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CA did the same, but I think it was so bad, SOCOM ended up giving funds directly to the unit, and did not go through the State.
Reserve/national vs Active
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CA did the same, but I think it was so bad, SOCOM ended up giving funds directly to the unit, and did not go through the State.
Brill
SOF Support
We're seeing this exact BS right now. A 25-series AGR just picked up E-7, then will soon be going to 35F cross training so he can occupy a 35X AGR spot.
Not surprising. Makes one rage, but it isn't surprising. There were 2 or 3 AGR supply slots between HHD and BSC. The same 2-3 guys rotated through them for a decade. Riggers would rotate between rigging and Training NCO. We had a QM branch Captain do that between HHD and BSC.
Florida's -6 shop (DOIM) hired a Captain (you knew because they wore their uniforms to work...) who had recently left AD. He then staffed most of the DOIM with his boys as they ETS'ed from the 101st. At one time most of the Counterdrug slots went to ADA, minus the 18 series that they couldn't give away. I went to OCS with the CD XO...he was an E-5/ Candidate working for a Major (P). You'd have an OCS Candidate in uniform giving orders to 1LT's and Captains...
AGR and Technician jobs are a racket the mafia would envy.
Same with the Air Guard.
They need to make thos AD positions and PCS new blood in.
They need to make thos AD positions and PCS new blood in.
SpongeBob*24
Verified Military
No disrespect meant...just glad the originator of this thread is making an AD move to start with...
I'm qualified!!!!
SeanKM
Unverified
I've been in the NG for a little over a year now and am looking to go AD. I recently submitted DD 368 last week and my CoC is supportive of my decision.
I originally planned to go AD as 35P (scored 3/3 for Korean on DLPT 5) but found out that 35P for Korean had been closed for a while now... However, I'm still going through the process hoping that by the time I get to MEPS, a slot MAY be available for me...
If I don't get a 35P slot, I was gonna try to get 18X contract as it is my only other option as far as going AD. Then I started reading about all the great things NG SF has to offer...
I'm currently 26, going to school, unemployed but am married with a baby on the way and am looking to start a career in the military.
I'm sincerely looking to get some advice from the BTDTs...
What would you say is the wiser decision if I don't get 35P? Try to get 18X or try out for NG SF? Obviously you said in above post that you recommend NG SF but I would greatly appreciate if you could elaborate further...
Thank you for your time!
-KM
Not trying to stick my dick in your mashed potatoes, but why is your only option 35P or 18X? Dude, you can always try out for SF, and really, you will get paid for language regardless… So why not join for whatever the hell is open, if you are truly looking for a military career, why not take whatever you can get?
One of the funniest soldiers I served with was a medical doctor in his civilian profession; he enlisted into the infantry because he wanted to be a trigger puller…
One of the funniest soldiers I served with was a medical doctor in his civilian profession; he enlisted into the infantry because he wanted to be a trigger puller…
Brill
SOF Support
What about trying for another language? Clearly you have the ability to learn multiple languages.
안녕
Congratulations on the 3/3 in Korean, that's a pretty big deal. I only got through about half a semester of Korean in grad school before I had to switch to Spanish. Are you a native speaker?
On this site we generally don't use the term "BTDT," as it is annoyingly and unhelpfully non-descriptive. Been where, exactly? Done what, precisely? Use specific language and that can help cue in people who might be able to help you. Sometimes those people are not necessarily the ones you would expect. "I'm sincerely looking to get some advice from people who are either 18-series or who are 35-series who worked in Group" or something like that. Or, better yet, just say what you're trying to find out and don't restrict responses at all.
As far as what MOS you should choose, that's totally up to you. Where does your heart lie? If you want to do intel, then go all-in on that. If you really want to do SF (and you think you have what it takes) then go all-in on that option. Since SF seems to be a fall-back plan, I'm thinking that it's better to go the 35-series route. My experience in supporting SF has been that it takes a kind of commitment that doesn't result from being anything other than someone's #1 choice.
As previously noted, with your mastery of both English and Korean, how about 35P in another language? Mandarin is likely to be in high demand for a while, and you'd probably crush any of the Romance languages.
SeanKM
Unverified
네! 감사합니다.
