ROTC info - please help

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Slaskie1

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My son is a freshman in college in ROTC with no commitment. He talked to a National Guard recruiter today and is now convinced joining the National Guard will help him gain experience to reach his end goal of being a commissioned officer in the army after graduation. I don’t want his decision to be based on money - is this the right choice? Is he better waiting and committing to ROTC junior year? My son works hard and gets decent grades but he won’t be a candidate for any academic scholarships.

thank you for your help.
 
If your son wants the military life as an officer, I would tell him to stay out of the national guard. Once he's graduated, he'll have a commitment with the national guard and he won't be active duty. It also won't commission him any faster. He's probably just excited to get some leadership and wants the experience, but to be honest, it doesn't matter that much. If he wants AD, he's much better off just waiting to graduate college, commission, and then using his ROTC experience and his NCO's to become an effective leader. Not sure the NG will give him much of an edge.
 
Slaskie1 said:
My son is a freshman in college in ROTC with no commitment. He talked to a National Guard recruiter today and is now convinced joining the National Guard will help him gain experience to reach his end goal of being a commissioned officer in the army after graduation. I don’t want his decision to be based on money - is this the right choice? Is he better waiting and committing to ROTC junior year? My son works hard and gets decent grades but he won’t be a candidate for any academic scholarships.

thank you for your help.
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Pros
  • Only consider this if it is the Simultaneous Membership Program: https://www.nationalguard.com/simultaneous-membership-program
  • Become an officer and seek a Regular Army commission and go active duty
  • Stay an officer in the guard....if you're "half in"
  • If the state you live in has a decent reputation with the guard units, not so bad to wear a civilian hat and military hat
  • Good if he is seeking a first responder career, i.e. police officer or medical

Cons
  • If enlisted then I suggest walk away - Basically if the ARNG gets deployed, usually the equipment is not state of the art as compared to the regular active duty Army
  • Civilian employers say they are guard friendly, but in reality don't want employees getting deployed
  • The Army doesn't take good care of guard members after they separate, even if deployed to a combat zone
  • Active duty Army usually gives the guard crap missions while the RA seeks missions with medals and citations; sad but true
  • If you're going to go.....then go "all in"
 
Slaskie1 said:
My son is a freshman in college in ROTC with no commitment. He talked to a National Guard recruiter today and is now convinced joining the National Guard will help him gain experience to reach his end goal of being a commissioned officer in the army after graduation. I don’t want his decision to be based on money - is this the right choice? Is he better waiting and committing to ROTC junior year? My son works hard and gets decent grades but he won’t be a candidate for any academic scholarships.

thank you for your help.
Click to expand...
It's great to hear your son wants to serve, that's #1. I would suggest you get him focused on what he wants to do while he serves; part-time, full time and the MOS/Branch and less about simply commissioning. There are roles that he may want that are not in the National Guard that are found on AD AND there are MOS/Jobs that you can really only DO as enlisted vs Officer. But again, all "first world problems" because your son wants to serve!
 
DS did SMP while going the ECP path of commissioning. Other than just giving him some insight to what a drill weekend is like, counting as time in service and making a paycheck, he said he really did not do much. Plus you could have school/drill conflicts.

Also, a lot of people wiser than I on this forum have said repeatedly, if you want to be an officer, concentrate on being an officer. There is nothing about being an enlisted for 2 or 3 years, especially in the guard or reserves, that will help you be a better officer.
 
Being in the ARNG will not necessarily prepare him to be or make him a better officer, it will make him a better private. If he is assigned to a good unit, then there could be some value as an SMP cadet, if they give him lieutenant responsibilities. However, he will not be an SMP cadet until he contracts with ROTC. Until then, he will be a private and expected to go to basic training and AIT. He will also be subject to any mobilizations, as he is not protected as an SMP cadet until he contracts with ROTC. He could avoid going to basic and AIT, if he enlists as 09R (potential SMP cadet), but they tend to want you to be able to contract with ROTC within the year. There are pros to enlisting to the ARNG, as it is a source of part time income, gives some military experience, and can provide financial assistance through the GI Bill, Tuition Assistance, and Student Loan Repayment, but that requires attending BCT/AIT and fulfilling a service obligation. The biggest thing is to identify why your son wants to join the ARNG. Will it fulfill an actual need? I am actually pro-SMP for state school attendees as many states will cover the cost of the tuition if you are in there ARNG, and it is a big help for cadets who can't afford college and are not scholarship eligible. I was an SMP cadet myself for financial assistance prior to commissioning onto active duty.
 
Slaskie1 said:
My son is a freshman in college in ROTC with no commitment. He talked to a National Guard recruiter today and is now convinced joining the National Guard will help him gain experience to reach his end goal of being a commissioned officer in the army after graduation. I don’t want his decision to be based on money - is this the right choice? Is he better waiting and committing to ROTC junior year? My son works hard and gets decent grades but he won’t be a candidate for any academic scholarships.

thank you for your help.
Click to expand...
I agree with @MohawkArmyROTC. Before your son moves forward with enlisting in the National Guard, he needs to be able to be explain how and why enlisting will help him become a better commissioned officer. I would encourage him to compete for a campus based scholarship first. If he's not selected, then I could see going down the National Guard route for the sake of financial assistance.
 
I have one in the ANG. He was medically DQ’ed for any SA. And eventually ended up ANG. He invested a lot of time (ultimately 3 semesters) in the process...between delays in his basic, and scheduling his training. Also covid thrown in there. But it messed up his schooling timetable. NBD, but the point I’m making here is that the best planned plans, go wonky. For him it equated to a 3 semester delay (and sort of putting his life on hold waiting) in school, and therefore graduation. BUT? He has found his jam, and is super happy, and has a REALLY cool job (that he can’t tell me about). And school is paid for. He has intentions of becoming on Officer. We shall see, but his Guard duty is fulfilling for him.

As with anything, go in eyes wide open. Recruiters will work their magic to get a signature on the dotted line. That’s their job. Hopefully he can also talk to some people in the unit to find out how things REALLY work. And also talk with his school to see how they handle it. My guy had issues with ‘disenrollemt’ ( bc of length of time...), lost his email, had some additional feees, etc. They all got worked through, but it was just “stuff” he hadn’t planned on. And was all on him, as their isn’t a ‘unit’ to help him. It’s a very independent kind of thing! (Adding for the school piece, his school didn’t tell him, but he was able to get credit for some of his training stuff and not have to take a class or two...heads up there!)

Good luck to him. He just has to be comfortable and OK with all of the options that could come up. Expect the worst (deployment in the middle of the semester...) and be ok with it. IMO.
 
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