Is Active Duty a Requirement?

A

AKP97

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I'm 19 and i received a 3 year scholarship for Army ROTC at college. I sign my contract next year but i have a few questions.
My end goal would be Army Reserves. Im a business major and i want to start my business career when i graduate as well as serve in the military so obviously Reserves is a great way to do that. My problem is, within my scholarship it says i owe 4 years active duty and then 4 years ready-reserve. Is this mandatory? or can i just serve reserves? I also want to serve in a different state, specifically California but my scholarship is for college in Philadelphia, PA. My ROTC Sergeant told me Junior year i could submit a packet requesting Reserves when i graduate, but thats after i've already signed my contract and i don't want to be stuck in a situation where i've already signed my contract and have to go active duty.

My other plan was to not accept the scholarship and pay for school with loans and do an ROTC program in college or an officer program after i graduate and then join the reserves once i graduate. Obviously this allows more guarantee of reserves but i wouldn't get my school paid for so i'm kind of in a sticky situation. Any advice would be great, thanks!
 
Worst case scenario, you serve 4 years active duty then transfer over to reserves. You'll be what, 26?
 
For quite sometime now, AROTC cadets have been able to request Reserve/National Guard and receive a slot without any issue. Each year there are still a number of cadets that request Active Duty but are forced Reserve/National Guard because they don't make the AD Cutoff line. If you want Reserves you should not have an issue, the only thing that would prevent it would be if the Army is unable to fill the AD slots needed, I doubt that will happen but of course anything is possible.

Having a scholarship does not factor in to whether you go Active or Reserves, a scholarship does not require you to go Active. If you choose the Reserves you would be able to find a Reserve unit in any state you wish as long as they have an open slot.
 
You may request a conversion of your 3 year Line scholarship to a Dedicated-US Army Reserve or Dedicated-Army National Guard scholarship at the start of your sophomore year. That requires you to become a Simultaneous Membership Program (SMP) Cadet and get accepted into a Reserve Component (RC = USAR or ARNG) unit to drill while you attend college and complete ROTC. At graduation you are guaranteed to commission into the RC service you chose under the scholarship. Be aware that once you convert a Line scholarship to a Dedicated RC scholarship, you may not revoke it, and may not request Active Component (AC). A similar conversion is available your junior year by requesting a Guaranteed Reserve Forces Duty (GRFD) control number. Just like the Dedicated RC scholarships, you must drill as an SMP Cadet, but have a little flexibility in commissioning between the USAR or ARNG, just not AC.
 
dauntless battalion rotc said:
You may request a conversion of your 3 year Line scholarship to a Dedicated-US Army Reserve or Dedicated-Army National Guard scholarship at the start of your sophomore year. That requires you to become a Simultaneous Membership Program (SMP) Cadet and get accepted into a Reserve Component (RC = USAR or ARNG) unit to drill while you attend college and complete ROTC. At graduation you are guaranteed to commission into the RC service you chose under the scholarship. Be aware that once you convert a Line scholarship to a Dedicated RC scholarship, you may not revoke it, and may not request Active Component (AC). A similar conversion is available your junior year by requesting a Guaranteed Reserve Forces Duty (GRFD) control number. Just like the Dedicated RC scholarships, you must drill as an SMP Cadet, but have a little flexibility in commissioning between the USAR or ARNG, just not AC.
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Thank you, That's the kind of answer I was looking for because I wasn't really sure how I'd actually go about it!
 
Be aware as well that if you switch to a GRFD Scholarship and commission into the Guard/Reserve, you can still be deployed and activated for a duration of time. Having this scholarship and commissioning to the Guard/Reserve does not guarantee that you will spend your entire time simply drilling one weekend a month and two weeks a year.
 
I don't think your goal is Army Reserves. In context of your posting, it sounds like you are looking for a military status and perhaps not understanding what that military status entails.

Recommend doing some more research before making some important life decisions.
 
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