Posted on Sep 13, 2020
Can I terminate a contract to go 38G/6D CA Reserves?
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Hey there,
I signed my contract to re-enlist into the NG. I signed for 8 years as a 42A and my recruiter assured me that I could submit a packet for OCS whenever I wanted to essentially. I learned about the Reserves looking for 38G/6D which is CA Public Education. I am wondering why my recruiter did not mention this to me. My civilian career since 2014 has been an educator. My Master’s degree is in Education and I’m currently seeking an EdD. I have inquired to others about the possibility of changing over to the Reserves and direct commissioning as I meet all the requirements. One person told me that the hiring authority can truly bypass anything because I’m no where near my ETS date.
I was wondering what the community thinks about this? Is it possible to terminate this contract in order to purpose my dreams of being a US Army Officer?
Thank you for time.
I signed my contract to re-enlist into the NG. I signed for 8 years as a 42A and my recruiter assured me that I could submit a packet for OCS whenever I wanted to essentially. I learned about the Reserves looking for 38G/6D which is CA Public Education. I am wondering why my recruiter did not mention this to me. My civilian career since 2014 has been an educator. My Master’s degree is in Education and I’m currently seeking an EdD. I have inquired to others about the possibility of changing over to the Reserves and direct commissioning as I meet all the requirements. One person told me that the hiring authority can truly bypass anything because I’m no where near my ETS date.
I was wondering what the community thinks about this? Is it possible to terminate this contract in order to purpose my dreams of being a US Army Officer?
Thank you for time.
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 5
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Your Guard recruiter probably didn't mention it because CA is an Army Reserve thing, and Guard recruiters don't know anything about it, and aren't in the business of putting people in the Army Reserves.
For the job you are talking about (really any officer job in CA), you must already be a commissioned officer to apply.
You can go to OCS in the Guard for literally any branch available, then apply for this program from the Guard. If accepted, they will transfer you to the Army Reserves.
If I were you, I would do a little more research to find out where the closest jobs are, and decide how far you are willing to commute to drill for this. It might be the closest one is 1,000 miles away.
For clarification, you cannot "terminate" a contract. You can renegotiate a contract, the Army can terminate it if it was erroneous, (SM was ineligible), or you could request a hardship discharge or conditional release to join another component.
For the job you are talking about (really any officer job in CA), you must already be a commissioned officer to apply.
You can go to OCS in the Guard for literally any branch available, then apply for this program from the Guard. If accepted, they will transfer you to the Army Reserves.
If I were you, I would do a little more research to find out where the closest jobs are, and decide how far you are willing to commute to drill for this. It might be the closest one is 1,000 miles away.
For clarification, you cannot "terminate" a contract. You can renegotiate a contract, the Army can terminate it if it was erroneous, (SM was ineligible), or you could request a hardship discharge or conditional release to join another component.
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LTC Jason Mackay
SPC (Join to see) To add on you'd have to work with an Army Reserve recruiter to do a Conditional Release DD368 from the ARNG. Agree with the Sergeant Major, go to Guard OCS or apply for federal OCS and transfer to the USAR.
No surprise, SGM (Join to see) makes an excellent suggestion at seeing exactly where you'd have to go for Drill. This is a long term challenge for USAR officers to find upward mobility and "slots". I would recommend going to said USAR unit and request an office call with their Commander. Tell them what you are looking to do, and if you could get some advice on pursuing that. What very well may happen is they are poised to do a by name request to help pull you in once you are commissioned and other requirements are otherwise met. If I am not mistaken, CA officers do go trough a selection process as well. That is why it is imperative to make some contact and learn the nuances of that part of the Army.
No surprise, SGM (Join to see) makes an excellent suggestion at seeing exactly where you'd have to go for Drill. This is a long term challenge for USAR officers to find upward mobility and "slots". I would recommend going to said USAR unit and request an office call with their Commander. Tell them what you are looking to do, and if you could get some advice on pursuing that. What very well may happen is they are poised to do a by name request to help pull you in once you are commissioned and other requirements are otherwise met. If I am not mistaken, CA officers do go trough a selection process as well. That is why it is imperative to make some contact and learn the nuances of that part of the Army.
