Any pros or cons. My daughters a junior in high school and has good drive for things. I told her when she goes to college she should check into this maybe some good oppurtunities here. If not anything im hopeing it will show her a little how to check into situations that are offering career directions.
Air National Guard
- Thread starter tempdoug
- Start date
duckhunter10
Registered User
I think it's great if they need financial help or need some maturity, my oldest son is at lackland air base now in basic and finishes last weekend of this month
Couple points.
Some of these terms may be superceded.
If your daughter takes the ASVAB ( Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery)
she will find out what abilities she actually posseses .
The areas include things like Clerical, Medical, Mechanical, Electrical , etc.
The ANG & her can make a determination on a "Career Path".
That is via the AFSC ( Air Force Specialty Code).
This would allow her to know "what" & "with who" her time in the unit would consist of.
If someone is uncertain as to a MIL career why not try it only Part-time?
As a vet she would likely be entitled to "Veteran's Preference" for many government jobs.
I can assure you there are many ex-ANG folks in the NASA & F-35 programs.
Some of these terms may be superceded.
If your daughter takes the ASVAB ( Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery)
she will find out what abilities she actually posseses .
The areas include things like Clerical, Medical, Mechanical, Electrical , etc.
The ANG & her can make a determination on a "Career Path".
That is via the AFSC ( Air Force Specialty Code).
This would allow her to know "what" & "with who" her time in the unit would consist of.
If someone is uncertain as to a MIL career why not try it only Part-time?
As a vet she would likely be entitled to "Veteran's Preference" for many government jobs.
I can assure you there are many ex-ANG folks in the NASA & F-35 programs.
WWhunter
FRIEND
Near the Headwaters of the Mighty Mississippi Rive
tempdoug,
She is definitely at the point where she should be contacting the local ANG recruiter if she has the desire to go down that path. There is also Air Force Reserve and of course the rest of the military services. She can inquire about ROTC options or brach specific academys.
I am an AF veteran, my wife is still active duty (24 years Army) and will be retiring in a few months. Since I have been around the military almost exclusively since Janurary '79 it has helped us advice our children when it came time for them to decide on a career path. My oldest daughter decided to also enlist in the Army's medical field and has been in 15 years. My son, who has been flying with me since right after his birth, always wanted to fly. He geared his studies in school towards that type of career taking a lot of math type classes. He eventually recieved an Air Force scholarship (partial) to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Well, to make a long story shorter, he will be commissioned in a couple of weeks, graduates with a degree in Aerospace Engineering, and then has to report for UPT (Undergraduate Pilot Training) by the 12th of May in Laughlin, TX. He has been the first one in the family that has been commissioned and will be making a career of flying. He has asperations of being a test pilot and/or astronaut. Actually wants to be the first man on Mars!
Another poster here, Marcusofcotton, also had his daughter in UPT and I can bet he is as proud of her as I am my son. It is no easy accomplishment.
There are lots of possibilities out there for her as long as she has the ambition to persue it. You should be proud that she has "a good drive", as I sure see that lacking in most of our younger generation. I wish her all the best!
The military is NOT for everyone. It has been good to us but there are lots of hardships that the general populous does not have to deal with. Having said that, it is a very rewarding and patriotic thing for someone to select as a career choice.
WW
She is definitely at the point where she should be contacting the local ANG recruiter if she has the desire to go down that path. There is also Air Force Reserve and of course the rest of the military services. She can inquire about ROTC options or brach specific academys.
I am an AF veteran, my wife is still active duty (24 years Army) and will be retiring in a few months. Since I have been around the military almost exclusively since Janurary '79 it has helped us advice our children when it came time for them to decide on a career path. My oldest daughter decided to also enlist in the Army's medical field and has been in 15 years. My son, who has been flying with me since right after his birth, always wanted to fly. He geared his studies in school towards that type of career taking a lot of math type classes. He eventually recieved an Air Force scholarship (partial) to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Well, to make a long story shorter, he will be commissioned in a couple of weeks, graduates with a degree in Aerospace Engineering, and then has to report for UPT (Undergraduate Pilot Training) by the 12th of May in Laughlin, TX. He has been the first one in the family that has been commissioned and will be making a career of flying. He has asperations of being a test pilot and/or astronaut. Actually wants to be the first man on Mars!
