re: MSU will give all National Guard members free tuition

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Used to be, now they're rotating units in and out to improve readiness.

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Didn't they change that like 2 or 3 years ago?

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I would definitely do it if I were AR/NG. Hop on TourOfDuty and just stay mobilized all the time. Sounds great and you kind of get to pick your jobs more than AD.

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It benefits a person doing that by giving them more points towards retirement and may help them start their retirements a couple of years before age 60. If I was single, hell yeah I would prob. jump on those opportunities also.

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OPTEMPO is only going to raise as Compo II and III units will be moving to a 3 to 4 yr deployment cycle.

Demand on the Guard and Reserve are raising significantly. Further, readiness and meeting deployability standards will apply equally across all components. There will me a huge exodus over the next 12-18 months of active, guard and reserve soldiers that do not meet physical and medical reqs.

I've only been active duty and strictly in light and airborne infantry divisions, so I had my own set of biases on the guard and reserve Soldiers. However, I had the opportunity to work closely with them for about 18 mos and it changed my perspective to a large degree. They are proficient as they can be for the trng opportunities they have, for the most part. Plus, their leadership has an incredible problem set managing a civilian job and all leader responsibilities that go well beyond one weekend a month. Now, with the pending increase in deployments and readiness standards, it further stresses their civilian professional progression. Absolutely a problem I am glad to have avoided.

So, programs like free education are critical for recruitment and retention.

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The Guard and Reserve were head and shoulder above the Active Duty in certain MOS, mainly due to experience. 9-11, with the help of Donald Rumsfeld destroyed all of that. Nobody thought this would be an 18 year war and due to some decisions at the highest level resulted in the misuse of our Reserve Forces. Aviation units in the Guard and Reserve have been on a 3-4 deployment cycle from the start. Those pilots with thousands of hours punched out long ago. What is left is a force that mirrors the active duty in experince, but has the pressure of maintaining a civilian career. Reservist see all the deployments, but can not draw the benefits until age 60 (-deployments since 08), while their counterparts draw it after 20 years service. It is not worth it to them. The money for college has been around since the War started, the problem is less kids are finding it appealing.

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Demand on the Guard and Reserve are raising significantly. Further, readiness and meeting deployability standards will apply equally across all components. There will me a huge exodus over the next 12-18 months of active, guard and reserve soldiers that do not meet physical and medical reqs.

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Yes...and it will be a ball buster for a lot states.

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Plus, their leadership has an incredible problem set managing a civilian job and all leader responsibilities that go well beyond one weekend a month. Now, with the pending increase in deployments and readiness standards, it further stresses their civilian professional progression.

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Really its has affected everyone down to the lower enlisted. Drill weekends are becoming longer, frequent rotations to NTC/JRTC are popping up, and deployments. It puts a lot of stress on Guardsmen.

In my Tank Battalion, we had commuters from Atlanta, Dallas, Birmingham, Memphis, New Orleans...

I don't know how people do that. I would hate it.

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The Guard and Reserve were head and shoulder above the Active Duty

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Let me guess.....you must be a weekend warrior.


How about something to back that up?

GI bill will go to their pockets.

Almost as good as a prior service army guy come in and fail the enlistment screening test.

AR NG put together is larger than RA