Should I apply national guard 4 years scholarship or Army 4 years scholarship?

JMHM15 said:
For me, I want to work as a officer. And I want to going to active duty after college graduate.
And the most important question for me is that I lookup on the national guard website it says:"Following graduation, cadets begin a new Military Service Obligation (MSO) contract and serve eight years in the Guard, which includes training." But my guard recruiter told me I only have to sign 6 years of contract with guard, and complete 4 years of contract during college time, then finish the 2 years left when I graduate from college, then I can transfer straight to active duty.
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If you sign an enlistment contract with the National Guard, you will have to go to Basic Training and AIT before you can benefit from the GI Bill while attending college. The first thing you need to ask yourself is do you want to enlist for at least 1.5 years before you try to contract as an
JMHM15 said:
I am a senior in high school, planning doing ROTC during college. Now I don't know the difference of 4 years scholarship between Army and nation guard. And I also have a question about commitment after I win the 4 years scholarship in national guard. I lookup on the national guard website it says:"Following graduation, cadets begin a new Military Service Obligation (MSO) contract and serve eight years in the Guard, which includes training." But my guard recruiter told me I only have to sign 6 years of contract with guard, and complete 4 years of contract during college time, then finish the 2 years left when I graduate from college, then I can transfer straight to active duty. I am very confuse right now, need helppp!!!
Thank you!
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They key words you shared are that you want to serve on active duty. With the Army National Guard giving you the scholarship, I’m pretty sure you would owe the Guard all 8 years. Your only hope of being a full time soldier would be to apply for an AGR position after you start your MSO with the Guard.
 
JMHM15 said:
Thanks a lot!
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Hey
Like all recruiters yours is lying to you.

you have to enlist in the guard to receive your scholarship. With a 3 yr you have a good chance that they are going to make you go to basic training and AIT. Which WILL screw up your college plans.

if you don’t like ROTC or quit or get thrown out or fail college you are still a Soldier in the guard and will have to serve out your enlisted contract.

your commitment is 8 years after you graduate. It doesn’t matter what length your enlisted contract is. You have a new service obligation as an officer.

if you get a bonus for enlisting, as soon as you contract (activate your scholarship your sophomore year) any unpaid part of your bonus goes away.

proceed with caution. Proceed with caution.

most GRFD scholarship winners regret the decision they were conned into bc the info they got was not quite true or completely false.

talk to the ROO before signing anything.

Guard recruiters get soldiers into the guard.
The ROO gets officers through ROTC
 
As @Montana State Army ROTC stated, the recruiter you are speaking to is either lying or grossly misinformed. I will address your 5 points and add to what Montana stated. For transparency, we are both Lieutenant Colonels and have years of experience with Cadet Command.

1. Congrats, contact the ROO (james.daley@ucf.edu) at UCF if that is where you are going to join Army ROTC.

2. The scholarships he is talking about are Minuteman Scholarships which are Guaranteed Reserve Forces duty, which means you have to enlist in the FLARNG, drill throughout college, and commission into the FLARNG. I used to work the ROTC program at FIU. In my experience, the FLARNG will not release you to go active duty if you have a Minuteman Scholarship, no matter what the recruiter says. He is not in the decision chain, and has no influence on it.

3. The Minuteman and Army ROTC Campus based scholarships have exactly the same benefits: 100% tuition and fees (or Room and Board up to $10,000), $1400/yearly book stipend, $420/month subsistence stipend. In fact the Minuteman Scholarships are not directly funded by the ARNG, but by Cadet Command. The ROO at your college is the one who process both MM Scholarships, and Campus Based ROTC scholarships. The only thing the ARNG does is provide the nomination, as they have been allocated potential scholarships. Only real difference between the two is what component you can commission into. Minuteman has to be ARNG or Reserves (USAR), Army ROTC campus based can be Active Duty, USAR, or ARNG. FLARNG does have good education benefits if you go to a state school, so they could cover more college expenses, as they would cover a state school tuition through GI Bill and GI Bill kicker, and the ROTC scholarship could cover Room and Board.

