ARNG Taking Semester off for Basic/AIT

  • Thread starter Deleted member 11139
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Deleted member 11139

I will be a sophomore MSII this Fall and have begun talking to the ARNG recruiter. I plan on joining the National Guard in September while still remaining non-contracted with ROTC. As of now I am planning on BASIC/AIT next summer, but have thought to entertain the prospect of doing it this Fall. Does anyone have any experience with this? Did you find it beneficial or hard to come back to school? Basically I would be doing it to start getting the GI bill and other benefits quicker.

Adam
 
My advice:
Unless you are really, really compelled for financial reasons - do not do it. At least think three times. If you will have to leave school for lack of funds and this is an avenue for you to finish your education - the consider it.
If you can stay in school - then stay in school. You can enlist during your MS II year, contract with ROTC the end of the year and never have to go to boot camp or AIT. You will being drill and being being paid. You will being to acrue time in the Army and graduate with +2 years of service. You will qualify for tuition assistance (unless of course, they eliminate the program). You will be able to attend LDAC on time, graduate on time and commission on time. Each semester you delay school, will delay commissioning and your paycheck.

If you enlist now and attend boot camp and take more time off for AIT, you are eligible to be deployed. Not that this is a bad thing but this will further delay the completion of your education.

In the end you are going to make your own decision - but please consider all the factors and do what is best for you. The Army needs officers, if this is your goal then stay focused on it.
 
You can join the Guard and be in Guard & ROTC without going through Basic/AIT
---You can also do just Basic over the summer - so you don't miss a semester.
Request an appointment and talk to your PMS and see what he thinks,
Don't enlist without consulting him first.
 
Here is the trade off of not going to AIT, you will not receive GI bill or kicker. In my opinion the trade off is worth it to graduate on time. Your recruiter (who is probably trying to make his number for the quarter) will show you the dollar figure and it will seem like you are giving up a lot, but take a look at what you will earn by graduating on time and see if that offsets the GI bill benefits you will be giving up. Hope that makes sense.
 
Similar decision here
I have been in and out of my ROTC recruiters office for the past couple of weeks.

He has told me if you SMP. You are able to receive the GI BIll+Kicker without going to AIT because LDAC will count for it, if you SMP.. When you sign on as a SMP cadet you do not need the MOS of what ever unit you are working for you are given a special MOS, I forgot the details.

I am set up to go to basic this semester and he said I would be able to recieve full benefits even though I will not attend LDAC till the following summer.

Can anyone vouch for this?

I'm going in today to see whether or not I can receive the full benefits without having to take a semester off If I say I will attend Basic/LDAC next summer.
 
Similar decision here
I have been in and out of my ROTC recruiters office for the past couple of weeks.

He has told me if you SMP. You are able to receive the GI BIll+Kicker without going to AIT because LDAC will count for it, if you SMP.. When you sign on as a SMP cadet you do not need the MOS of what ever unit you are working for you are given a special MOS, I forgot the details.

I am set up to go to basic this semester and he said I would be able to recieve full benefits even though I will not attend LDAC till the following summer.

Can anyone vouch for this?

I'm going in today to see whether or not I can receive the full benefits without having to take a semester off If I say I will attend Basic/LDAC next summer.

I'd make sure I check out what your recruiter is saying. I've never heard of LDAC counting as BCT/AIT, but then again, I never got too into the SMP route. I do know that you don't have to have that unit's MOS. They have a special MOS (forget what the code is) for officers in training.
 
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