Air/Army National guard help

Oh, and one more thing. If you want to go to any particular school, say, jump school, or flight school....get that in writing from the recruiter BEFORE you sign ANYTHING!

 

Oh yea I do the same with any promises! Im not willing to sign anything until Im 100% sure and ready! But thanks a lot for the advice!

Ty

 

Every three years or so..and for 120 days? It is a great job..and a shit ton of fun.

 

Came across one more bit of info that might help you decide:

 

Last time the guys at the 129th went i think it was to Afghanistan for 60 days. 120 isn't too bad either..and it looks like a blast. I just hope the guard wouldn't make me stay on active duty for months after tech school. It's a pain in the ass for my co workers for me to leave work for weeks or months at a time. I think I'll stop by the guard base near my house when I get back from Afghanistan and try to talk to an aerial gunner.

 

Im in my first semester of college at the moment but im signing on in January then coming back and finishing it. Ive talked to several people about the Air Guard and it seems to be the thing for me. Was supposed to take that dang ASVAB tomorrow but my recruiter is slacking I reckon. Is anyone here a Loadmaster by chance? Thats what Id like to become in the future.

 

Finish college whatever you do!! Believe me the only way I would join if I was you would be to see if there is a college first program. Basically it says you are non-deployable for two years while continuously enrolled in school, the National Guard sometimes has that program going. I had that option when I joined as a sophomore in college but ended up being suspended for bad grades so there went my college first. However I do not regret deploying at all in fact I was going to go with my buddy's regardless of my college first. However I can almost guarantee the Army Guard recruiter is going to wave a 20,000 enlistment bonus in front of you for a "critical mos". And you will be like oh sh!@ 20 grand!!, thing is that critical mos is tied to a unit that is on the block to go to the sandbox and by the time you take off from school to go to basic and AIT and then get back and get hit with mobilization orders do a six month mob then nine months boots on ground you will be a year or more behind in school.

ROTC and OCS: If you want to lead troops then go this route.....if you want an easy cake job and just want to be an "officer" and get saluted and all that jazz then please do not do it and just pick a cake admin/desk jockey enlisted job. The military needs leaders in it officer corps....that is what ROTC and OCS are for. ROTC and the SMP are very good programs if your ultimate goal is to be a leader.

Army of Air: Well that just depends on what you want to do there are technical jobs in both and well there are ground pounding jobs in both as well, the army more so than the air force but there are some very physically demanding enlisted jobs in the air force. The army typically deploys longer but that is not always the case. Research and talk to people in your respective job interests as well as someone in each unit you may go to before you sign the dotted line. It is worth your effort now to save you the pain of six years of a job you really do not enjoy. Good luck.

 

curious why you want to join the military at all? mainly why the guard over active duty

 

I was a C130 Loadmaster prior to being an Aerial Gunner...

 

I want to join the air guard because Ive always wanted to work with airplanes or something of that matter. If I ended up taking the avionics route I could get paid to do it for the air guard while having a weekly job doing it for another company. Benefits are another reason im joining.

SandBoxPirate- I appreciate all the information. Kinda makes me think twice about the whole college situation.

Taco Gunner- What was it like? My buddy has an uncle that did it and I talked to a former loadmaster the other day. The air base is maybe 5 miles from my house so im always seeing the C-17s and thats kinda how I chose my future in the air guard if I qualify for everything.

 

It was a great job!! I traveled all over the world and got to do some cool stuff. Really enjoyed. Now, doing it on a C-17..you will see a lot more of the world. Being enlisted aircrew is really the way to go.

Personally, I joined the Air Guard to do something fun..not something that was going to get me a gig on the outside but I hated doing on the inside.

 

The newbie took over my thread lmao! just messing man gl at whatever you choose! I just cant wait to serve my country !

 

Good luck with whatever you choose. The current state of the economy for people our age it's a good choice to have, instead of just going to college and getting a degree. With the military you will get job experience that can transfer over to the civilian world and on top of that you will have a degree, best of both worlds.

 

Haha im sorry man its just always nice to hear other perspectives on it. I appreciate all that info about being a Loadmaster.