National Guard vs. Reserves

Bondo7

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Our DD will be enrolled in college and either the Guard or Reserves simultaneously, so besides one being on the state level and the other national, what are the major differences. Also she can not be deployed while in school, if deployment is a factor.
 
So she is doing Army SMP?

Guard units are more readily available to drill with and there is usually more of a choices as to the type of unit (branch). These can range from support units to combat arms units.
Reserve units are typically more support units and there are fewer of them.

There are 7 reserve units in our state and almost 60 guard units. So location will play a big roll.

Also, as far as the unit she does SMP with, it will have no effect on what branch she commissions into.
 
So she is doing Army SMP?

Guard units are more readily available to drill with and there is usually more of a choices as to the type of unit (branch). These can range from support units to combat arms units.
Reserve units are typically more support units and there are fewer of them.

There are 7 reserve units in our state and almost 60 guard units. So location will play a big roll.

Also, as far as the unit she does SMP with, it will have no effect on what branch she commissions into.
She choose the ECP program, it was a better offer in the long run, so basically the SMP if i had to make a connection as we are still learning about all of this. We know a lot of the issues people have with the ECP is maturity, but that will not be a problem with her. She will have to sign up in PA., so any other information you would like to give would be greatly appreciated.
 
Guard has combat roles alongside support (ex. you have the option to be an infantryman in the guard but not in reserves) while reserves has none (unless you consider MP one) and Guard can help with state stuff such as natural disasters
 
She will want to explore the pros and cons of each as well as keeping in mind that she will need to drill with the unit once she complete her first two years in the ECP program. This could be a deciding factor since she will need to select a 4 year school to complete her degree and the location of that school will be easier to coordinate with NG units since there are more to choose from. Then she will need to decide which one she will want while she completes her Service Obligation since she will most likely not be offered Active Duty and will serve her time as either NG or Reserve.
 
She choose the ECP program, it was a better offer in the long run, so basically the SMP if i had to make a connection as we are still learning about all of this. We know a lot of the issues people have with the ECP is maturity, but that will not be a problem with her. She will have to sign up in PA., so any other information you would like to give would be greatly appreciated.

The amount she gets out of the SMP program will depend a lot on the unit she drills with. There will be a lot of sitting around doing nothing. Don't expect it to give her a great advantage on anything. DS drilled with a SAPPER unit during SMP and they loved him because he showed up and did the things he was supposed to do. He got to do some 2nd LT stuff, but on weekends when they were not really doing anything it was quite boring.


The school she is going to probably as certain units they send people to, and those units only have so many slots they can fill with SMP's, so that might play a part in it also.

And yes maturity will play a big roll, but discipline and time management will also. When she commissions and moves on to her follow up school she will be in a guard/reserve unit as a platoon leader without the luxury of going BOLC first to really learn how to be an officer in the branch she's in.
So you have people in charge of you not knowing if you know anything or not because you havn't been to BOLC.

DS also did ECP and struggled his first semester at big state U because of the pressure of school, living on his own and all the extra time and pressure of Guard. For an officer it's not just a one weekend a month and 2 weeks a year. Many times his drill weekends are 3 day drills so he misses a day of classes. He now spends about 5 hrs a week doing guard stuff on his own time (depending on what they are doing that month). He had to fill out paperwork for the state for drill that he had no idea how to so he had to figure out who to get assistance from in his unit. Your DD will also be 20yrs old (I'm assuming) in charge of people maybe twice her age that might have been in guard longer than she has been alive. Yes this happened to DS.

As DS put it on one of his bad days "whoever the he** thought that making a 20yr old an officer in the Army was a good idea needs their butt kicked".

He has since gotten over it and is doing quite well:)
 
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Thank you everyone for the food for thought, and the great advise. Have a happy holiday and Merry Christmas.
 
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