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I recently turned 17 and want to join to the reserves. My plan is join reserves now so next year when I go to college I'd have access to gi bill and tuition assistance and in college do ROTC. I am meeting with my recruiter next week (possibly for the last time before I sign) and was wondering what questions I should ask him. If you could leave some questions or anything I should know it would be appreciated.
Reserves
ROTC
Posted 6 y ago
Responses: 14
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If you join the reserves and then commission through ROTC, they may not allow you to commission active duty. I would ask about that. Have you thought about just applying for rotc and trying to get scholarship through rotc? They will pay all tuition, books, and monthly stipend if you get it
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Matteo Milazzo
LTC Eric Udouj I'm slightly confused by your comment, my apologies. From my understanding, if I sign an rotc contract I wouldn't be out of the reserves until that contract is up, but I would be excluded from having to be deployed if my reserve unit were to have to be.
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LTC Eric Udouj
I will try to make it easy sounding - vs what the Regs say in detail that are anything but easy reading even for those who understand what they are saying. When you contract for the ROTC Advanced course.. you are an officer cadet. So even if you were an E4 in your USAR unit - or E5 - you now are placed in an officer position of leadership. If you are scholarship - different story in the timeline and you are transferred from the TPU you are in to the ROTC Control Group (let ROTC explain that in detail how such occurs and when it will occur if you are wanting to go scholarship). Usually the Advanced program is MSIII as far as SMP and GRF scholarship is concerned. What governs everything is AR 601-210 para 9-14.
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LTC Eric Udouj
I do not want to sound to technical - only to provide you some further questions to ask, and letting you know that all such questions are governed by regulation... Your recruiter can walk you through your questions by using that paragraph as well - which he/she will probably know very well in all its aspects.
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COL Jon Thompson
Matteo Milazzo - Be advised. If you are enlisted in the Army Reserve and do ROTC, there are limited scholarships available for you if your end desire is to do active duty. As a Soldier in the USAR, you can compete for a GRFD scholarship which locks you into reserve forces duty and takes active duty off the table. If you want to compete for an active duty scholarship, the USAR would need to release you. Otherwise you would have to select a non-scholarship contract.
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Just so you know tuition assistance only covers 16 hours of classes per fiscal year. The normal school year is 32 hours a year
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Matteo Milazzo
CPT (Join to see) I would be using mine. You have access to both GI and tuition assistance within a year of service and, according to my recruiter, if I were to join this summer and be in the reserves throughout my senior year of high school, I would be able to use those programs by the time I'm in college.
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CPT (Join to see)
As a reservist you only get partial GI bill. To get a full GI bill it’s based on your time on active duty.
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Matteo Milazzo
CPT (Join to see) ok I was unaware of that. I will definitely ask how much would be available to me. Thank you
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LTC Eric Udouj
Agree wit CPT Hamilton - best to make sure you read up and understand yourself what the benefits are for the USAR. Just as important is knowing the difference between USAR and Army National Guard. Yes - there is a difference being ARNG education programs vary state to state. Would also recommend talking to the ROTC of whatever school you are wanting to attend in regards to scholarship. https://www.goarmy.com/reserve/benefits/education.html?iom=OP68-9021-ACNP-PS-XXX-GO-XXX-W2-XX-X-W44&&c3apidt=p [login to see] 3&gclid=CjwKCAjwmNzoBRBOEiwAr2V27REQyiLJ6eBkgZx_Fg-t3LSe99VkukLRcZzxitlwUidBNO9rVPjvxhoClp4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Army Reserve Tuition Assistance, Education Benefits & Loan Repayments
How do you plan on paying for college? Did you know the Army Reserve can help? Read how the Army can provide tuition assistance, student loan repayments and provide other educational benefits.
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Which branch are you looking into? What job are you looking to get? The Army doesn’t have Combat jobs in the Reserves only support jobs. The Army Guard has Combat jobs. The Air Force Reserves have almost every job as the active duty side. I am not sure what jobs are available for the Navy and Marine Reserves.
First of all, if you go Reserves, you need to find out where exactly your Reserve unit is located. Is it close to your home or 3 hours away? When I left active duty and joined the Reserves, I was promised by the recruiter that my unit was an hour from my home. Turns out it was 3 hours away.
I would also ask how many times had your potential unit deployed in last 10 years? That might give you a idea of future deployments. The military is very Dependent on its reserve forces. The chances of being deployed (thus interrupting your school work) is much higher than it used to be before 9/11.
If you have the opportunity, I would go ROTC. Being an officer is always better than being enlisted. Plus the military will pay for 100% of your education up front.
Also, have a career field in mind before you see the recruiter. Do your homework. There is plenty of information available online about different military careers. Also, know that each month recruiters are given a list of jobs that need to be filled that month. They will always steer you towards those jobs first even if you are not a good fit.
Look into more than one branch of the military. Each has unique things to offer you. I was active duty Army, then Air Guard, and now the Air Force Reserves. Each service has its pluses and minuses. I also wouldn’t discount the Guard. Both the Army and Air Force have Guard unit’s. I enjoyed my time in the Air Guard. Over half of my unit was prior active duty Army soldiers and Marines. We found the Air Force lifestyle much better than our previous branches.
Good luck!
First of all, if you go Reserves, you need to find out where exactly your Reserve unit is located. Is it close to your home or 3 hours away? When I left active duty and joined the Reserves, I was promised by the recruiter that my unit was an hour from my home. Turns out it was 3 hours away.
I would also ask how many times had your potential unit deployed in last 10 years? That might give you a idea of future deployments. The military is very Dependent on its reserve forces. The chances of being deployed (thus interrupting your school work) is much higher than it used to be before 9/11.
If you have the opportunity, I would go ROTC. Being an officer is always better than being enlisted. Plus the military will pay for 100% of your education up front.
Also, have a career field in mind before you see the recruiter. Do your homework. There is plenty of information available online about different military careers. Also, know that each month recruiters are given a list of jobs that need to be filled that month. They will always steer you towards those jobs first even if you are not a good fit.
Look into more than one branch of the military. Each has unique things to offer you. I was active duty Army, then Air Guard, and now the Air Force Reserves. Each service has its pluses and minuses. I also wouldn’t discount the Guard. Both the Army and Air Force have Guard unit’s. I enjoyed my time in the Air Guard. Over half of my unit was prior active duty Army soldiers and Marines. We found the Air Force lifestyle much better than our previous branches.
Good luck!
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Matteo Milazzo
I'm definitely more interested in army than anything else. Currently, the ROTC application is national based for scholarship until I get to college, then is granted locally through the college. The national is every person my age across the country, and is incredibley competitive. It would be hard for me to get it and already being apart of the reserves would increase my likely of getting it. Also, from my understanding, if you are in rotc on scholarship you will not deploy with your reserve unit if that were to happen.
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