In keeping this somewhat brief I would say it depends. My info is from an operations perspective, so please take with a grain of salt because I don't know a whole lot about non flying positions. Generally speaking, there's more money in the reserves than the guard; pay days that is. The mission of the unit can play a lot into that too, funding wise. Many would argue that the active duty is the most formal/anal(not bashing active duty, just trying to provide a frame of reference) with the guard being the most laid back. That leaves the reserves somewhere in the middle, but from my experience different units are like people, they all have different personalities. Location is key. You don't want to be driving 5 hours every month to drill weekend. My two cents is to visit say two or three units that would interest you and see what they have to offer mission/job wise. Check the units out and see if you think you might mesh better with one group versus another. That may help you decide; especially if they tell you the career field you are looking at deploys a lot, some, or a little(Depending on how much you want to be home). I would agree with the folks that suggested only doing this if you truly want to do the job. I'm still pretty young and I've deployed to the sandbox 7 times and counting. If I didn't like my job and the people I deploy with it would probably be very painful. Hope you find some of this helpful.