SongMan,

While reserve isn't fun by any stretch, Captain Tony is being a bit of a drama queen. I'm on reserve and don't see myself getting off of it any time soon. My life isn't miserable by any stretch. Try to live in base, keep a good attitude and you'll be fine. There are reserve rules that limit the number of ready reserve days in a month. The part about getting day lines or bits an pieces of trips is true. You're a plug as a reservist to fill the gaps.

Reserve is what you make of it. If you want to be miserable and adversarial with scheduling, then you'll hate it. If you roll with it and just expect the unexpected all the time then it isn't so bad.