SMP changes???

I don't know myself what I meant, pretty tired when I wrote that. My bad! Which states are doing that for the NG?
 
My cadet

My cadet is SMP and in ANG. His college had a conference where they advised the cadets about GRFD and the advantages and consequences of accepting the GRFD $. My son declined so he could compete for active duty.
 
update

Well unfortunatly our worst fears have been realized. Ds is a non scholarship SMP cadet and he was offered his contract today and was told the only option was to commission to the guard. No if ands or butts. He declined and is talking to ad recruiter about resigning guard and going ad will finish his schooling as time allows. I am just heart broke. So long story short 2 yrs wasted, if you have soldier in the guard he will not be able to compete for active duty.
 
I'm curious about the back story on this one. Who gave him that information? Is this some kind of policy change?

Anyway, here is another option. Talk to PMS about working a transfer to the Army Reserve. He may need a little help from the PMS to get his commander to sign off on it, and he may need to take some time off school/add a minor to stay in school longer so he's still contract-eligible.
 
I am sorry to hear about such a huge change. May I ask which state your DS's NG with? Different states have been changing policies for a few years, my DS missed Ohio's change by a year or would have had to branch OHNG or repay all state tution money. Not being able to pursue AD at all is even worse.

Take care.
 
I'm afraid in the next couple months we will be seeing a bunch of changes in the way we contract Cadets. I think I know what happened in this case, but I don't want to speculate, because if I'm right it is going to make my job a lot harder. The Brigades will be gathering in Fort Knox in the coming weeks to get the new marching orders.
 
Yep they are still recruiting kids using the SMP to get them hooked in. That is the sad part. Its great I'd you want to stay guard but they should tell you upfront that you cannot compete for AD. There is still nothing in writing. Its just an understanding. That is what is frustrating. So now we have to try to get a release from the guard so he can move on otherwise he will serve his term finish school and then try the osc route. Maybe. Very disappointed. Oh my son is at bama.
 
Scoutmaster, I feel for your son and for you.

DS is an ECP cadet and has not been told yet that they will not be able to try for AD but they are expecting it. Norwich was at his MJC recruiting saying come here and you'd be assured AD. His PMS said don't believe it, it's probably going to change.

His school even posted congratulations to the ECP cadets that graduated from there 2 yrs ago that accessed AD this year. Kind of a slap in the face to the current cadets.

I'm not sure if he graduates and commissions before they decide if the decisions are retroactive or not. If it will effect the cadets that graduated last year.

I believe someplace in his contract it states they can compete for AD per the needs of the ARMY. I would have to dig it out to find out exactly the wording.

I guess if they are meeting in a couple of weeks he will find out when he returns from Christmas break.
 
scoutmaster said:
Yep they are still recruiting kids using the SMP to get them hooked in. That is the sad part. Its great I'd you want to stay guard but they should tell you upfront that you cannot compete for AD. There is still nothing in writing. Its just an understanding. That is what is frustrating. So now we have to try to get a release from the guard so he can move on otherwise he will serve his term finish school and then try the osc route. Maybe. Very disappointed. Oh my son is at bama.
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Your DS situation is certainly not ideal. Based on the information gleened from reading the thread this is what I would advise my son to do. For what its worth.
If possible stay in school and continue on his current path. Getting his education is the #1 priority and will open doors in and outside of the military. If the Army/NG/Reserve can and will pay for it then more power to you. AD will likely always be an option in any of the 5 branches as an enlisted member. After college OCS/AD may be an option in 4 of the branches. Lastly, this world is always changing, Europe seems the least stable it has been in at least 15 years and the Middle East can blow up at any time. One never knows when the oppurtunity to move from guard/reserve to AD may be available. I hope everything works out for your son.
 
scoutmaster said:
Well unfortunatly our worst fears have been realized. Ds is a non scholarship SMP cadet and he was offered his contract today and was told the only option was to commission to the guard. No if ands or butts. He declined and is talking to ad recruiter about resigning guard and going ad will finish his schooling as time allows. I am just heart broke. So long story short 2 yrs wasted, if you have soldier in the guard he will not be able to compete for active duty.
Click to expand...

If your son wants AD as either Enlisted or Commissioned in the near future, make sure he tries first to get the release from the Guard.

If he should decide to stay in the Guard and finish school without getting a commission he will find it nearly impossible to switch to AD once he is done. If he decides to pursue a commission through OCS and is still in the Guard, they may require him to commission into the guard or they won't release him from his enlisted contract.

Switching from the NG/Reserves to AD as either enlisted or commissioned is extremely rare these days.

Your son should definitely talk with his Cadre about all the options and which path would be the best for him. Stay away from the local recruiters or NG recruiters until he gets a good plan. It may be best, if he wants to finish school, to get a release from the NG and just stay at school and apply for OCS when he gets close to graduation.

A couple questions, has your son attended BCT and AIT.

I'm just going to throw this out there, maybe Clarkson can say if this is even possible. If your son has not attended BCT or AIT, could he get a release from the Guard and then contract with his battalion at the start of his junior year as a non-scholarship, non-SMP cadet, that could then compete for AD. Just wondering if this would be possible since you stated he has not received any funds from the NG.

I am very sorry to hear that your son and others are going through this. I wish all the best of luck.
 
Yes he has completed osut at ft benning ga. His iunit is at or over strength so he may be able to separate without much of a problem. We are scheduled to have another conference with his PMS during Christmas break. As of today there are 12 cadets that are looking at dropping ROTC because of this. Also I think the fact that no one will give them a straight answer in black and white.
 
scoutmaster said:
Yes he has completed osut at ft benning ga. His iunit is at or over strength so he may be able to separate without much of a problem. We are scheduled to have another conference with his PMS during Christmas break. As of today there are 12 cadets that are looking at dropping ROTC because of this. Also I think the fact that no one will give them a straight answer in black and white.
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Good luck with your meeting.

I'm not surprised to hear so many cadets dropping the program at your son's school. I imagine that will be happening at a lot of programs across the country. This is going to put a big dent in recruiting considering the slides that Bull posted a while back shows a continued need for AD 2LT's over the next 4 years. If battalions are left with only being able to recruit Scholarship and non-scholarship cadets for AD, things could get pretty tight in the near future.

I hope this information is being passed down to the local recruiters because they really push kids to join the NG and then look at SMP. Some kids are going to find themselves signed up for the Guard and then get a big surprise when they start talking to ROTC.

This next year sounds like it could be shaping up to be a real mess.
 
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