Air Guard and AFROTC together?

luluarnold

Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2015
Messages
10
I have looked to see if there is any info on here about doing Air Guard and AFROTC but haven't found much luck yet so if this has already been discussed I apologize. My son is a graduating HS senior and was denied the AFROTC scholarship. Therefore he has been exploring several other options. His goal is to commission with the AF as a pilot but also is really needing financial assistance for college. He has been speaking with different recruiters and is now thinking of signing with Air National Guard and also doing AFROTC (non-scholarship) in college. He is told he could get tuition assistance along with GI money for college from AirGuard. Also he was advised to start school this fall and then miss his spring semester and do his basic followed by tech training and the return to school the next fall. I would like to know if anyone has opinions on doing AirGuard and AFROTC together and what about missing semesters at school? Any information is appreciated….there are so many decisions and so hard to decide the right direction.
 
My son spent the year after HS in the air guard. He has his college paid for, gets the GI Bill, received a large enlistment bonus, works at the base on his days off, will accumulate about 800 retirement points by graduation of which 400+ days will count towards his retirement date. He will commission an 01 over 4 years for pay purposes. He has loved the experience and it has worked out well for him. He also got a local ROTC scholarship of some kind. He has done trips overseas in the summer as well. He has been in AFROTC since his freshman year. It may be hard to do basic and the follow on schools as well as the full time seasoning training and miss only one semester.

His DET has had 100% acceptance for EAs for guard personnel as well. The year is not wasted, he has received much more in return. Also, 100% of the air guard guys in the det that wanted Pilots got a pilot slot.
 
Last edited:
I have looked to see if there is any info on here about doing Air Guard and AFROTC but haven't found much luck yet so if this has already been discussed I apologize. My son is a graduating HS senior and was denied the AFROTC scholarship. Therefore he has been exploring several other options. His goal is to commission with the AF as a pilot but also is really needing financial assistance for college. He has been speaking with different recruiters and is now thinking of signing with Air National Guard and also doing AFROTC (non-scholarship) in college. He is told he could get tuition assistance along with GI money for college from AirGuard. Also he was advised to start school this fall and then miss his spring semester and do his basic followed by tech training and the return to school the next fall. I would like to know if anyone has opinions on doing AirGuard and AFROTC together and what about missing semesters at school? Any information is appreciated….there are so many decisions and so hard to decide the right direction.
I am prior active duty AF now in the ANG and also a full time student in AFROTC. I am not sure, but I do not think TA will be the same for ANG as it is for Active Duty (AD). I know for a fact that the GI Bill will not be the same. Because I served 5 years AD, I receive 100% benefits, meaning my tuition is fully paid for and I get E5 BAH. ANG airman get a percentage of the GI Bill. It makes sense because one year in the ANG is roughly only 39 compared to one year in AD which is 365 days. What I am getting at is that you will not get the same benefits in the ANG as you do in AD. You CANNOT be in AFROTC if you are on AD, but you can if you are in the ANG. Hope that helps.
 
I know of two that are doing it at our detachment. One actually loves the enlisted side so much that after his 100 year he is not sure if he will continue in the program. They say it takes a lot of time management, but they say it has been a wonderful experience
 
I would double check those number posted by Retchop before signing on the dotted line.
 
I agree recheck retchop.

The ANG is not like AFROTC when you go for rated. They hire directly. You have to apply to each Guard unit. There is no guarantee. If the unit flies 130s that is what you will fly if you don't bust IFS and UPT. Fighters are not going to happen. If they are not hiring pilots than you have to wait. If they have an applicant that is leaving ADAF to fly commercial where they only have to send them to a short course and not to IFS/UPT/School house or 2 years, they may take them. If a typical college kid that has a PPL (no AFROTC experience) applies they may take them over the AFROTC cadet. Yes, they have to go to OCS, but what % busts OCS? Now compare it to IFS.

I am not saying don't do it. I would suggest that you lurk on www.baseops.net to get a different view.

Recruiters jobs are not to get your child to go AFROTC, but enlisted or Guard I know many kids that went to Community college and did AFROTC at the host unit. They transferred over to the host and graduated on time. The Stafford loan paid for their 1st 2 years, and as a freshmen they reapplied for ICSP. They got it and were able to transfer to IS with an AFROTC scholarship within the same unit as a sophomore. Never skipping a beat.
~ 1 did not get the ICSP because that year they didn't offer it, but was able to work PT, save money, use Stafford, Pell and Work study to take a very small personal loan.


Remember for AFROTC scholarship it only pays tuition.You will still need to come up with a big chunk if they want to live on campus. If they are going o live off campus, and you submitted your FAFSA, chances are your FA package from the school could make it work without going Guard. Talk to the FA office at your college.
 
Last edited:
If you apply to the 103rd ANG and go to UPT.you know walking in that no matter how well you do,the only thing that you will be offered is a C130, if you want a 15 than you are going to need to apply to a Guard like the 104th. Unlike an AFA/AFROTC/OCS grad that can get any airframe dropped at assignment night. They are not tied to any specific airframe since they are going ADAF.

