Seeking advice on NG and reserves

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sheriff3

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Since roughly 60% of the AROTC cadets annually go NG/Reserves I thought I would start some dialog on the subject.
DS is an incoming MSIII and just finishing up CIET. He is strongly leaning going NG but when he spoke to the NG officer yesterday at CIET the officer was less than knowledgeable/helpful. I am ignorant of the many things and especially the whole guard/reserve thing so if anybody out there can enlighten me it would be greatly appreciated. My understanding is....
1) His MSIV year he will talk to some guard units to find a "home" for a newly minted 2nd LT. and then declare he would like NG with his cadre???
2) Upon graduation and commissioning he would be assigned a NG unit and a branch.
3) At some point he will be ordered to his branch BOLC.
4) After BOLC he is free to pursue his civilian career and drill and train as necessary.
This all may be dead on or way off, please feel free correct and or fill in any missing info.

Thanks.
 
That's generally my understanding. One of my son's best friends went the Reserve route but essentially followed this same path above. As far as #1, Yes, he'll declare his intention to go NG before the end of his MS-III year (but has until July 31st to alter that if I heard my sod correctly).

Keep in mind that one thing I've heard repeatedly is the with NG, you are locked into that state for the most part and it's harder to move than with Reserves.
 
sheriff3 said:
Since roughly 60% of the AROTC cadets annually go NG/Reserves I thought I would start some dialog on the subject.
DS is an incoming MSIII and just finishing up CIET. He is strongly leaning going NG but when he spoke to the NG officer yesterday at CIET the officer was less than knowledgeable/helpful. I am ignorant of the many things and especially the whole guard/reserve thing so if anybody out there can enlighten me it would be greatly appreciated. My understanding is....
1) His MSIV year he will talk to some guard units to find a "home" for a newly minted 2nd LT. and then declare he would like NG with his cadre???
2) Upon graduation and commissioning he would be assigned a NG unit and a branch.
3) At some point he will be ordered to his branch BOLC.
4) After BOLC he is free to pursue his civilian career and drill and train as necessary.
This all may be dead on or way off, please feel free correct and or fill in any missing info.

Thanks.
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It's less of him being assigned a branch and unit, he'll find a unit that has an open spot for a LT and that will be his branch and unit. So, for example, he wants to be an Armor officer in Wyoming. He would need to find an armor unit in Wyoming that has an open spot for him. If Wyoming doesn't have any Armor units or open spots, then he'll need to look for something else.
 
Thanks for the info.

Another thing, I understand the NG units drill with and are attached to their state. I dont understand where the reserve folks are attached to or how often they train and anything else about them.
 
sheriff3 said:
Thanks for the info.

Another thing, I understand the NG units drill with and are attached to their state. I dont understand where the reserve folks are attached to or how often they train and anything else about them.
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Reserve is a federal entity. There are reserve centers (similar to a Guard armory) spread across the country, and I'm not 100% if the process is similar so I don't want to give you bad info. Just know that the Reserves do not have all branches (they don't have combat arms except for Engineers and I believe some Aviation). I'm also not positive on if being in the Reserves keeps you in the same state or if they can relocate you, so hopefully someone with that info can comment.
 
Bull, just to be clear would he choose a unit first and then see if that open position would appeal to him and then declare that is the branch he wants? Seems like that would be to normal course otherwise you could have a LT. that is branched MI but no MI spots available in the state they want or anyother place for that matter.
 
Ok, now its starting to make sense... DS said reserves do not have combat arms and that is what he wants. Thanks again for the info.
 
sheriff3 said:
Bull, just to be clear would he choose a unit first and then see if that open position would appeal to him and then declare that is the branch he wants? Seems like that would be to normal course otherwise you could have a LT. that is branched MI but no MI spots available in the state they want or anyother place for that matter.
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It's, from what I understand, done at the same time. He won't join a unit then find out if they have a spot. He'll probably be able to get a list from an Officer Strength Manager (an active guard position) and see exactly which spots are open for LTs. Then he'll just contact the unit and go through the process of reserving that spot for him. As soon as he commissions he'll start drilling with them and they'll work out the details of sending him to BOLC.
 
DS is in guard.
In our state for guard you submit your top 3 choices of units after you declare you wish to go into the guard and are accepted. The OSM then looks at the openings and assigns you to a unit with an available opening. They take into account your residence to try and keep you within a certain distance of your drilling unit if possible.

That doesn't mean that in the future if a position open ups in a different unit that you cannot apply for it.

In response to starting to drill, DS commisioned in May, allow 30 days for state to process paperwork submitted by school and cadet so he missed June drill, state did not drill in July. School flubbed on submitting paperwork to state so another delay, it's 2 days before August drill and he just received notification from the OSM that he is in the system as a 2LT so he can drill this month. This took lots of phone calls and staying on top of things by him so his paperwork got thru.

Also, Guard officers will drill before going to BOLC unlike Active duty 2LT's that have to wait until BOLC to report which can take up to a year.
 
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Bull, QA great info, thanks.
Is it safe to say that the service commitment starts when they start to drill?
 
sheriff3 said:
Bull, QA great info, thanks.
Is it safe to say that the service commitment starts when they start to drill?
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Actually I believe it starts when they get you entered into the system because at that point you are part of that unit and are available for them to call you up and deploy. Even if it is when you first drill you should only be a month or so off.
 
Any of what, axxif? That document is very out of date. If you've got a question about a specific program, someone here can probably answer it.
 
Axxif said:
Here's a question I've got:

http://www.career-satisfaction.army.mil/rotc_overview.html

So, if you go NG/Reserve, are you ineligible for any of the above?
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They're managed differently. What exactly are you curious about on the reserve side? I'm guessing not branch or post because you shouldn't have to add an ADSO to get that in the RC because it's a different system in getting branch/unit. As far as them paying for a masters, it's somewhat different as well since the Guard is a different entity.
 
Really, I'm just investigating all my options. Granted, I'm only an upcoming Freshman, and there's no doubt that the Army will be a completely different place in four years, but I think it's a good idea to be aware of everything that would be available to me if and when I graduate. Long-term career investigation, ya know?
 
sheriff3 said:
....
1) His MSIV year he will talk to some guard units to find a "home" for a newly minted 2nd LT. and then declare he would like NG with his cadre???
2) Upon graduation and commissioning he would be assigned a NG unit and a branch.
3) At some point he will be ordered to his branch BOLC.
4) After BOLC he is free to pursue his civilian career and drill and train as necessary.
Click to expand...

Not sure where it fits in, but the location of civilian career matters. Procedurally, if your DS joins a NG unit and ended getting a job far away (another state), he can get conditionally released to join that state NG. But things we discussed, opening & right branch etc, all factors in finding a new home. Not uncommon for a NG soldier to travel several hundred miles to attend drill.
 
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