lspf72

There are some Moms here on CC who have already been a big help (thank you!!). To try and spare them the back and forth of my endless questions via PM, I decided to give this forum a try.

S1 is a sophomore, and recently discovered that it's still possible to get a 2-yr scholarship for ROTC. He's spoken with the local enrollment officer and gotten permission to sit in on classes for the remainder of the school year. Next step would be Leaders Training at Fort Knox this summer to catch up. H and I have many questions--

The enrollment officer said that after training, you have an 8 year requirement, which can be done 4 years active duty, and 4 years in the reserves, or 8 years in the reserves.

Are there any particular advantages or disadvantages to either? Am guessing that if you end up in the branch you hoped for, then most probably opt for the 4 and 4 year plan.

Is it reasonable to try to fit grad school into your time in the reserves? Or could you be deployed somewhere and have to cut out mid-year or even mid-semester, losing credits and tuition? Also, if you are in the reserves, does the army chip in at all for grad school?

Re: job-hunting-- are employers (govt or civilian) ever hesitant to hire if they know the potential employee will be shipped out for a year or so at some point? I understand that they must hold the job, but am more curious re: hiring in the first place.

I realize some of these questions may sound foolish, but this is still completely new to us. Thanks

newmassdad

I realize this reply is waaay late, but here goes anyway.

In my day (viet nam era) this approach was pretty safe: four years active duty, four years reserves, often just on paper, or two week summer training only, although I joined a unit, had a bit more income and a lot of fun. Did this in grad school and also got GI bill.

These days, the risks are quite a bit higher:

- most reserve units (even most personnel not attached to a unit?) have been called to active duty one or more times for Iraq/Afganistan active duty.
- once notified of callup, stop loss orders go into effect. This means if someone is just a few weeks short of finishing their 8 years, too bad. Your time in service is extended until the mobilization is over. This could be 18 months. (others may have better data?)
- as you can imagine, these callups can be pretty disruptive to grad school, family life and jobs.
- as a result of these disruptions, there are anecdotal cases of Iraq veterans having a tough time being hired in the civilian sector because of fear of callup. I do NOT know if it is legal to ask one in an interview if one has a continuing service obligation, but an employer need not even do so. All they need to do is assume anyone having military service in the recent past is subject to callup.

The new GI bill should be a boon for grad school. It is not tied to reserve service. It is tied to active duty service.

One thing to be aware of is that there is a long history of the military not honoring its promises to volunteers, even when they are in writing. I've dealt personally with cases of this (not for me, but as an adjutant in Germany in the 1970s), and heard of many more.

It is sad but true that "get it in writing" is no longer sound advice when it comes to military duty.