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CPT Lawrence Cable
I would also point out that it is generally a bit easier to get into a Army National Guard OCS program and there are more options on how you go through. If taking off for 3 months plus to go to Federal OCS is a problem, the Guard Traditional OCS replaces regular drills with OCS weekends and AT's. There is also an accelerated program available in some states, but it also has the highest dropout rate.
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I recently moved from the Guard to the Reserves to pick up 38A with the intent of doing 38G as well. You can try to switch from Guard to Reserves under your enlistment contract or once you commission but a commission carries 4-6 years of mandatory service with it that the state can use to keep you. It might actually be about the time it takes to go to BOLC, get a bit of PL and other experience, and bring those skill sets to CA in addition to your civilian skills. How hard states will fight to keep you depends a lot on the state. They can essentially tell the Reserves, "this is how much time she owes," but I'm not completely sure how it works on the enlisted side as I was commissioned by the time I switched. If your state sends people to accelerated OCS or Federal OCS, I'd probably just go that route but if they only let people do the state program (2 weeks of phase 1 OCS, 12 months of drilling, phase 2 OCS, and 2 weeks of phase 3 OCS) I'd try to commission in the Reserves which sends people to federal OCS at Benning. In any case, you will need to commission to some basic branch before you can be a 38G. I'm not certain if you have to be qualified for it by the time you apply but it never hurts to pick up an additional skill set as I mentioned before.
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CPT (Join to see)
To clarify on my statement on OCS, I did NG accelerated and was a black hat at WAARNG state OCS program for a bit. Being a candidate sucks. Accelerated OCS (8 weeks of 7 days a week, literally 20 hours a day) sucks. But being a candidate for over a year and having to keep coming back to being a candidate when you can just leave whenever and not have to deal with it is probably much worse. Get it done within 8 weeks or 13 weeks and move on with your life.
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SPC (Join to see) you can always try to transfer to the Army Reserve or go IRR then get picked up by a Army Reserve Retention NCO as many states tend to try to hold on to their Soldiers for dear life even if there is no upward mobility for them.
As far as direct commissioning, the last that I heard the Army Reserve got rid of that and you need to do OCS instead. The other thing is you need to do a "basic branch" prior to going Civil Affairs. Once you have done your basic officers training (BOLC) and been a LT for a few years then you can apply to go Civil Affairs (see below for major requirements):
- Be eligible for a Top Secret security clearance under provisions of AR 380-67
- Be a First Lieutenant or Captain in a targeted year group
- Possess a baccalaureate degree
https://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/special-operations/civil-affairs/civil-affairs-req.html
As far as direct commissioning, the last that I heard the Army Reserve got rid of that and you need to do OCS instead. The other thing is you need to do a "basic branch" prior to going Civil Affairs. Once you have done your basic officers training (BOLC) and been a LT for a few years then you can apply to go Civil Affairs (see below for major requirements):
- Be eligible for a Top Secret security clearance under provisions of AR 380-67
- Be a First Lieutenant or Captain in a targeted year group
- Possess a baccalaureate degree
https://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/special-operations/civil-affairs/civil-affairs-req.html
Learn about the requirements to becoming a Civil Affairs Soldier.
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CW2 (Join to see)
That link is for Active Duty CA Sir, which doesn't have 38G. Reserve is a different beast.
LTC (Join to see) 1SG (Join to see)
LTC (Join to see) 1SG (Join to see)
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LTC (Join to see)
CW2 (Join to see) - tracking, just know that you need to have those from what I am tracking. I know a buddy of mine was enlisted CA and wasn't even allowed to try to go CA until he finished CCC (he was AGR and I believe that now has changed given their new CCC).
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LTC (Join to see)
1SG (Join to see) - thanks, Top. I knew they were changing something, just haven't worked with CAs in awhile.
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