SMP National Guard

ROTC2015

5-Year Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2011
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28
Hello, I'm currently a high school senior joining plenty of in waiting for the March Army ROTC board to release its results. In the event that I don't receive an offer, I'm curious about joining SMP National Guard at Rutgers. Can someone tell me how that works and what are the benefits of doing so and when can I join?
 
My son has decided to go that route. The upside is on the financial end. He will get drill pay every month and is going to do basic training and AIT over the summer receiving around $1300 a month. Tuition and fees paid in full at state school, that he has already received grant money to that should cover room and board. Still going to do ROTC. Comes out of college with 4 years served in determining pay grade and still gets ROTC rank. The only downside we see is that he will not get back from Fort Benning until early October, and thus is deferring admission until Spring semester, which isn't that big a deal at a state school. I think in the end, he would choose this even if scholarship was/is offered.
 
Clarksonarmy blog on SMP LINK

Nice overview of SMP here, [URL="http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=14wDm7pAiN3nigU6zk4OrjhXXhZnuOyEEGCQ7cq4smYR8g0mb7cbRNhqNSETW&hl=en&authkey=CIao7qUI"]here
[/URL] and here


BTW to post a link, high-lite a word in your post, click 'link button' (blue globe w/link of chain below it - directly under smileys button) and then copy/paste the URL into the link window that opens.


update; paradoxer you beat me to it, must be my 2 finger typing:smile:
 
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Clarksonarmy blog on SMP LINK

Nice overview of SMP here, [URL="http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=14wDm7pAiN3nigU6zk4OrjhXXhZnuOyEEGCQ7cq4smYR8g0mb7cbRNhqNSETW&hl=en&authkey=CIao7qUI"]here
[/URL]and here


BTW to post a link, high-lite a word in your post, click 'link button' (blue globe w/link of chain below it - directly under smileys button) and then copy/paste the URL into the link window that opens.

update; paradoxer you beat me to it, must be my 2 finger typing:smile:

gojack is definitely the "Link King"!! :thumb: (but paradoxer is quicker at the draw!)
 
You guys are both awesome, because you make my numbers soar!!!
 
Here is some info I found on NG SMP:

NATIONAL GUARD SMP
• Basic Training and/or AIT are not required.
• Monthly drill pay upto $450. Drill/Annual Training upto $7,200 per year
• ROTC Stipend = $350 a month MS II’s, $450 – MS III, and $500 – MS IV
• $4,500 a yr Federal Tuition
• $900 a yr book allowance
• Years as an SMP count towards active duty pay (and retirement) years – this is a huge benefit. If you serve three years as an SMP and decide to go on active duty, you will make up to $10,000 a year more than someone who took a ROTC scholarship.
• The NG allows (good PT score, PMS approval) SMPs slots for Air Assault school.
• SMP’s and Cadets who have completed one semester of ROTC are non-deployable.
• SMPs have more opportunities and choices while in college, experience real unit training and have fun doing it.
• SMPs also get more points, 15 or more, on their OML if applying for active duty during their MSIV year vs. someone who took a scholarship.
• $10,000 bonus (most branches, previous bonus awardees may not be eligible, only for non-scholarship Cadets).
• Student loan repayment: $50,000 for loans prior to joining NG

** If you do BT/AIT there is an extra few hundred dollars a month available in GI Bill and kickers.

Interesting stuff. So basically a kid going to a State school will receive similar funding as a 4-year ROTC cadet. The extra three years on the pay scales means they will pretty much always earn $9-$10k a year more than a ROTC scholarship cadet if they both go AD.

The extra 15+ points added to our OML for SMP cadets puts them in a very strong position when applying for AD and branching. Last year 71.5996 OML was the AD cut off score. Getting a extra 15+ OML points would practically guarantee an AD spot for most SMP cadets if they choose AD.
 
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My SMP cadets at my state school are getting paid more than my scholarship cadets when all is said and done.

A couple weekends ago one of my SMP cadets was tasked to plan and conduct the weekend drill training, and he performed flawlessly. I have another cadet who had already been given his own office, and is a de facto platoon leader.

With the absence of scholarships, I can't say enough about the SMP opportunity. Just have to make sure you don't get steered into missing school by an uninformed recruiter, unless you need that GI bill and kicker money.
 
To Clarksonarmy...What would be the downside of missing a semester of school? It seems in the end everything would be ok and shouldn't be too hard to get those 4 classes of 1st semester classes made up over 3 1/2 years. And unfortunately finances do play in sometimes. You're advice is appreciated.
 
Clarkson - is the bullet about an extra 15+ points on the OML for SMP Cadets correct?

