Can I lose my NCO rank if I go from Army guard to active duty?

I went back to active duty after serving two years in the Army Reserves. It cost me 2 ranks Sp-4 down to E-2. And yes, it totally sucked.

Usually they will take a rank from you but it really just depends on how they do the paper work. When I went from national guard to active duty I was an E4 promotable but they weren't accepting anything over Pfc so I had to take a loss in grade to go active.

You'd likely lose it regardless. Guard to Active transitions frequently cause reductions in rank.

I went from being an E-5 to a E-3 when I switched to active duty. Depending on your MOS, it can be hard to get it back in a timely manner.

It depends on finding a slick recruiter, not having a preference for first duty station, and a high demand MOS. In these cases, an E5 can possibly keep the rank, but not any rank higher than that, at least not that I have seen.

Your recruiter will do a grade determination and that will depend on needs of the Army and strength of your MOS. This year I put in a Reserve E-6 that stayed E-6 and two Guard E-5s that stayed E-5. It's not a guarantee you will keep your rank but you won't know until the grade determination gets back. Go see your recruiter.

What does your DD 214 say your rank is at your separation?? I went from E4 wearing E5 (what they used to call Acting Jack) to E1 when I went from reserves to active.

As I remember it your US Army recruiter should had send all your documents to the USAREC to do a grade determination base on your time in services school and unit vacancy. If your recruiter was very pro active all can be done in less than 4t days.

When transfered from guard to regular the took one paygrade that was in the 70's

When I went active duty in 88 as a reservist and SPC4, I was reduced to PVT2. I am sure the regulations have changed much since then. A current recruiter would be the one to talk to, but as Sergeant Lindsey mentioned below. Make sure everything is in writing before signing anything!