Another poster here, Marcusofcotton, also had his daughter in UPT and I can bet he is as proud of her as I am my son. It is no easy accomplishment.
There are lots of possibilities out there for her as long as she has the ambition to persue it. You should be proud that she has "a good drive", as I sure see that lacking in most of our younger generation. I wish her all the best!
The military is NOT for everyone. It has been good to us but there are lots of hardships that the general populous does not have to deal with. Having said that, it is a very rewarding and patriotic thing for someone to select as a career choice.
WW
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Alex Clark
Registered User
Life Long Alaskan
I am prior Navy, Prior Army and retired from the Air Guard. Well then I did a couple years in the AFRES IMA,.. But anyway....
The Air Guard can be a nice door into various careers, experience, and travel while helping pay for college. Two of my five kids went through college via military reserve duty and another went via a US military academy.
For the most part the Air Guard is pretty laid back. So much so that lots of us older folks who were veterans of other branches jokingly called it the Aero Club. There are folks inside the Air Guard who are full time. (AGRs)... Unfortunately they tend to stay on one base forever and build little kingdoms for themselves. All the while not gaining the real experiences of true active duty troops. There are also a few others who are semi-state type employees who must still be Guard Weekenders to keep their jobs. They are called Techs.
Then you have the Part timers who do their weekends and a couple weeks of duty per year, UNLESS, they are at long schools or deployed overseas on active duty orders. One drawback of being a part-timer is that they often do not get all the hands-on experiences of being full time. SO if they are a turbine mechanic they will have the school experience and then be able to help out on weekends with the techs who are going to be ticked off that they are there on the weekend since they just worked all week.
So unless they get deployed, they will not really gain the knowledge of working day-in and day-out on that turbine.
The Air Guard can be a nice door into various careers, experience, and travel while helping pay for college. Two of my five kids went through college via military reserve duty and another went via a US military academy.
For the most part the Air Guard is pretty laid back. So much so that lots of us older folks who were veterans of other branches jokingly called it the Aero Club. There are folks inside the Air Guard who are full time. (AGRs)... Unfortunately they tend to stay on one base forever and build little kingdoms for themselves. All the while not gaining the real experiences of true active duty troops. There are also a few others who are semi-state type employees who must still be Guard Weekenders to keep their jobs. They are called Techs.
Then you have the Part timers who do their weekends and a couple weeks of duty per year, UNLESS, they are at long schools or deployed overseas on active duty orders. One drawback of being a part-timer is that they often do not get all the hands-on experiences of being full time. SO if they are a turbine mechanic they will have the school experience and then be able to help out on weekends with the techs who are going to be ticked off that they are there on the weekend since they just worked all week.
So unless they get deployed, they will not really gain the knowledge of working day-in and day-out on that turbine.
Seaworthy
FOUNDER
Massachusetts
The opportunities are boundless and you can make some great connections with all kinds of people, and go to great schools, BUT---impress upon your daughter that this is military service, if she doesn't like her boss, or the folks she works with, or her job, or she has a hot date----she must, by law fulfill her military obligation. It isn't a civilian job that you can walk away from. There will be occupational expectations of her, and she must conduct herself appropriately. Young folks who are enthusiastic, motivated, bright, and have self discipline flourish in the service--all others need not apply as failure to fulfill your lawful commitment to whatever time you enlist for can turn around and bite you in your azz. Six years to a young person is a lifetime. To someone that is over forty it is a drop in the bucket. I loved almost every minute of my military service.
