AROTC Component Change

[AvidScholar]

Hey all, I'm in my senior year in AROTC and was assessed into A.D. Recently however, my family has been enduring a few hardships. Not to delve into things too deeply, My mother gave birth to my brother (3) at 43 and has since endured multiple complications with her health. My realization now has been that in A.D I would not be able to provide the support to her and my brother if I were living the A.D life and she passed away. What's more, I've also realized (somewhat late) that my goals for my career and desire to focus on family align more with the NG. I have the desire to serve still, but I very much would like to switch components. I've talked a bit with my cadre and understand the process somewhat, just wanted to ask if anyone else was familiar with the process. Thanks.

 

[jocomom]

My DS was able to make a component shift. It took a great deal of work and support from his PMS to make it happen.Here's his scenario. He had always planed to branch AD Infantry and as a DMG that was the direction he was going. During the summer before his senior year, he landed a dream internship. He didn't think that he would get a return offer because he had to leave the internship 3 weeks early to go to Ft. Knox. When he returned from Knox to find a job offer waiting for him. That was when he started to see what could be done. (1) He reached out to an NYNG Infantry unit in NYC to see if they would be willing to take him. (2) He worked with his cadre to see if he could component shift. (3) He got the OK from the civilian employer to delay his start date from summer 2016 to summer 2017 so that he could squeeze in IBOLC and Ranger School. (4) He secured an early IBOLC date. There were a lot of moving parts that had to come together in just the right order, but they did. Though AD had always been his goal, he is happy with the way things worked out and feels like he has the best of both worlds. He left in July for a deployment in Afghanistan and hopefully will return in June.