Going from national guard to active duty 35p?
First you'll go to Baltimore MEPS and get all your orders. You will probably go to Ft. Leonardwood, MO for in pocessing into active duty. If you don't already have a TS/SCI you might have to wait there a while until you get at least an interim clearance before going to Goodfellow. I'm assuming you already have a language since you didn't mention DLI. Really, you should have asked for a different language so you could go to DLI. You might be authorized a vehicle since you're prior service, you 'll hash that out at MEPS. As for "choosing airborne," if you already have your duty assignment of Ft Lewis (which is unusual to know it already), then you're already slotted with a unit which will not be airborne and they won't authorize you to go to airborne. If it's not in your contract, it's not going to happen between now and Ft Lewis.
When you enlist in the US Army or National Guard, can you be randomly transferred from your MOS?
I can see a couple of cases where this might happen.First is if you cannot pass the training course. Some are more difficult than others. If you cannot pass the course, you cannot work in the MOS. Still, you have enisted for a specified period of time, so you need to be put somewhere where you can be used. And then you need to be trained in the new MOS.Second, and this is more common with National Guard or Reserve units, is that the unit of assignment changes structure. In the process, some MOS may be dropped and new ones added. In the active force, you would just be transferred to another unit where your MOS could be used. In the Guard, this may not be practical as your state may not have a unit using your MOS, or it might be too far away to travel. Again, you have to serve out your enlistment, so you need to be trained in another MOS that can be used in your unit. It may even be that your MOS has been deleted, for example if a weapons system has been discontinued. In this case also, you need to be retrained into a new MOS that can be used by your unit.
When you enlist in the US Army or National Guard, can you be randomly transferred from your MOS?
Yes. Anyone can be moved to another MOS based on the needs of the Army.Usually though, when you enlist specifically for the National Guard, you will have a nearby unit that has an opening, and you will enlist for an MOS that they need.If you take a guard slot after leaving active duty, you might have a choice of units that are near where you plan to live, and you will need to select from what they have available, which might require OJT at the unit level, or going to an MOS school to reclassify.When I left active duty, I had several options, reasonably close.- Georgia Air National Guard about 110 miles away, would require an MOS school.- Georgia National Guard Mech Infantry unit, about 90 miles away and wanted to drop me a grade to E-4.- Marine Corps Reserve, 80 miles away, but Dad would have rolled over in his grave as soon as he finished his massive heart attack, stroke and brain aneurysm.- Alabama National Guard Truck unit, about 30 miles away, and I got to keep my E-5(p). They also offered instant BNCOC and a bonus, with just OJT, no MOS school.- Georgia National Guard Combat Engineers, only 15 miles away, but wanted to drop me to E-4.I was planning to go to school, and I needed to bonus to cover a few semesters, and I was planning to live on drill pay and GI Bill, so I wanted to keep my E-5, so Alabama it was.If the National Guard is looking to reclassify you, you do have the option of searching for another unit that is reasonably close by that needs your MOS and seeing if you can switch to that one.
MOS 35m, 09L questions (National Guard and Arizona)?
That does seem to be a little strange seeing's how Arizona is home to Ft Huachuca and the Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM)/9th Army Signal Command and the United States Army Intelligence Center. It could be that because of those units, the AZ NG doesn't need additional Intel units.
Do you get to choose your job in the Army National Guard?
Allow me to offer an officer's experience. I joined at the nearest armory to my home. It happened to be a combat engineer battalion that had an opening for a commo officer on the battalion staff. And because I had an electrical engineering degree, I was commissioned in the signal corps and assigned to the battalion staff. However, when I reported for duty, my battalion commanding officer had other ideas. Although he allowed me to serve as the commo officer, I believe he wanted another engineer officer. So instead of wearing the semaphore flags insignia of the signal corps branch, I had to wear the castle insigia of an engineer branch. I also had to take engineering courses because there was no one present to help break me in. I assume the commanding officer wanted me to be able to replace any of the other engineer officers in the near future. But after we had a change of command, the new battalion commanding officer allowed me to replace the castles with the semaphore flags.Then when I became eligible for promotion to major, I would have had to transfer to a signal corps battalion 150 miles away or change my branch.
How often do National Guard units deploy to fight overseas?
I often joke, but I think it's true, that if I had stayed in the Guard I would have deployed more than I have on active duty. I don't have any specifics, but in all three of my deployments we had Guard/Reserve Soldiers. In fact, in my last deployment, much of the manning came from the Washington Army National Guard which I was a member of for 12 years. So it was kind of like coming home.Mileage distinctly varies. If you're in a very specific job field (I was a Chinese linguist) you may deploy less than something that is distinctly needed (e.g. infantry). For a long while, National Guard infantry brigades were in the same rotation as regular Army units.That said, the experience also varies. In general, reserve units go through ramp up, and demobilization, and both of those count towards the one year deployment, so they generally spent significantly less time "in the sandbox." They also are rotated less frequently - so maybe every few years instead of every other year like when I was at Fort Bragg.Now that we don't have the major combat deployments we had previously, I suspect reserve call ups are not so frequent anymore.
Can I spiff to active duty Army if National Guard doesn't have the job I want?
I'm about to go back to MEPS to finish up the enlistment process and I'm starting to worry that the CA National Guard won't have the MOS I'm looking for ( which is Linguistics). Bottom line: If I go up there and they don't have any openings for a Linguistics MOS, can I change to Active Duty Army?