAL or... something. Something where you have the opportunity to sit on your ass less. If the average is 5% of time spent doing something worthwhile, maybe the more "hardcore" branches and services can bump you to 15%.

Oh, and if you take no other advice, take this: Don't join the Marines. Before you know it, you'll have bumper stickers that say "shoot everything that moves" and Semper Fi tattoos and an IQ of 5. To any Marines who read this: You know the stereotype exists for a good reason.

I've seen many Coasties doing customs in Iraq as well.

Plus, who do you think defends ports in the Middle East? It's not the Navy (for the most part) - they are an offensive force. Coasties perform patrols constantly within ports/harbors here.

Plus, the Coasties are the military's DEA - guess who's tackling the Opium problem in Afghanistan?

The latter seems very much impractical. Startups are mentally all-consuming, and if I understand the reserves correctly, you still have to report for training regularly. The mental strain of this would probably be too much, and you'd let the startup falter. Plus, what if the startup takes off and then you (heaven forbid) get called up for active duty?

The former might work, though it seems unlikely. I have friends & relatives in the military, both on active duty, in the reserves, and formerly in the reserves, and they generally have been positive about the experience. But they have personality types that are very much at odds with the typical startup founder: they like (or believe they need) structure & discipline, while successful founders usually thrive on ambiguity and change and can make decisions with very little information. Seems unlikely that the same person would have the personality traits to do well in both the military and in a tech startup.

Also, never ever join up for any branch of the armed services on the assumption that "Well, I'm not going to get sent to a war zone anyway." Geopolitics can change very quickly, and in a war, coast guard ships get deployed right alongside the navy.

I think I could handle the regimented nature of training. Until I got hurt, I used to do amateur cycle racing which involved getting up at 5am every day and riding for 2-3 hours, and long group rides on weekends.

Y Combinator?

But - Coasties have the hardest Basic of all forces. Coasties BMT makes the Marines' Crucible look like a tea party.

I enlisted in the Army for college money. Were I to do it over again, I would have gone through ROTC and made connections as an officer. Connections I would be able to use to help in business once I was done with military service.

That's just my 2 cent.

Let me say that it's possible to run a small, single person business while in the military, I did consulting/programming jobs while I was in and it was decent work. I would work while I was off duty and when I was out to sea and not on watch or during working hours. This took a lot out of me but I felt it to be worth it.

Before I continue I must say that I'm proud of my service and what I did and the military is a good fit for some people.

Let me give you my perspective about the Navy/Coast Guard. It's not fun, fun is rare and always involves a port. I like boats/ships/ocean and saw some cool things out there but it wasn't worth it for me. You spend your time split between watch, maintenance and other work. Coast Guard ships are particularly bad because most are so old, my younger brother's had holes in the starboard fuel tank, fires, parts breaking, terrible living space, etc. (One note about the fire on a ship, it will cause enormous damage and possibly kill crew members and is no joke.)

I was one of 3 people on my ship with any higher education in a technical field, many officers outside the academies are majors that don't have good hiring prospects. Because of the lack of "engineers" (not meaning in the same way the Navy does), many officers are below par in terms of leadership, planning, logical abilities. That means the people you work with are dumb, unimaginative, and boring and could get you killed. (I came close a few times because of these type of officers)

If you go enlisted your life will be run by your Chief which 90% of the time are not good leaders and not fun to work for. You would be under a 1st, 2nd and 3rd class petty officers who range in age of 19-40. These are hit and miss. My LPO/2nd class was great and will work with him any time. My former 1st class was an idiot and got fired from his job because he was so bad. My 3rd classes were 19-21 and acted as 19-21 years do, except they are your boss and you can't tell them to go fuck themselves.

As for location, it's possible you stay in the Bay. If you go active then you'll be shipped anywhere including the gulf. (I just got back from there and don't let anyone tell you there are no ships there, there are some and they always get the short end of the stick.)

When you join you'll go to boot camp or OCS depending on if you go enlisted or officer. Boot camp sucks, it's not what you think it is. OCS is 3x as hard as Boot Camp.

Benefits are overrated, I do get the new GI Bill which is awesome but don't get to use it until Fall '09 when it starts. I'll be done with school by then and so it doesn't help me at all. I'm not sure the benefits you get in the reserve other then I know it's not worth it to join just for them, you need to have a real reason.

My email is in my profile if you want to ask any other questions.

