I Need Military Advice..... No GM Shit In Here.
 

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Lots of National Guard in Iraq. I was reading about a company who just got their tour extended 4 months.

Best of luck if you decide its for you.

You sound like a good kid, but be careful what you wish for.

as with all advice here, grain of salt should be a side platter. I was active duty army and reserve army, Nat guard did a lot of what I did, but were treated a bit lower, because they were at the end of the "funds" line. I would look elsewhere before guards, you're expected to do the same with less and some times with less combined training around you, I did say sometimes. A quick story. I had two airforce neighbors living in army housing one in Heidelberg Germany and one in Ft. Leonardwood, MO. They were both receiving extra money a month to live in substandard living conditions. At least check out the airforce and air guard, the more you know the better the decision you can make.

SuperFly Do or Die! Gung HO! GUNG HO!

Ex-Kansas National Guardsman here.

Yes, you can be deployed at any point in time.

Yes, NG get shitty jobs like working in cafeterias AND they hit the dirt. Just depends what your MOS (job) is and where they feel you and your unit are needed most.

Since you have college credit you qualify for an immediate promotion. In all reality, you should go into basic training with no less of a rank than E-3 which is a Private First Class (look at my avatar). Make sure you talk to the recruiter about that and get EVERYTHING in writing.

If you want to be a ground pounder... then look no further than infantry. 11B is the MOS designation. I would bet $20 that it is on the top ten list of jobs that need to be filled.

Prior to shipping out to Basic, you will still be required to report to your unit for the one weekend a month bit. You will not be allowed to participate in any of the firing range / qualifying excersizes but will instead be taking a class where you will learn proper marching, rank system, and you will do a SHIT load of PT (physical training).

If you are serious about this, I strongly suggest you begin training immediately instead of just waiting to report on your first day.

If you join up, you are almost guaranteed to see serious active duty time and/or combat. In one of the most hellish, hot godforsaken places on earth. Surrounded by people who would cut your throat and get a big woody for Allah listening to the gurgling sound of your blood gushing out. All for minimal pay and unless you do 20, no worthwhile benefits.

That two weeks a summer thing is gone forever; at least as long as President C#cksucker is in charge.

If you're determined to do this, I suggest you pick an extreme - enlist in the Navy or Air Force if you'd rather not get shot at, or if think you'd enjoy getting shot at, join the Marines so you'll be surrounded by a higher class of combatant. As low as recruiting standards are right now, I would absolutely advise against joining the Army.

Rex....locally, I think your NG options are Mechanics and medics. I've got buddies that are Sgts in both. Both units have already been deployed once and the other twice. That may reduce the chances of immediate deployment as some suggest. Check into that, but by signing the line, you know its an option.

Read the fine print.

Not if they need you, that's part of the deal. You can be activated for more. There are a lot of limits, rules, etc I don't know anything about though.

i was an air force recruiter from 85-89.

you don't join any branch of the military to continue your education, you join the military to die for your country. anything you do on this side of the dirt is gravy.

Really, the way that it was always explained to me is that as far as taking care of their people it normally goes Air Force, Navy, Army then Marines. A possibility could be to look at the Navy SeaBees, they are the group that takes care of the Marines vehicles and the like. They also go on patrols as well, from what I understand. There are some people here that will know a lot more about this then me, but it is probably worth looking into as you are interested in vehicles outside of service as well.

Good luck!

SeeBees are construction guys. They hit the ground in support of the Marines alot. They build barracks, temp bridges, not so temp bridges. They also have in the past built things for the people of the area we're in too. Corpsmen (field medics) in the Navy are on the ground with Marine units. Not all corpsmen go with Marines though, its a specialty.

The Air Force generally treats its people the best. When I was in the Navy and my best friend was enlisted in the Air Force, for a couple of months he was stationed at the AFB in Hampton, VA while I was on my ship in Norfolk. I took him on a tour of the ship, and he was horrified by the living conditions (wall-to-wall three-high bunk beds). As a low ranking enlisted man, he shared a large room with one roommate; a berthing compartment the same size as his room would house 30 sailors on a ship. Hell, their enlisted quarters were better than the staterooms our commissioned officers had.

The bad thing about the Air Force (compared to the Navy) is that you'll generally be stationed in one place, and that's it. If that one place really sucks (Minot, North Dakota, Greenland, etc.) then you're just screwed. In the Navy, though, if you're on a ship, the ship will go all over the world, and you will travel to interesting places.

I was signed for 8 years total... 6 of Guard Duty, 2 of Inactive Reserve.

Basically during that 2 year period you could be called back up at any point in time for absolutly any reason. If there is any active conflict in which the US is participating in at the time your contract is up, it will automatically be renewed until the conflict is resolved and they fell they can afford to loose you.