SMP & Scholarship Questions

[ken_hawk]

I am thinking about going the SMP route or trying to get a scholarship once I've healed from my surgery. I'm a 19 year old sophomore in college with a 3.75 GPA and scored a 79 on my asvab in the spring of 2007. If I do this then I plan on doing it next summer. I am most interested in having an MOS of 96B with my other top choices being 96D, 13D, or 13P. My question about SMP is whether or not I am deployable under this program? I know with a scholarship I can't be deployed until after I graduate. Should I first apply for the scholarships after my physical therapy is complete or should I go through SMP? With my GPA what are the chances of getting a scholarship (I live in Kansas if that makes any difference)? Right now I'm leaning a little closer to SMP because if I just went straight through ROTC on a scholarship I would go into the Intellegence branch to be an all-source intellegence officer. Doing SMP with an MOS of 96B would get me a good footing into the job that I want to do as an officer. With this in mind, which would I be best advised to do?Also, with SMP can I still get the student loan repayment and the tuition benefits?

[ahsan]

SMP -

LIke you said, the biggest advantage of being SMP is get you drill with your unit and learn a bit, all while getting paid to go to school. Now, once you contract with ROTC, your ARNG contract becomes null and void and you become an SMP cadet and thus non-deploy again; until you finish school and commission ARNG, RA, or AR. One of the things to check for would be what the state TA benefits are for your state. I know here in Texas they offer 100% State TA, on top of the 4500/year Federal TA. This is ontop of any GI Bill and GI Bill Kicker benefits.

I honestly think that SMP is a LOT better a path than scholarship would be.
Financially speaking, scholarships would offer you money for tuition costs and related expenses along with your 350-450? ish ROTC stipend. With the ARNG/SMP though, you get your Federal TA, any State TA depending on your state, along with your GI Bill - $317ish + Kicker ($350) + E5 Drill Pay (250ish?) + ROTC Stipend 350ish. So roughly well over $1100 all the while getting school paid for. And getting a chance to get some practical field experience with your ARNG unit. You can also cash in on your bonus or part of it if you work it right.

Anyways, I'm very tired right now...and I don't think I did as good a job of explaining this as I would have liked to. So if you would like to get in touch with me, to get more information and guidance regarding this route, send me a PM.

[Andrew101]

Not trying to hijack your thread but I figured I'd ask here instead of making another thread on the same subject. Anyway, it is possible to just enlist in the National Guard and become an SMP cadet your junior year of college? the reason I ask is that i have no problem with getting deployed, but it would still be nice to earn a commission through ROTC.

[ahsan]

Andrew 101,

Are you saying that you want to enlist, but not contract with ROTC your junior year? If I understood your question right, then the answer is yes. You can enlist whenever you'd like and not contract with ROTC until prior to your Jr. year of College. If you would really like to get deployed and then get get a commission, you can always look at OCS upon completion of sufficient hours.

[ken_hawk]

I also though about OCS. I will have enough hours to enroll in OCS after the spring, but would prefer to do SMP and ROTC. To do OCS, to my understanding, you must have completed 60 credit hours of college courses to enroll and have 90 credit hours upon commissioning. Is this correct?

[ahsan]

Yes. And you're right, SMP/ROTC is a better option.

[Andrew101]

Andrew 101,

Are you saying that you want to enlist, but not contract with ROTC your junior year? If I understood your question right, then the answer is yes. You can enlist whenever you'd like and not contract with ROTC until prior to your Jr. year of College. If you would really like to get deployed and then get get a commission, you can always look at OCS upon completion of sufficient hours.

I'm not sure if this was a typo but I don't want to contract until junior year, but I do want to go enlisted for a bit.

[howard kempf]

I'm not sure if this was a typo but I don't want to contract until junior year, but I do want to go enlisted for a bit.

There are a whole host of requirements for eligibility in the SMP program, consult your local recruiter for details, just too much to type. This might be a state by state deal but in GA a member by TAG (The Adjutant General) Policy no member of the SMP program or recipent of a military scholarship participating in the ROTC is nondeployable.

Regards

[ahsan]

Double negative there SFC, but its nationwide...if you're contracted or scholarship, you're nondeployable. And Andrew101 you don't have to contract until jr year.

[Andrew101]

alright that sounds good to me. thanks much

[howard kempf]

Double negative there SFC, but its nationwide...if you're contracted or scholarship, you're nondeployable. And Andrew101 you don't have to contract until jr year.

Ahsan,

Thanks - that was just a typo. I tend to think faster than I type. It was suppose to read "no recip of a scholarship or ROTC Cadet is deployable.

Thanks for catching that.

[guardsman_13]

I do have a question about the program. I have been in the National Guard for a little over a year now, and I was really wanting to get into the program. There is only one thing that might keep me from getting there. I have an OTH from the navy. I was wondering if an OTH is going to keep me from becoming an officer. I was hoping that I could get a chance to become an officer for the Army. Would anyone know of other ways of getting to an officer program? I also have an honorable discharge from a mission that I did on the border. Would that help? Please help me!