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I am looking at the FAQ for space marines and i am confused about a rule i thought i understood.

I was looking at a drop pod assault army but wanted to split the tactical squads into combat squads putting 5 on the table and keeping 5 in the drop pod. Then having the 5 man squads dropping down onto multiple points/objectives.

But in the FAQ i saw this question/rule

Q: Can you take a Drop Pod with a 10-man squad and
then put a combat squad in it, deploying the other
combat squad on the table, or leave it in reserve but
not in the Drop Pod? (p69)
A: No, because squads that are placed in reserve may
not break down into combat squads.

Does this mean that i can't split the unit and have 5 on the board and 5 in the drop pod?

You cannot split into combat squads while in reserve. So, you would not be able to take a 10 man tactical squad, put 5 in a drop pod and 5 on the board. The unit is split into Combat Squads at deployment. If 5 are in reserve, then they are not deployed.

Yes, that is exactly what it means. The rules already covered this as well

You Combat Squad WHEN you deploy. If you look at the rules for Reserves you declare something is in reserve INSTEAD OF deploying, meaning you are not deploying and cannot combat squad

IIRC Drop Pod Assault happens at the beginning of your first turn. This means, that you would have half a unit in Reserves. However, you cannot CS until the unit deploys.

Drop pod assault does happen at the start of the first turn, but all that means is that half of the pods arrive on turn one.

You can only take a pod with a squad of 10 or a dread.

If you have only 1 pod then you can then either;
drop the pod with the 10 man unit and disembark them normally, or
drop the pod with the 10 man unit and combat squad them into 2 five man combat squads, or
drop the pod empty and deploy the 10 man unit separately, or
drop the pod empty and keep the 10 man uit in reserve. or
drop the pod empty and deploy the 10 man unit split into 2 five man combat squads.