Army ECP/ROTC (Early Commissioning Program) Guard or Reserve Help

[jdeppen]

Hi,
My daughter is currently in her first year at Vally Forge JMC and enrolled in the Early Commissioning Program/ECP. Both Guard and Reserve recruiters are meeting with her as she must apparently decide her path here in the near future. I don't expect her to want to compete for an active duty slot in the future so it will probably be the Guard or Reserve. She is interested in the Finance branch so I expect her future role will more likely be support and not combat arms. Does anyone have any insight/experience as to the general pros and cons of choosing Guard vs Reserve for an ECP/ROTC cadet? I'm thinking both short and long term opportunities and would like to advise her as best I can. I'm a retired AD W4, so I am familiar with most of the Army lingo, just clueless about the Guard and Reserve! Thanks in advance for your help.
Jim

 

[QA1517]

http://www.serviceacademyforums.com/index.php?threads/army-guard-vs-ad.50675/

This is a link to a previous thread, hope it works.

My DS did ECP. Make sure you daughter understands that she will not go to BOLC until she gets her 4 yr degree, so getting a job right out of college may be interrupted by getting shipped of to BOLC. She might have to find a temporary job before looking for that dream one.

Guard you can pretty much live wherever you want and find a unit to drill with (maybe not the specific branch you want). Reserve units are not as plentiful so your location, might be limited.

I've often wondered, let's say as an accountant (or whatever she might me doing) do you really want to do the same type of thing for guard? Or do you want to have a release and do something different that one weekend a month? Just a thought.