4. For MM Scholarship you have to do the full 8yrs in the ARNG as a drilling member.

5. He is dead wrong in almost everything he says. If he tells you that Montana or I are wrong. I invite him to contact me. I can educate him and call the FLARNG Officer Strength Manager to let them know how their recruiters are executing the MM Campaign. All military service obligations are 8 yrs, here is the breakdown for commissionees:

AD with no scholarship: 3yrs AD, the other 5 can be AD, USAR, ARNG, or IRR
AD with scholarship: 4Yrs, the other 4 can be AD, USAR, ARNG, or IRR
USAR/ARNG with no scholarship: 6yrs drilling in USAR/ARNG, the other 2 in USAR, ARNG or IRR
USAR/ARNG with scholarship: 8yrs drilling in USAR/ARNG

Technically, you can be released from your ARNG/USAR obligation and be allowed to go active duty with a Minuteman Scholarship, however that is highly unlikely, and I have not seen that done. Especially in FL. I had a cadet that even offered to pay FL back for the MM scholarship in order to go Active Duty, and the FLARNG still said no!

If you get the MM scholarship, they can enlist you as 09R (potential SMP) to delay or prevent attendance to BCT/AIT, but they will send you to BCT and AIT, if you don't contract with ROTC within 1 year of enlisting. You are not actually an SMP cadet until you contract with Army ROTC. Until that time, you are still a private in the FLARNG.


JMHM15 said:
1) I graduated from HS yesterday, and get accepted from UCF.
2) I did apply for national guard 4 years scholarship, and my guard recruiter just told me this afternoon that I got 3 years scholarship, but not 4 years one.
3) I didn't apply AROTC scholarship, because my guard recruiter keeps telling me that ARMY scholarship does not pay 100% tuition.
4) My guard recruiter told me once I received guard ROTC scholarship and want to accepted I have to sign the contract with guard for 6 years. He said:"you can complete 4 years of contract during college time, when you get out of college you only have to do the two years left on your contract. When you complete your contract you can sign contract with active duty, OR you can ask the guard during my senior year if they can let you transfer to active duty or not."
5) I don't know if the guard recruiter says right or wrong, because when I lookup the nation guard website, it's said: Following graduation, cadets begin a new Military Service Obligation (MSO) contract and serve eight years in the Guard, which includes training.

Thank you for your helping!
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EEBTTF said:
If you want active duty I would focus on the campus based AROTC scholarship opportunities. A word of caution, you mention that you are talking to a guard recruiter - a guard recruiter is not going to get you to an active duty commission. Lets back up for a minute. Questions for you:
1. You are a HS senior. Are you going to attend a 4-yr school that has an AROTC detachment?
2. Did you apply for the AROTC Scholarship? You mention a 4-YR Scholarship, that application process is closed. At this point your option would be to enroll at a school that has AROTC, join AROTC, get good grades, good PT and apply for a 3-YR campus based contract. That option would be your best chance of an AD commission.

I would advise you to talk to the ROO at the school you plan on attending. He/She will be able to walk you thru the process of getting from where you are now to where you want to be. DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING WITH THE GUARD RECRUITER UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE SIGNING.

Welcome to SAF, you have come to a good place to get information.
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DON'T ignore this advice!!! This is the ABSOLUTE gospel when it comes to considering the immediate "sweet heart" deals the Guard will offer you, vesus your long term goals of becoming an Active Duty officer...with a "LINE" scholarship, or without a scholarship.

***Take the Reserve Component scholarshi (USAR or Guard) and you give up the chance to become an Active-Duty Officer.
 
JMHM15 said:
1) I graduated from HS yesterday, and get accepted from UCF.
2) I did apply for national guard 4 years scholarship, and my guard recruiter just told me this afternoon that I got 3 years scholarship, but not 4 years one.
3) I didn't apply AROTC scholarship, because my guard recruiter keeps telling me that ARMY scholarship does not pay 100% tuition.
4) My guard recruiter told me once I received guard ROTC scholarship and want to accepted I have to sign the contract with guard for 6 years. He said:"you can complete 4 years of contract during college time, when you get out of college you only have to do the two years left on your contract. When you complete your contract you can sign contract with active duty, OR you can ask the guard during my senior year if they can let you transfer to active duty or not."
5) I don't know if the guard recruiter says right or wrong, because when I lookup the nation guard website, it's said: Following graduation, cadets begin a new Military Service Obligation (MSO) contract and serve eight years in the Guard, which includes training.

