What Is It? Do I Suck For ROTC? What Am I Missing!

Q

Qualifier

New Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2015
Messages
4
Hi Guys,

New guy here. Excited to finally be part of the Army family, but a bit of frustration growing for a non-scholarship contract with ROTC. The nearest ROTC I have is 20 minutes vs 1 hour and 26 minutes for the 2nd best option here were I live. I finished BCT/AIT on December 2014 with highest APFT scores in my platoon and RSP National Guard.

My stats:
- 299 APFT AIT score (13:21 instead of 13:18 in my AIT run, freezing weather sucks!!)
- 3.84 Masters Degree (<-- ROTC counts my 2 classes already done instead of my bachelors)
- Fully bilingual, Spanish being my native tongue ( learnign Italian with duolingo and rosseta stone!)

My question are..
- Is ROTC running out of funds for contracting National Guard soldiers that want to compete active duty? The cadre is recommending I move to the Reserves if I want to compete active duty with ROTC. If I contract in May, ROTC is saying it'll be impossible to get a release from the National Guard no matter if I keep my 'ok' scores as NG already made the investment on me, another number. Making a move to the Reserves means I've to reclassify MOS and that's a pain/a sacrifice that might be unnecessary. Not that I am unwilling to, but is it really necessary, that's my main questioning right now.

- Apparently if I start right now, as a non-scholarship cadet(or trainee, not sure of the term without contracting) some say there's retroactive pay until I get contracted($450 per month as M3 that I'd start) and some NG soldiers that went the OCS route(2 of them) are telling me to be careful as there's no ROTC retroactive pay and that I work for free until I get contracted with ROTC? What's your point of view here by experience, know-how?

- How much time does ROTC really consume on a weekly basis? I am undecided whether to go to ROTC 1 hour 20+ minutes away from my end or the one that I have 20 minutes away. The treatment and flexibility is BIG from one another, I am entertaining the 1 hour + ride as apparently they accept National Guard for competition and are more flexible in weekly visits.

I am here to learn, so hopefully I get some gems out the first time here guys. Appreciate it a lot!

Thanks!
 
Well, I do not read much here about the National Guard but hopefully someone will come along that can answer your questions. One hour, 20 min would be quite a drive. I would suggest avoiding that if you can. Good luck with whatever choice you make.
 
As far as the retroactive stipend pay of $450.00. They do not pay and stipend retroactive, you start receiving your stipend when you contract, you would not receive any back stipend pay.

As far as competing for Active Duty, there have been a lot of changes in how they are contracting cadets in regard to SMP. A lot will depend on which state's Guard you are in and what tuition assistance you take. It is possible that they may not release you to Active Duty and you may only be offered a Reserve/Guard contract. This is something you will have to work out with your unit and the ROTC Battalion. Be aware that the rules can change at anytime. ROTC is not running out of funds, although they are giving fewer contracts due to the need for junior officer becoming less. A lot will depend on how many contracts they have available.

Your MOS is not going to matter, once you contract you will be switched to a O9R MOS which means your a contracted cadet and your unit will put you where they want you, you may shadow a LT, you may be in an office shuffling paperwork, but you will not be working in the MOS you received from AIT.

You will need to find out how your Battalion handles PT, do they require you to be at the host campus or can you do it at the school you are attending. Where would you be taking the MS Classes and Lab, if it is at the host school you will need to give yourself time for travel and it could be harder the longer the travel to schedule them into your class schedule.

Make sure you have these discussions with the Cadre at both schools and your NG Unit so you understand the entire process. If you were simply a non contracted cadet that had not joined the National Guard, this would be much easier.
 
Works for me. I am now an MS4 non-scholarship trainee without a contract yet. The cadre hasn't concluded yet whether to keep me as MS4, which I am taking classes with MS4 as of now or just start as an MS2 and then contract in December/2015 to graduate in December 2017 the dual degrees. I explained to the cadre I can finish by December 2016 with at least one masters degree, but he said his full for 2016 and 2017 is almost the same when it comes to graduate cadets allowed.

I ended up in an ROTC battalion 53 miles away from my home just to have an active duty option. 106 miles a day two times a week.

New cadre from my ROTC battalion initially told me May/2015 could be a great possibility if I keep my 3.84 gpa and APFT scores, but now all of a sudden may likely end up contracting in December 2015 if I keep my scores high.

Good question on my end now is, should keep myself as an MS4 as a 'hybrid' (so they called people that come as ms4 and switch to ms3, then ms5) or should I start now as MS2. Mmm

Thx again Jcleppe
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top