Any Air National Guard guys that were active duty?

[Falcon]

I am currently Active Duty Air Force, and for some time now I have been having serious thoughts of getting out and going Guard. I have quite a few good reasons and know all the obvious factors to consider, like the outside job market and such. However, I am not familiar with any aspect of the Guard. What are the benefits like? How do they compare to Active Duty benefits? Every time I have been deployed with Guard guys, they were all volunteers. Is that how all of the deployments work with the Guard...by volunteers? I am currently an E-5 with 8 years in. How would my rank carry over...would I meet the requirements to go to E-6 right away? Or does that depend on the particular unit? Any information is greatly appreciated!

 

[lightningKILLER]

I was in the Marine Corps, but have many friends in the Guard. They love it, however I dont have much current info on your questions. I would seriously contact a recruiter if you want the current/correct answers. Good Luck!

 

[Falcon]

Thanks! Yeah....contacted a recruiter here on base but he was so busy trying to get me to palace chase that I didn't get much information. I know their job is to recruit people so they have a tendancy to shed nothing but good light on the subject. Just want an insider's point of view. I won't be ready to do anything for at least a year. My plans are to become a local Police Officer and the hiring process can take some time so research way ahead of time is best.

 

[rare03srt10]

Im in Army National guard. As far as rank goes its all depends on what spots are available just like active duty and depending on your MOS/unit could get your 6 very quick or could be stuck with your 5 forever. My MOS is 11B, so ive been stuck with my 4 for what seems like forever and every year they say oh your number 20 on the list your number 15 on this list blah blah blah lol only way im gettin my 5 is if we catch another deployment so i can get my promotion over seas ya know. And as far as Deployments go its not really on a volunteer basis. If your gurad unit gets orders you can pretty much bet your going, but most guys in the guard come from active duty and get bored very quickly, so they volunteer for deployments with other units because we dont get deployeed much anymore. My unit has gotten a couple WARNOs but nothing has stuck for the past couple years. Our last deployment was to Iraq about 4-5 years ago now and since then we have been told to be ready for another deployment year after year but nothing . We even tried getting on a crappy convoy security mission in kuwait and ended up not gettin it. National guard is cool and fun sometimes but other times its boring and an inconvenience to your everyday life. Hard to live a normal day to day life and juggle military on the side

 

[Falcon]

Yeah...know what you mean. However, the Air Force (and even Air National Guard) doesn't deploy in the same way that the Army does. When we deploy, we only send a few people from each unit instead of sending the whole unit. I have never deployed with anyone from my unit or anyone I knew. I have always gone by myself. Which is good and bad. You meet a lot of cool people from all over the place to make a nice network but that also means you have all these different bases going to the same place. So one base may do things one way and another base may do things another way....most of the time the mix doesn't go well.

 

[initforthelulz]

Definitely get in touch with the recruiter and make him take the time, it's his job. My buddy (E5) is getting out of active and going Reserve, I'm not sure how much difference the process is.

He's getting a new AFSC and keeping his rank and waiting for the E6 above him to die so he can take his spot lol.

I've worked with both Guard and Reserve and had a much better experience with Reservists. I'm not sure what it is, but the Reserves seemed to have given a **** unlike the Guard guys. Everything from work performance, learning new tasks and silly things like wearing your uniform properly. I don't want to talk bad about gaurd guys but that was my experience.

 

[Falcon]

Just working with them through my deployments.....I have had the full spectrum of feeling about guard and reserve. Some have been awesome and some should have never joined in the first place....but I suppose the same can be said for some Active Duty. The only reason I am chosing guard over reserve is that we currently work with a guard unit that is 30 minutes from here. We have a great relationship with them and they have my AFSC. I know I could get a spot there.

 

[initforthelulz]

Just working with them through my deployments.....I have had the full spectrum of feeling about guard and reserve. Some have been awesome and some should have never joined in the first place....but I suppose the same can be said for some Active Duty. The only reason I am chosing guard over reserve is that we currently work with a guard unit that is 30 minutes from here. We have a great relationship with them and they have my AFSC. I know I could get a spot there.

I'd do the same thing in your position.

 

[Falcon]

Yeah...one of the local police departments is actively hiring and I would make about $2000 more a year starting off (plus overtime, shift dif. and holiday pay). So if you factor in the benefits lost from leaving active duty, I would about break even. I applied there in 2004 and went through the whole hiring process and was offered a job but decided to reenlist instead. (my mistake...lol) So I don't forsee me having any issues getting on with them. Still a lot to consider though. I am gonna be talking to one of the local Guard guys next week about it...just wanted to get some other opinions as well. It's a big choice to make...need all the facts I can get....from all points of view.