It's been a long time since I posted but I haven't stopped reading 11W. I've missed interacting with you guys and figured this would be a good place to seek advice...

I graduated with my bachelors degree back in December 2014 and let's just say that getting into my desired career field has been easier said than done. Managing a vitamin store is not what I want to do with the rest of my life, haha. For years, even before graduating, my uncle has been telling me to enter the reserves in any of the branches of the military. His main reason for pushing me to the reserves is for me to pay off my college loans in one fell swoop. I typically brushed-off his suggestion, feeling no true desire to embark on that path. Right now, I make just enough money to pay for basic living expenses and cannot pay more than the minimum on my college loans. As you know, most times, the minimum payment does not even offset interest, as it fails to do in my case. My increasing loan debt, coupled with being gifted my grandfather's Bronze Star by my step-grandmother, has seriously increased my interest and inspiration to enter the reserves.

I don't have much interest in entering active military duty but I feel the reserves would be a great way to pay off my loans, serve my country as my grandpa did, and gain valuable leadership experience. I have not done much research on reserves other than casually reviewing the Air Force Reserves site. As I understand it, I even have the potential to enter the reserves as a C/O since I have a degree. My only hangups happen to come from my time playing college football. I need to finish losing my playing weight: I was at 275, am currently at 245, and at 6'2", I would probably need to get down to ~200-210 do meet military size standards. I also have a cranky right shoulder due to tearing my rotator cuff at the end of my junior season and refusing surgery in order to play my senior year. I am not sure if my shoulder would cause me to fail a physical.

To get to the main point of my post: I would love to get advice and hear experiences about any of the armed forces branches (active duty or reserve).

Thanks for your help, I'm happy to be back!