Thank you everyone for your kind replies.. I really appreciate them all.
I'd be ecstatic if I was given a chance to pick up a third language!! However, I don't think that's possible from going NG to AD for 35P, as one must already be proficient in a language evidenced by DLPT. (No DLI...)
And you're absolutely right about having SF as a back-up plan... it is a pretty dumb idea.
What does my heart desire....
As naive and stupid as I may sound, I wanted to be SF because of its motto: De Oppresso Liber. I liked that they worked with other militaries, working by, with and through others. I just simply liked what they did and wanted to be a part of it.
So at one point in my life, I was truly serious to give SF a shot and I did try to go 18X last year but it was unsuccessful due to my unit's unwillingness to release me at the time.
I'm ashamed to say but I gotta admit that I was quick to lose my motivation after the drama and eventually stopped chasing after my goal and I ended up stopping all my workouts/training that was specific for selection.
Then I found out about 35P, more specifically, about SOT-A... I was very attracted as I'm also interested in the field of signal intelligence and thought that maybe I could offer more as a 35P than as an 18 series (even if I made it through).
I guess I'm gonna go and seriously think about it all over again.
Thank you again and I apologize for another long post!
I'm done!
-KM
Thank you everyone for your kind replies.. I really appreciate them all.
I'd be ecstatic if I was given a chance to pick up a third language!! However, I don't think that's possible from going NG to AD for 35P, as one must already be proficient in a language evidenced by DLPT. (No DLI...)
And you're absolutely right about having SF as a back-up plan... it is a pretty dumb idea.
What does my heart desire....
As naive and stupid as I may sound, I wanted to be SF because of its motto: De Oppresso Liber. I liked that they worked with other militaries, working by, with and through others. I just simply liked what they did and wanted to be a part of it.
So at one point in my life, I was truly serious to give SF a shot and I did try to go 18X last year but it was unsuccessful due to my unit's unwillingness to release me at the time.
I'm ashamed to say but I gotta admit that I was quick to lose my motivation after the drama and eventually stopped chasing after my goal and I ended up stopping all my workouts/training that was specific for selection.
Then I found out about 35P, more specifically, about SOT-A... I was very attracted as I'm also interested in the field of signal intelligence and thought that maybe I could offer more as a 35P than as an 18 series (even if I made it through).
I guess I'm gonna go and seriously think about it all over again.
Thank you again and I apologize for another long post!
I'm done!
-KM
SeanKM
Unverified
Yes. I'm a native speaker
I apologize in advance, both for necro-bumping a five-month old thread, and for writing a manifesto.
I just hit the point in my career where I now have exactly 10.5 years active Army time and 10.5 years Guard time, and I like to believe I have a certain perspective regarding the differences.
That is not to say less capable.
But take the story of two 18E's as an example:
They graduate SFQC on the same day in the summer of 1998 (pre-war). One is active duty, the other is NGSF. The AD 18E goes to Group and averages about 180 days a year away from home with team and company-level training with CONUS and OCONUS deployments, and schools. In between there are a few 3 or 4 day weekends and two weeks leave, and the rest of it provides plenty of opportunity for local training. But every year that 18E is working in his duty position roughly 240-270 duty days.
The 18E that went to NGSF will get somewhere between 40-90 duty days a year actually working in his duty position, depending on whether or not he got a school AND was on a JCET that year.
All things being equal, that active duty 18E had about 385% more opportunities to become proficient in his duty position than the Guard 18E that year. Of course it is also a function of individual's motivation and aptitude, and that of his senior and TM SGT. But by the time the war started, that active duty 18E got to work and train in his duty position for as much as 810 days, the NGSF 18E got 210 days at most.
Now, NGSF companies are not entirely comprised of Guard soldiers who go to the Q, they can range from about 1/3 to over 1/2 prior active duty SF experience.
But even with that institutional knowledge, an NGSF soldier gets to work in his MOS 40-70 days a year while holding down a real job and/or school, and the active duty soldier gets to work on his MOS job every day. And that just aggregates out to an active component SF Company on the whole being more proficient than an NGSF Company on the whole.
That's not bias, that's just math.