I have a friend who went to the Coast Guard academy. There are indeed some people from the Coast Guard that go to Iraq to guard offshore oil platforms, but comparatively few compared to the other armed forces.

http://coastguard.jobamatic.com/a/jbb/job-details/26481

Realize, however, that bait and switch is common. You're told you'll be working in one place but really you'll end up somewhere else. The Coast Guard may not send you to Iraq but they very well may send you to some God forsaken island in the middle of the Pacific. If you're not mentally prepared for that worst case scenario, you shouldn't sign up.

Yeah, I've heard that. That's why I was thinking coast guard. There are 8000 reservists and only 400 are "active." Of course I might get activated but it seems like most of the work to be done is in the USA.

the rules for joining any military service -

1. find a friend who's served in that branch. They can be a good friend or just a friendly acquaintance who wants to help out a potential new member of their branch.

however, they absolutely CANNOT be a current recruiter or being rewarded for bringing in recruits right now. Moreso it can't be the first than the second, but either is dangerous. People who have recently honorably left the service are the best.

they will give you the straight scoop on the branch, where the bodies are buried, and how to get what you want out of the service while also meeting the obligations and responsibilities you signed up for.

the info you can get from Hacker News is good, but it's not a substitute for the real thing unless someone here with Coast Guard experience is willing to take you under their wing.

2. get every condition and bonus you want out of a recruiter and your contract IN WRITING. Just like a business contract in the real world, if it's not written down in your contract it's your word against theirs.

if a recruiter suddenly starts getting shifty and tries to weasel out of this, find another recruiter. There are lots of them out there, and the odds are good that one of them will give you what you want as long as you're reasonable in what you're asking for.

3. understand the phrase "the needs of the service" and what it really means. If you fail out of whatever school you get sent to, or otherwise don't meet the responsibilities and obligations of an armed service member in your initial training, you are going to get sent where the service feels like sending you since you didn't fully complete your part of the contract.

this tends to hit people who try doing crazy things like going straight into SF or SEAL tryouts without spending time in a combat arms branch, who then become a part of the very, very high washout rate for the tryout for these groups, and then get assigned wherever the service needs new bodies.

if you stick with a EE-related rating you should be fine since you already have skills there.

4. Remember that you can back out until you've completed all three of signing the contract, taking the oath, and reporting to basic training, no matter what the recruiters tell you. Talk to a civilian lawyer with experience with military law if you need confirmation. You'll have zero chance of ever joining the military again barring a draft if you back out after signing the contract though, and rightfully so.

you shouldn't sign the contract or take the oath if you aren't 100% sure you are ready and willing to serve, but if you have a change of heart, the military doesn't need people who aren't truly committed to doing their duty in this era of a volunteer force, so it's better you leave early rather than be a drain on the service.

5. Once you have taken the oath and reported to basic training, you are now under the UCMJ, not the Constitution. Adultery is a prosecutable offense in the military and you can still legally be shot by your own officer under a variety of interesting legal clauses if you don't do what you are supposed to in combat, however increasingly unlikely that is to happen in our current time.

there's a flip side to that as well. You also have no obligation to follow illegal orders given by your superiors, and in fact if you follow illegal orders (for instance, orders to commit war crimes) knowing they were illegal when given, you are considered guilty, "but it was an order!" won't cut it as a justification.

6. it's looking less and less likely there will be any significant US involvement in a conflict with Iran, but it's not out of the question Coast Guard boats would be deployed. The US Navy is aimed primarily at blue-water combat, and while it is increasing it's ability to operate in littoral/close to shore situations like the Persian Gulf, it has traditionally tapped Coast Guard boats and crews for expertise in that area.

For instance, a fair amount of Coasties served in Vietnam running boats used for littoral and river combat.

7. The one thing everyone I know that has served has emphasized to me - remember, when you sign up, you're agreeing to serve your country, not just ride the service for benefits and abandon things when they get tough. And no matter how desk clerk-like your job is in the military, there's a chance you will go into combat, and there's a chance you will die. Anyone who pretends to you otherwise is lying.

People who are often incompetent, if not downright malevolent, will be making decisions that affect you in profound ways, often in direct contradiction to your own ethics, and despite your own competence.

While that may be true in other fields, when you're in the military, you're stuck with the morons around you.

There are ways to get the kinds of benefits you seek, without getting involved in the kind of shameful nonsense that so often is part and parcel of the current U.S. military.

Don't do it.

I had no problems with valid sacrifice, and I spent a year in Bosnia sleeping in a tent with no heat, but it was the arbitrary power that people had over me that made me hate it. Ever cut grass in the pouring rain? Ever sweep a parking lot in the pouring rain?

On top of that I hated that I accomplished absolutely nothing day in and day out. Today we clean the motor pool, tomorrow we have an inspection of our clean motor pool, the next day we do pretty much nothing again, etc, etc, etc