NZ Army Reserve soldier right here. I agree with BonsaiK though, if you're doing it for money you're doing it for the wrong reason. It's not an easy nor a particularly pleasant way to earn a few extra dollars.
To be honest, I'm probably the most unlikely army person. Members of my family still don't quite believe that I'm in the army. I'm a quiet type, an artist and a musician. A capable but not keen oudoorsman. I certainly don't fit in with the other army people I hang out with. Proves that ayone can do it though.
Most important thing it teaches you is how to deal with shit. Sometimes you're just in the shit, you feel shit, you're treated like shit. I could tell you some stories about some fucking miserable times but they all end the same way - a sense of complete relief, ecstasy and achievement.
It's a valuable lesson though. After my Basic I went to South America, (personal vacaton,) and let me tell you, they like handing out the shit. I was in at least two life threatening situations and several utterly miserable ones. I credit my army experience for allowing me to sail through virtually without batting an eyelid.
It's also helped on my CV. I'm pretty sure I only got my curent job because I could relate every skill they were after to an army skill. Timliness? Check. Follows instructions? Check. Works well in a team? Check. Shows initiative? Check. Leadership skills? Check. Knows how to use a firing manouver to position two riflemen in order to attack a dug-in enemy with grenades? That one actally didn't come up in the interview - but if it did I would have been able to say 'check'.
Do it if you want to challenge yourself. Do it if you want something different. Do it if you want to improve yourself. Do it to push yourself to the depths of fucking misery so you can pull yourself out the other side.
Of course Australian training may be different to NZ. I imagine it's similar enough though. Except I'm pretty sure you guys don't have to dig shellscrapes and gunpits. For that you should be thankful.
Oh and pay wise fror an NZ Reserves Private - you get about $130 a full training day, regardless of how long the day is, (and it's always 24 hours.) You get some allowances for away-from-home or field allowances depending on what you're doing. Of couse this seems to change every damn week due to budget cuts, or budget overspending or whatever. If you get sent on a deployment, (which in both our cases would most likely mean the Solomon Islands or East Timor,) you get taken up on a Regular Force contract and get paid under their system.
Again, not sure if it's the same for Australia as it is for NZ but I imagine it would be fairly similar.
