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I have been a 25A for the past three years AC. I am transferring to the National Guard and their strength management is asking if I want to remain Signal or change to Engineer. I have 10 years of enlisted experience as an Engineer. Does anyone have experience as an officer or senior enlisted within an Engineer or Signal unit within the guard?
12A: Engineer Officer
25A: Signal Officer
MOS
Posted 5 y ago
Responses: 7
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What type units are there in your state, or close by? Signal units tend to be rare in the Guard, and therefore command opportunities are also rare. And then, of course, it's a matter of your personal taste. Which would you prefer to be?
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SGM Jeff Mccloud
This.
How many EN BNs are in that state? That's how many opportunities there will be to make CPT, MAJ and LTC in EN in that state.
How many total BNs and BDEs are there? That's how many total SIG Os they have jobs for, plus maybe a signal co.
Regardless, take the opportunity to pick up EN up front when you get there, and then you can take any EN or SC job offered down the road.
How many EN BNs are in that state? That's how many opportunities there will be to make CPT, MAJ and LTC in EN in that state.
How many total BNs and BDEs are there? That's how many total SIG Os they have jobs for, plus maybe a signal co.
Regardless, take the opportunity to pick up EN up front when you get there, and then you can take any EN or SC job offered down the road.
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MAJ Ron Peery
SGM Jeff Mccloud - All combat arms units would have a slot for a comm plt ldr and an S6, but those don't get you command time. What I faced in my home state was zero signal units. I could have taken over the State Signal Officer job, and got my promotion to LTC. But for many reasons, I opted to retire at MAJ.
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CSM Charles Hayden Passed 7/29/2025
SGM Jeff Mccloud CA ARNG is good for Engineer units. Most of them are/were in N. CA.
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I started Infantry enlisted and commissioned, the switched to the Engineers when I joined the KyANG. The two best jobs I had in the Army was Engineer Company Commander and Assistant Brigade Engineer. Kentucky had two battalions of Engineers, one heavy and a Divisional Combat Engineer, so a lot of slots and they were short handed at the time. I liked the job.
Engineer units do get deployed quite a bit, even when I was still around, both Federal and State duty.
I would look at the units in the state to see how many positions are around. You will have to complete whatever the call EOAC to complete your branch qualification. Be aware the Bridging and Power Distribution courses can be real buggers.
Engineer units do get deployed quite a bit, even when I was still around, both Federal and State duty.
I would look at the units in the state to see how many positions are around. You will have to complete whatever the call EOAC to complete your branch qualification. Be aware the Bridging and Power Distribution courses can be real buggers.
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CSM Charles Hayden Passed 7/29/2025
CPT Lawrence Cable Being an Engineer Co CDR is just like most Co CDR positions, (and 1SG positions), - the BEST JOB IN THE ARMY!
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CPT Lawrence Cable
CSM Charles Hayden Passed 7/29/2025 - I think all Company Commanders look back fondly at their command time. One of the differences at that time was that a Divisional Engineer Company supported a Brigade, so you often operated independently of your Battalion Headquarters. It's about as close to being a ship's captain as you can get in the Army. Most of the Infantry/Armor Commanders don't really have a clue about what an Engineer unit is supposed to do for them, so if you show up and do your job, they are amazed.
We showed up at a position where than Infantry Battalion was digging into a defensive position with a SEE to help them at least rough in their fighting positions. The grunts were asking what kind of sexual favors they had to provide for us to do that and just seemed shocked when they were told that this was just part of our jobs. We became real popular when the units found out our capacities and our ability to string their wire for them also.
We showed up at a position where than Infantry Battalion was digging into a defensive position with a SEE to help them at least rough in their fighting positions. The grunts were asking what kind of sexual favors they had to provide for us to do that and just seemed shocked when they were told that this was just part of our jobs. We became real popular when the units found out our capacities and our ability to string their wire for them also.
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I would change. In the reserve component it's fairly easy to change back to another MOS you hold.
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Dependent on state and number of Engineer slots in that state. As an Engineer officer in the National Guard you will be also see many interesting state missions.
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If you plan on staying in the Guard to complete your 20 years, I recommend changing to Engineers. As was already mentioned, you can always revert back to 25A if a promotion opportunity opens up and the Guard will send you to the engineer transition course. Depending on the state, we are woefully short of Signal officers in the Guard so opportunity to make O4 quickly is rather high and non-competitive. After that, your options will decrease and be limited to O5 Signal at State DOIM JFHQs or a Division G6. We don't have many ESBs to get O5 command time. In this respect, the Engineer world would be better. Having more MOSs as you gain rank opens more doors for promotion once you become DA-select. While it kills me (as a Sigo) to recommend Engineers, it makes the most sense based on the information provided. Don't forget that we now have a lot more Cybernetwork Defense slots in the Guard (17A types) and that may be more attractive if you are a Network Engineer/IA type person on the civilian side.
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Not Guard, but AC and Reserve Engineer Officer. Was enlisted MP. Aside from having different buttons on your class “A” and dress uniforms (at least we used to), there’s probably a lot more opportunities for Engineer Officers down the road (particularly in the Reserves). You can even be assigned to a USACE office. There was a reserve unit in the DC area that also supported USACE. And, USACE loved to bring engineer officers on short tour active duty (if you wanted it).
Good luck!
Good luck!
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