Hence, why I said what I said.
 
I am dual Army Guard and AFROTC.

I didn't even know that was possible.

Will the Army National Guard give you a release to the Air Force when it comes time to commission.

In AROTC you would become a SMP cadet, how do they handle that in AFROTC.

Since you are Army NG, aren't you still deployable while in school since you are not Army ROTC SMP
 
That is interesting. If you are NG, what happens when you go to SFT for AFROTC?
1. Do you need to deconflict your schedule for that month if you have to do 2 weeks over the summer?
2. Upon graduating from SFT, you become a POC and will now sign new paperwork stating that you will go ADAF upon commissioning. That means the start of your junior year. How will that work?

I would also say to the OP, be careful when it comes to this path, because if your DS goes OOS and signs with the Guard in your state they will have to come back home monthly to drill. DS2's roommate at GMU drives back to RI once a month from VA. It can be an additional burden, not only from the financial cost of traveling, but academically too. Hard to study for that exam on Monday a.m. if you just got back to the dorm Sunday night after a 4 hour drive. That cgpa for AFROTC becomes a factor for SFT selection and their rated board.
~ Granted I think that being with a Guard can offset it, but to what degree I don't know. The average cgpa for non-tech is 3.3/3.4.
~~ Also if he signs with your state ANG, than like I said earlier his best option to go rated will be with that unit. I don't know what state you are from, but research that too.
~~~ The IPs at IFS and UPT will wash them out just like the ADAF pilots. Has he asked what happens at that point?
~~~~ ADAF typically will be kept on as non-rated, and some are fortunate enough to get ABM or UNT.

As always the Devil is in the details. Read the fine print.
 
My schedule was in conflict with SFT but it was fixed. I will only contract with the Air Force 30 days before my commission after getting a conditional release from the Army. I cannot receive any money from the Air Force but that is ok because the Guard offers more school money anyway. I am not considered SMP and on paper I am deployable but if you communicate your intentions with your chain of command they are more than happy to work with you most of the time. None of this is normal and I did have to jump through hoops to get to this point. I was also very lucky go have an amazing Cadre in AFROTC as well as very caring CO and readiness NCO at my Guard unit that cares about career progression.
 
I will only contract with the Air Force 30 days before my commission after getting a conditional release from the Army.

How is it possible to contract only 30 days before you commission, don't AFROTC cadet become POC and contract when they complete SFT?
 
How is it possible to contract only 30 days before you commission, don't AFROTC cadet become POC and contract when they complete SFT?
This is possible because of what's called a conditional release. As a member of the ANG, you can choose to remain in the ANG, you just won't contract into the POC after ft. I am doing this myself. My ANG cc is well aware of my situation and knows that I will not be able to deploy or tdy. I am sure this is the same case for every other cadet in afrotc and concurrently in the ANG.
 
This is possible because of what's called a conditional release. As a member of the ANG, you can choose to remain in the ANG, you just won't contract into the POC after ft. I am doing this myself. My ANG cc is well aware of my situation and knows that I will not be able to deploy or tdy. I am sure this is the same case for every other cadet in afrotc and concurrently in the ANG.

Thanks, I don't have any experience with AFROTC and I't's interesting to hear the different options a cadet can take. Thanks for the explanation.
 
This is possible because of what's called a conditional release. As a member of the ANG, you can choose to remain in the ANG, you just won't contract into the POC after ft. I am doing this myself. My ANG cc is well aware of my situation and knows that I will not be able to deploy or tdy. I am sure this is the same case for every other cadet in afrotc and concurrently in the ANG.
In essence you are saying that as a rising junior if you stay ANG, AFROTC is over, thus, ADAF option is over
 
In essence you are saying that as a rising junior if you stay ANG, AFROTC is over, thus, ADAF option is over
Ok...Im sorry if I am not making any sense. Let me just get straight to the point. You CAN be in AFROTC while in the Air National Guard, you just would not be able to contract.

I personally have a conditional release that has to be signed every 3 months in order to stay in AFROTC. Attached to my conditional release is an MFR explaining to my Wing/CC in the ANG why I am constantly requesting a conditional release. Under normal circumstances I would sign and complete my conditional release upon completing field training, but my ANG unit needs me, so I decided to stay in the ANG until 30 day prior to commissioning, which should be Jun 2017, then I will submit my conditional release in order to contract and then commission into Active duty. It sounds confusing, but it really isn't once you overcome the initial hurdle of getting everyone on the same page.
 
If I am reading your post correctly than it is at your ANGs CC discretion to be released. In essence no true guarantee that you will be released.
 
If I am reading your post correctly than it is at your ANGs CC discretion to be released. In essence no true guarantee that you will be released.
Correct! It is at your ANG CC's discretion. But if your worried about that, then think about it, what cc wouldn't release one of their airman to give them the opportunity to better themselves? Worst case scenario, if you consider it a worst case scenario, you would just be in afrotc and the ANG concurrently. There are three of us in my Det who are in the ANG and many more before me who did the exact same thing. The only thing that people should look out for are the promises these ANG recruiters are making.
 
Back
Top