Its not so bad ive just joined the TA as a REME, and as for being sent out currently its generaly optional ie you choose if u want to go out on Operations however theyd "expect" you to go out at some point but they wont normaly force you however all the same its unlikley but they can call you up. But even then you have to do pre ops traning which if you fail that they wont send you.
The pay normaly is pretty crud u get about 8 quid for ur drill night and £30ish for a full days traning, but when ur on tour u get the same pay as the regs.
As for the equipment my experiance hasent been so good during traning 1/2 of us did have all the required gear allthough i think thats just teething problems sice some of us only got the gear the day before we went on traning,
but if you go on tour u get all the stuff the regs do.
Edit:
I just occourd to me that most pple on here are using the military as a back up if collage/uni fails. im doing it even if i do well im joining the regs, and im not even going for a commision lol
