Is there a way out of ROTC/National Guard?

Juggernaut1444

New Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2016
Messages
1
Here is my situation. I've been in the army guard for a year and a half now and don't like it. The military is not for me and It's one of my biggest regrets. It's for some people but not me whether it's reserves or AD. I'm in college now and enrolled in ROTC taking MS1 and a PT class. my Instructor who is an E7 told me there is a way to get out of the guard completely so I can contract with ROTC. My real issue is that I don't want to be in the military at all so If I contract with ROTC and they terminate my guard contract is there a way out of ROTC? I won't accept any scholarships or stipends, nothing so I won't have to pay anything back and tuition is not really a problem for me thanks to FAFSA. Are there ways contracted non scholarship cadets can get out of ROTC?
 
Have you been to BCT and AIT?

This may be hard to accomplish without having a black mark follow you around for a while.
 
Hello. My son is enlisted National Guard and planning to go into college/ROTC. My understanding is that if, at any point, he quit college/ROTC and/or failed to graduate/commission thru ROTC, he is obligated to fulfill his Guard enlistment contract.
 
Here is my situation. I've been in the army guard for a year and a half now and don't like it. The military is not for me and It's one of my biggest regrets. It's for some people but not me whether it's reserves or AD. I'm in college now and enrolled in ROTC taking MS1 and a PT class. my Instructor who is an E7 told me there is a way to get out of the guard completely so I can contract with ROTC. My real issue is that I don't want to be in the military at all so If I contract with ROTC and they terminate my guard contract is there a way out of ROTC? I won't accept any scholarships or stipends, nothing so I won't have to pay anything back and tuition is not really a problem for me thanks to FAFSA. Are there ways contracted non scholarship cadets can get out of ROTC?


It's the National Guard, man. You're not being asked to attack Mount Suribachi or Fallajuh or something.

You signed the contract. Suck it up & honor your comittment.

Hell, I can't tell you how many times I woke up in the barracks some mornings thinking how much I regretted enlisting.....but forgot all about it by evening chow. Troubled times will pass, you know.

It ain't a life sentence. And you're doing something good that a lot of guys & gals wish they could do but aren't allowed to. I've got an 18 year old niece who wanted to serve all growing up but got diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at age 17. Now she can't. She swap places with you in a New York second.

Sorry for sounding so gruff, but unless you have a physical disability preventing you from doing your Guard duty I don't have much sympathy.

When your enlistment is over & you get an honorable discharge & clean DD214 you'll feel great!
 
If you hate the Guard, don't look to ROTC to make things better for you. You signed a contract, if you decide it Military Service isn't for you it is perfectly fine to leave when you fulfill the obligation you agreed to.

As Day-Tripper said:

When your enlistment is over & you get an honorable discharge & clean DD214 you'll feel great!
 
This is the perfect example of why joining the Guard/Reserves prior to trying Army ROTC if you want to be an officer is a bad idea. At this point you are going to be released from the Guard/Reserves only if you receive a scholarship. You signed an enlisted contract an the only thing that will supersede that is if you were to sign a scholarship contract. If you sign a non scholarship contract then you are going to be SMP, which will keep you in the Guard/Reserves.
 
OP: you want to find a slick way to get out of a contract you signed?

Fail fitness tests, gain excessive weight, get arrested and convicted, shoot yourself in the foot, report to duty drunk multiple times, or blow out your knee during field ops. During my short six years on active duty I had Marines get out for each of those examples. You may want to look into the various types of discharges and the disadvantage of a dishonorable, other than honorable and general discharge classifications.

My advice, along with those posters before me, is to man up and fulfill your commitment.
 
Last edited:
To the OP..
Seriously....why on earth did you join the NG in the first place? I agree with USMC grunt. Your reputation and honor is at stake here. Perhaps you could find a way out, but will you ultimately be able to look at the mirror and feel good about yourself? If you did it for the money for college, keep up your end of the bargain. Make the best of it and learn something along the way.
 
I do recall a young man many years ago joining the Communist Party, discharged in 24 hours. He returned one afternoon with a fully paid up party card and handed it the Platoon Leader, the air went blue for a while, and farewell to him. You will wreck your life in the real world after this but he didn’t care, like you he should never have signed on the dotted line, happy days.
 
Honestly, I do not regret any time in life when I stuck something out, even when it was hard. And I always got more out of it in the end that I thought I was going to. I am close to 30 years older than you (I know the old card is overused), however, there are few regrets I have. One from when I was in college, and another one in my 20's. I quit commitments I made, instead of seeing them through or finding the right way out of them or through them. This is one of those moments for you , where in retrospect, your years spent will not seem that bad. It seems like a lifetime right now, however, it really isn't a lifetime. But the regret or the wondering "what if" can last a lifetime. You made a commitment of your own free will, honor it. And do it for your own self respect, after all, you have to live with YOU for the rest of your life!
 
Honoring the commitment is important. However, as a former commander in the national guard, I have a seen a few times where we released someone from their contract. I want people in my unit who want to be there, not ones who are AWOL, discipline or morale problems, or generally pains in the rear. I do not have time for babysitting. My unit's retention and strength were such that I could let one person go without issues. Another thing to consider is asking to transfer units. Maybe you just hate your drilling unit or MOS/AFSC. The Guard allows rehabilitative transfers to other units or jobs much easier than active duty. Bottom line is talk to your chain of command. The worst thing that happens is you're stuck, which is where you are now anyway.
 
Back
Top