ANG TACP & Civilian Job/Schooling

[MoProblems]

All,

Obviously nice and green here- appreciate the welcome. I have a question which I hope you all may be able to shed some light upon. I was unable to find this on any thread here, and I am currently waiting on approval from romad.com. My apologies if this is a repeat.

In my consideration for ANG specifically, I am keeping ANG as an option primarily due to the fact that I hope to attend physical therapy school in the future, and figured the Guard may give more of an opportunity to do so sooner. However, I was told by my recruiter that the training requirement for TACPs in the ANG is typically more like "1 week per month, plus annual training." My recruiter informed me that this training requirement doesn't affect retention of your civilian job, or academic career (or at least it isn't supposed to...in theory). This, to me, made it sound as if Active Duty as a TACP, followed by continued education, may be a much smoother path so to speak.

From what I have read/heard, unfortunately (when it comes to civilian jobs at least), training in the Guard can often negatively affect civilian careers regardless of USERRA to a point where some Guard members much wish that they would have went Active in the first place. Having said that, my question is: being that the career field TACP requires more extensive training, how sustainable does this make a civilian job or education while in ANG? I know that it has been done, that both AD and Guard have their advantages, and that sacrifice is the name of the game here...just weighing out the options of Active Duty & Guard.

Thank you in advance. I appreciate it.

 

[CDG]

You would need to talk to whichever Guard ASOS you are interested in joining. Every unit is different. Tell them your goals, and ask what they would expect of you.

 

[AWP]

From what I have read/heard, unfortunately (when it comes to civilian jobs at least), training in the Guard can often negatively affect civilian careers regardless of USERRA...

Straight up: Some companies will see Guard/ Reserve on a resume and autoreject you. All? No. Some? Yes. Legal? Hell no. Companies will also use a deployment as a chance to push you out the door. Legal? Nope, but a "good" HR/ legal department can spin the narrative in the company's favor. In my old unit, guys who worked for state and local governments had no problems, the same with guys I've known who worked for the FAA. The private sector is a different game though.

 

[policemedic]

Straight up: Some companies will see Guard/ Reserve on a resume and autoreject you. All? No. Some? Yes. Legal? Hell no. Companies will also use a deployment as a chance to push you out the door. Legal? Nope, but a "good" HR/ legal department can spin the narrative in the company's favor. In my old unit, guys who worked for state and local governments had no problems, the same with guys I've known who worked for the FAA. The private sector is a different game though.

I’ll second that. Government employers in my experience accept military service without much problem. The two cop shops I’ve been in never batted an eye, whether I was in the USAR or Army National Guard at the time.

My partner is a Civil Affairs MAJ, and he’s gone often. He never has an issue.

 

[Kaldak]

Straight up: Some companies will see Guard/ Reserve on a resume and autoreject you. All? No. Some? Yes. Legal? Hell no. Companies will also use a deployment as a chance to push you out the door. Legal? Nope, but a "good" HR/ legal department can spin the narrative in the company's favor. In my old unit, guys who worked for state and local governments had no problems, the same with guys I've known who worked for the FAA. The private sector is a different game though.

Agreed on all points. When I went into training for the Guard, my employer wasn't very covert in the displeasure they had. Legal told them they had to let me and retain me. However, while at OCS, I was randomly chosen to be let go in a downsizing. My role, however, was returned after six months with someone new. In the end, if a private company wants to find a way, they will. That said, my wife took the same route and her employer has been nothing but the most accommodating of her high training tempo. As with most things in life, everyones experience will vary.

 

[Gunz]

...Legal? Nope, but a "good" HR/ legal department can spin the narrative in the company's favor...

QFT^^^

"Private sector" essentially means anything they can get away with until somebody risks their job to report it to the Feds.