I have been in the Air Guard for a while now, I met my wife there. It has been one of the best decisions i have made! The people are for the most part very good people and that seems to be most guard units I have visited around the world. My wife has been on and off orders now and going to school full time. The Air National Guard does NOT pay full tuition, however they do cover quite a bit of your tuition expenses. they pay tuition assistance, every semester we end up paying between one or two thousand dollars for tuition but that will depend on how many credits she wants to take every semester. I believe through embry riddle, and wayland baptist tuition is free or waved as long as she is on orders and not just a weekender. ALSO Tuition assistance is never a guarantee, it depends on how many people are asking for tuition assistance that particular semester, and how much money they have to give out. Some people never receive assistance, it is used for full time students first and then the rest of us. I think you cannot receive additional money from your GI bill if you are already getting tuition assistance, that is two forms of government income and I think that is not allowed I will have to ask. Another consideration is that if she really likes the guard and decides to try for a full time position she will either not receive an enlistment bonus or she will have to pay it back if she already received it.
My opinion, it is great, but we have a lot of people join thinking it will pay for all of their schooling, and they also have no intensions of going over-seas deploying or even going TDY state side. and people doing just the weekends seem to come in and sit on a computer doing CBT's and going to classes, giving them very little hands on experience until the day of an exercise, or deployment. There are a lot of things to consider and I would suggest she spend some time with the folks in the unit she is interested in and not just the recruiter. The recruiter can show her around and let her visit some of the different squadrons. The guard tdy's and deployments seem to be getting longer and longer, but I guess that depends greatly upon the unit you are assigned to.
If you or your daughter have any questions let me know I can also set her up to talk with my wife who is one of two women in her squadron with a great attitude towards the Air Guard. If you are in Anchorage, myself and a few others from our unit will be down for the Alaska Airmens Show at the Fed Ex hanger with a display. good luck! I highly encourage you both to ask lots of questions!
My opinion, it is great, but we have a lot of people join thinking it will pay for all of their schooling, and they also have no intensions of going over-seas deploying or even going TDY state side. and people doing just the weekends seem to come in and sit on a computer doing CBT's and going to classes, giving them very little hands on experience until the day of an exercise, or deployment. There are a lot of things to consider and I would suggest she spend some time with the folks in the unit she is interested in and not just the recruiter. The recruiter can show her around and let her visit some of the different squadrons. The guard tdy's and deployments seem to be getting longer and longer, but I guess that depends greatly upon the unit you are assigned to.
If you or your daughter have any questions let me know I can also set her up to talk with my wife who is one of two women in her squadron with a great attitude towards the Air Guard. If you are in Anchorage, myself and a few others from our unit will be down for the Alaska Airmens Show at the Fed Ex hanger with a display. good luck! I highly encourage you both to ask lots of questions!
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King Brown
Registered User
Nova Scotia
As a Canadian with a couple grandchildren considering reserve and active military service, principally to help with their educations providing careers, I've found the above to be pretty much along the lines I've been telling them: many young people have done well choosing the military but it's not for everyone.
If you're joining to enter a cocoon of security and pensions within a career, that's fine for peacetime but it takes a different cast when you're expected to sacrifice your life for your buddies and country at the sound of guns. Join for the right reasons: serve your country before yourself and you won't become another PTSD.
In my view, we're taking in droves of young persons into the military who should not be there. I know from experience in the North that high schoolers are told straight-up that their only employment prospects are to get Grade 12 and join the military for a relatively good-paying job and pension at the end.
If you're joining to enter a cocoon of security and pensions within a career, that's fine for peacetime but it takes a different cast when you're expected to sacrifice your life for your buddies and country at the sound of guns. Join for the right reasons: serve your country before yourself and you won't become another PTSD.
In my view, we're taking in droves of young persons into the military who should not be there. I know from experience in the North that high schoolers are told straight-up that their only employment prospects are to get Grade 12 and join the military for a relatively good-paying job and pension at the end.
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