If that is the case SMP cadets have a distinct advantage over ROTC scholarship cadets when it comes to AD places and branching. A ROTC cadet could do four years college and be placed on reserve whereas its highly unlikely a SMP cadet would fall under the OML cut off with the extra 15 points added on. That extra 15 points would take an average score into the top 10% which is huge for branching.

Not to mention a former SMP AD officer will always earn a few thousand per year more than his ROTC counterparts. Plus they have three extra years towards retirement. A twenty year O6 former SMP would get around $10k a year more on retirement.
 
Clarkson - is the bullet about an extra 15+ points on the OML for SMP Cadets correct?

If that is the case SMP cadets have a distinct advantage over ROTC scholarship cadets when it comes to AD places and branching. A ROTC cadet could do four years college and be placed on reserve whereas its highly unlikely a SMP cadet would fall under the OML cut off with the extra 15 points added on. That extra 15 points would take an average score into the top 10% which is huge for branching.

Not to mention a former SMP AD officer will always earn a few thousand per year more than his ROTC counterparts. Plus they have three extra years towards retirement. A twenty year O6 former SMP would get around $10k a year more on retirement.

I will be interested in the answer to that one.

I have never heard of a point advantage for SMP.

My son is a MS3 currently, he has talked about things that add points to their accession package such as language, summer schools, battalion oml, and certain things that you can do at LDAC. When he talked about extra points he always said they would add .5 to 1 point in some cases. 15 points seem like a lot.

This years MS4's had a couple SMP cadets that were very similar in stats just a small percentage point below the top 2 cadets in GPA. neither jumped above the other cadets due to SMP.

It will be interesting to see what Clarkson has to say.

EDIT

I just read a page from the North Carolina National Guard, they did have a line that mentioned the 15 points, first I have seen of this. How does the Guard SMP work for out of state students, would they join the Guard in that state and would they then get in state tuition.
 
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I just read a page from the North Carolina National Guard, they did have a line that mentioned the 15 points, first I have seen of this. How does the Guard SMP work for out of state students, would they join the Guard in that state and would they then get in state tuition.

That is the site I read it on. :wink:

I presume you can join the guard in the State you go to school. If the extra OML points applies the advantage is huge IMO. Being SMP will practically guarantee AD for any cadet requesting it, which can't be said for ROTC scholarship recipients.
 
I found a OML points display model that shows the points available for each item towards the OML. As soon as I get tech savy enough I will post it here.

It lists point for various things, it does list 15 points for SMP, it is the same amount of points you get for being on color guard, ranger challenge, and other activities.
 
Not sure about SMP

There are aspects to SMP that I don't understand, which has made me hesitant to recommend that my son pursue it if he doesn't get a scholarship (still waiting on the "K"s to post - I prefer to believe there IS an alphabetical component!!)

Suppose you live in Nebraska, and your son goes off to Minnesota on an AROTC scholarship. If, after the first year, he decides that he just hates the military and does not want to continue to pursue a commission, he can walk away; that's in the contract. Or, God forbid, the kid totally flakes in the college environment and fails out (it does happen, even to highly qualified kids from whom you would expect more maturity.) You can also return home, with your tail between your legs, but released from your contract.

However, as I understand it, once in SMP, you are enlisted in the USAR or National Guard. If you leave school, or quit ROTC, its "welcome to the motor pool, private." And what if, in the above scenario, you are participating in SMP as a member of the Minnesota Natl Guard. Do you return home to Nebraska, then travel back to MN once a month to drill? Besides that, majoring in engineering along with the additional demands of ROTC will be tough enough without having to drill once a month (unless I am wrong, I think even SMP'ers have to drill, don't they?)

Anyway, may actually be great, but too many of the details are just unknown to us at this point. Hopefully we won't have to learn them...
 
That is the site I read it on. :wink:

I presume you can join the guard in the State you go to school. If the extra OML points applies the advantage is huge IMO. Being SMP will practically guarantee AD for any cadet requesting it, which can't be said for ROTC scholarship recipients.

I read the page on OML points a bit further.

The extra SMP points are part of the Cadet Training/Extracurriculars. The total points available for Cadet Training (Airborne, Air Assault, CTLT ect.) is 65 points. The total max points for EC's is 258. SMP accounts for 15 points of the EC's.

The Cadet Training/Extracurriculars account for 6.75% of the OML list standings.

Points awarded at LDAC for RECONDO = 1pt.
Points awarded at LDAC for Platoon top 5 = 0.5pt.
These points are added to the The final OMS.

The 15 points are nice but not a huge added benefit in the overall OML, of course every point can help.

Granted the Date on the Presentation was FY2006 so there may be some changes to date but I would imagine it is still close to these numbers.

Clarkson may be able to add more to this.
 
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