The CA AGR system is still suffering the endemic problems from decades of just that kind of mismanagement. But at least the new TAG came in firing the worst of the worst at the top, and has been using the ASMB for its intended purpose, cutting the dead weight that homesteads in one job and/or avoids deployment. But there's still a long way to go.
And if they truly want to be SF AND be whatever it is they have as a civilian career, I still recommend active first.
Because SFQC doesn't teach you the "job"; it teaches you the skills you must have to learn your job on the team. (And that pretty much describes most schools, mil and civ).
Based on my own observations (and the opininions of my team mates on active duty) it takes about that whole first year for the average Q course grad (officer or enlisted) to fully learn his job on the team and become truly proficient.
By that same token, it takes a the average Q course grad about 2-3 years in NGSF to get to that same point.
I just hit the point in my career where I now have exactly 10.5 years active Army time and 10.5 years Guard time, and I like to believe I have a certain perspective regarding the differences.
I can tell you that from Group and BN Commanders all the way down to the 18X who just showed up on an ODA five minutes ago, they all believe that NGSF is less trained and experienced than their AC counterparts.
That is not to say less capable.
But take the story of two 18E's as an example:
They graduate SFQC on the same day in the summer of 1998 (pre-war). One is active duty, the other is NGSF. The AD 18E goes to Group and averages about 180 days a year away from home with team and company-level training with CONUS and OCONUS deployments, and schools. In between there are a few 3 or 4 day weekends and two weeks leave, and the rest of it provides plenty of opportunity for local training. But every year that 18E is working in his duty position roughly 240-270 duty days.
The 18E that went to NGSF will get somewhere between 40-90 duty days a year actually working in his duty position, depending on whether or not he got a school AND was on a JCET that year.
All things being equal, that active duty 18E had about 385% more opportunities to become proficient in his duty position than the Guard 18E that year. Of course it is also a function of individual's motivation and aptitude, and that of his senior and TM SGT. But by the time the war started, that active duty 18E got to work and train in his duty position for as much as 810 days, the NGSF 18E got 210 days at most.
Now, NGSF companies are not entirely comprised of Guard soldiers who go to the Q, they can range from about 1/3 to over 1/2 prior active duty SF experience.
But even with that institutional knowledge, an NGSF soldier gets to work in his MOS 40-70 days a year while holding down a real job and/or school, and the active duty soldier gets to work on his MOS job every day. And that just aggregates out to an active component SF Company on the whole being more proficient than an NGSF Company on the whole.
That's not bias, that's just math.
That's not really the case for several reasons. All the money that goes to Guard units is ostensibly under control of the USPFO and the G3 Budget section of each state. The unit can go so far as to have a program manager with approval level for their budget, but the TAG legally has the discretion to move budgets within his state as he sees fit. That said, CA has never had a problem with the state "stealing" money from SF, CA used to have a problem with how much money 19th would choose to disburse to 5th BN, and how much 5th BN would choose to disburse to the company in CA.
It is a mafia in every state. Especially how the AGR 42A's look out for each other in assignments and promotion opportunities, both in their MOS and MOS-immaterial jobs. And when you add the problem of AGR Branch placing friends in duty positions that they clearly cannot handle, and compound that with units hiring their own AGRs off the street not based on competence but who is unemployed at the time, you end up with a weak system from CO, BN, BDE all the way up to JFHQ.
The CA AGR system is still suffering the endemic problems from decades of just that kind of mismanagement. But at least the new TAG came in firing the worst of the worst at the top, and has been using the ASMB for its intended purpose, cutting the dead weight that homesteads in one job and/or avoids deployment. But there's still a long way to go.
That is what I have told everyone who has asked me about going SF since I got to the Guard. If you want to be SF, then you are going to get more out of it by doing it full time.
And if they truly want to be SF AND be whatever it is they have as a civilian career, I still recommend active first.
Because SFQC doesn't teach you the "job"; it teaches you the skills you must have to learn your job on the team. (And that pretty much describes most schools, mil and civ).
Based on my own observations (and the opininions of my team mates on active duty) it takes about that whole first year for the average Q course grad (officer or enlisted) to fully learn his job on the team and become truly proficient.
By that same token, it takes a the average Q course grad about 2-3 years in NGSF to get to that same point.
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