ROTC and National Guard

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Ryan0204

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I want to do ROTC, but the only way I can afford the cost of school would be with the state and federal tuition assistance from the National Guard. How would it affect my ability to contract if I had to miss my first semester of college for OSUT? Should I just take a gap year in that case, or should I go non-contracted and try my hardest to pick up a three year scholarship?
 
Going to pipe in here. I have one son who is National Guard and a second son who received a 4 year ROTC scholarship this year.
The national guard son did a split option program, did his basic between junior and senior year, and his ait between senior and freshman year. He gets a monthly stipend based on if he has drill that month or not and how long the drill is. He has a 6 year contract and has just done 2 years of it. He does get assistance for his tuition which is about $7K a year. He goes to a private college. If he went to a state college, they would pay all the tuition. So he will come out of college with some debt. He may be deployed next year. He is infantry. He tried ROTC but didn't like it.
The ROTC son will receive all his tuition and fees, plus his room and board will be a discounted amount. He will receive a monthly stipend of $420 while in school. He will also come out of school with debt but not as much as his brother.

If you want to go the NG route ; you could do the split option and still make it back from basic before college starts. My son swore in in April and left in June for basic, got back two days before school started.
 
The Split option really can depend on the state. I know here in NJ they did not want to allow the split option unless you are a scholarship winner or you are a HS Junior. But in Vermont for example they allow it. So I had a discussion with the NG Recruiter who is actually on the campus of Norwich. In the end his advice was he DOES NOT recommend trying to do Basic Training before showing up for your freshman year because of the potential of getting injured. Then your in trouble when your Rook or whatever you school calls the indoctrination period of your ROTC or Corps of Carets needs to do the intensive PT. My son and I sat back and said he was right. They also said if he decided he really wanted NG training after his first semester then come back to him as they work directly with the university to get you off to Basic and advanced ( 15 weeks ) and ensure you are back for Soph Semester in time. We no longer are looking at this because my DS was a scholarship winner. The more and more my son investigated this the more confusing it was getting.

PS Remember if you in the NG the first 2 years being a student does not protect you if they need to deploy. Not sure if that is a contracted student or just a NG / Student determination . But the NG recruiter in NJ was very very clear to make that known. You are not protected from being deployed anywhere the first 2 years !!
 
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Ryan0204 said:
I want to do ROTC, but the only way I can afford the cost of school would be with the state and federal tuition assistance from the National Guard. How would it affect my ability to contract if I had to miss my first semester of college for OSUT? Should I just take a gap year in that case, or should I go non-contracted and try my hardest to pick up a three year scholarship?
Click to expand...

Our daughter joined the Army Reserves and did split ops. She went to BCT between Junior and Senior Year of HS. Instead of AIT, she will be joining ROTC at her College with SMP. The Reserves offers a Minute Man scholarship which works almost exactly like the National ROTC scholarship and it's less competitive.
 
Your best bet is to contact the ROTC program at the school you plan to attend. Some schools work better with SMP than others. You'll want to get their perspective. I'm guessing split ops is not an option (I'm assuming you are a senior). Also keep in mind if you want to serve on active duty some of the GRFD/Minuteman options will not allow you to get an active duty commission.
 
I thought the recommendation was to wait until your sophomore year, after contracting with ROTC, to pursue SMP with the Guard/Reserve.
 
That’s my usual advice, but some kids just can’t wait, or have been convinced they need to go to basic and be enlisted to make them a better officer. If you want to earn a college degree and commission best to try out ROTC first.
 
I was on the Ike Skelton ECP Forum, but now that I found this forum, I see that many questions have been addressed. So, to give you a bit of my DS background: He is a HS Senior and has been accepted by a state university in their Honors College (Engineering). He is considered an "out-of-state" student. He was offered the Ike Skelton ECP ROTC scholarship, but he doesn't want to attend a Junior Military College. So we are exploring the Army National Guard.

This is what we know to this point: By joining the NG, he would be considered In-State by the university -- A drop of over $20K in tuition per year (this is from the University). Additionally, the NG recruiters have told us that there are a number of educational benefits offered by the NG. All spelled out on paper, by the way. We have never been told anything about "potential to get injured, so wait ...". We were also told my DS would (probably) be able to do the "split training", so he would do Basic during the summer, and be back in time to begin in college for the 2018 Fall Semester. He would then do the AIT in the summer of 2019 (between the freshman and sophomore years).

We understood he would be able to "join" the ROTC program right away, and thus be in a "NON-deployable" status. However, by reading replies in this forum, it is NOT like that; it seems that it would be at least 2 years before he could be in any NON-deployable status! If I understood it correctly, he would either have to win the "Minuteman scholarship" or an "ROTC" scholarship to be in the non-deployable status. Or wait 2 years to get "contracted" by the ROTC program (at the end of his sophomore year). Am I correct?

By the way, I had to chuckle at an earlier post: Yes, we were told that the best officers were enlisted first ... :)

So, it looks like we need to talk to the ROO. Where do we find him/her?
Thanks to all!
 
Probably find him, or her, via the School's AROTC web site.
 
MichaelAZ,

If your son does the split option doing BCT this summer and AIT next summer he would not be deployable his freshman year because he will need to complete both BCT and AIT to be deployable. There is also a chance your son could sign a contract with AROTC as early as the start of his sophomore year.

Talking to a ROO is the best bet to get all the proper information.
 
Jcleppe is right on. As long as he doesn’t go to AIT he is non deployable. Just need to confirm with his recruiter what benefits he will be eligible for with just basic.

He can contract as early as beginning of his sophomore year. If I have a Cadet who I know is not competitive for a scholarship I contract them as early as possible to get their stipend started. Three years of $420 a month goes a long way at some schools.

Sounds like you’ve done your home work and the recruiter isn’t selling you a used car. Just need to talk to the ROO. Google “university” Army ROTC and you should find their website or information about who the host program is. There should be contact information.

It’s always the enlisted recruiters that will tell you you’ll be a better Officer if you are enlisted first...wonder why?
 
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