Thank you for your helping!
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Either your Guard Recruiter is INCOMPETENT, or he's a LIAR!
Accept the Guard Minuteman Scholarship, and contract with the FLARNG, and YOU WILL give up the opportunity to apply to become an Active Duty Army Officer. The chances of becoming an AD Officer through the Guard is almost non-existent as a junior Officer.
 
DSG001 said:
If your intent is to be active duty upon graduation, I highly recommend you talk to the ROTC Officer at the college you plan on attending. They are highly motivated to help you find your fit and will lead you to people who can make your desire for active duty after graduation happen. This is where I started, at the ROTC office at my college. Do not sign anything til you are confident on ALL your obligations.

Thought I would share my short journey-

I was awarded the 3-year GRFD/Minuteman Scholarship and just completed my freshman year at college in the ROTC program and could not be happier with my decision. It was a long process with lots of paperwork, physicals, exams, and interviews.
My scholarship funds start this fall and will NOT cover 100% of my tuition. It will cover my tuition or my room and board, but not both. I also will be given a monthly stipend and yearly book allowance. I have already started getting monthly pay from my Guard drills that I do. I do have institutional scholarships so with those and my Guard scholarship combined, my college will be covered the next 3 years.

First, I went to my ROTC Officer at my college the summer before my freshman year. After talking with them, they told me of scholarships that were available. One was through the Army National Guard. This was something that interested me so I went and meet with the recruiters that my ROTC Officer sent me to.
I was made very clear about my obligation BEFORE I even applied for the scholarship by the Guard recruiters. Matter-of-fact, they repeated things several times to make sure I fully understood my obligation. It was also made clear to me that switching to active duty after college will not happen til my obligation to the Guard is completed. Again they were very clear with this with me. They said in the past there had been cadets who decided they wanted active duty so now they make that a very difficult if not impossible to do.

What I was told was that I will drill once a month with my Guard unit and attend a 2-week AT each summer for my 4 years of college to which I will be paid. I have been doing this.
When I graduate and get commissioned, I will be obligated to serve 8 years in the Army National Guard.
So, all in all it is a 12 year commitment!
Now, I will be credited with 4 years of service, but my obligation service of 8 years does not start til I have graduated and am commissioned.

I strongly recommend talking to an ROTC Officer at your college.
Good luck!
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THIS READS LIKE IT WAS WRITTEN BY SOMEONE IMPERSONATING A COLLEGE STUDENT, AND A CADET!!!!!!!

How are you doing, Sarge?
 
It has been awhile since I have shared this story, but it is intended to show how good NG recruiters are. They recruit, it is what they do. On a ROTC visit during my daughter’s senior year, she was in process of applying but had not yet. One of the cadre (Captain) at the school she was visiting said to my DD, “if a national guard recruiter contacts you, DO NOT sign anything without calling us first, once you sign it, we can’t undo it, and NG recruiters recruit for NG and have no idea how ROTC works.” My daughter’s response was, “no problem, I don’t want to do National Guard, I want to be active duty.”

Fast forward six months later, she had already received a national 3 year AD AROTC scholarship, chosen and committed to a school and had been in contact with the ROO. She came home from school so excited because she had the opportunity to join the NG right now and got to basic and be in the SMP program, and start getting paid. From day one all she had wanted was active duty, so this was a surprise. Come to find out a NG recruiter talked to her at school, knew about her scholarship, and thought his offer was better. Her Dad and I both said 1. Remember what that Captain said? And 2. Don‘t do anything without talking to the ROO at your school.

Next day I asked her what the ROO said, and she casually said, “ yeah I am not doing that, it’s all good.” She never brought it up again.

Follow the advice from the source, @Montana State Army ROTC and @MohawkArmyROTC - college ROTC is their full-time jobs, contact the ROO at UFC so you can make a very informed choice.

FYI - my daughter is now active duty, a 2LT, and will graduate from infantry BOLC next week, her 4 years in ROTC and college went fast, and now she is at the beginning of her career. The next four years will go fast for you too, make sure it sets you up for the career you really want!
 
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