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onethirtyone
June 15th, 2009, 03:42 PM
Hey All,

My name is Bill, I live in NC and I am leaving for LTC in KY this Friday.

All of the recruiters for The Guard, as well as the ROTC Cadre have been really eager to help me out and answer all my questions but sometimes I feel like I am getting mixed information.

Based on the info I have, these are the conclusions I have reached, I was wondering if anyone here could verify them for me, feel free to throw in any other knowledge you have that you think I might find useful, including benefits I may have overlooked.

1. LTC means I am exempt from Basic Training in the Guard, I will contract with ROTC and enlist in the NG upon my return at which point I will drill with the guard as a Cadet and shadow an officer while doing the usual ROTC gig.

2. SMP Program prevents me from getting an enlistment bonus in the Guard, however I will receive a contract bonus for signing with ROTC (5k roughly?) as well as 800 bucks for attending LTC.

3. I am still eligible for all of the educational benefits of the NG (Tuition Assistance, Student Loan Repayment, GI Bill, Kicker), as well as my drill pay (E5 for being a ROTC Cadet), and my ROTC Stipend (400/mo as a Jr.), and the Guaranteed Reserve Forces Duty Scholarship (20k/yr for tuition, 900/yr books paid directly to me)

4. I am not deployable while a cadet, but I am required to commission as an officer for 8yrs after graduation and am very much deployable then ;P

(Does the two years I served during SMP count towards the 8? or does the whole thing reset once I commission, what about my 6 yr enlistment, is that moot when I commission?)
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Also, I have a couple additional questions:

Although I am a student, I own my house, I know that GFRD Scholarships have an allowance for room and board built in, and that if you dont live on campus you basically get paid the amount your school dictates you would have to pay if you did, is this accurate? Is there any additional housing assistance for those of us who are ROTC/SMP and are somewhat unconventional students in this type of situation?

I just found out my wife is pregnant this morning, not really unexpected or anything, but the timing is a little interesting. I have no other children and was wondering what type of influence this is going to have on my situation, positive or negative.

Thanks so much for the info.

-Bill

matthew.ritchie
June 16th, 2009, 12:47 AM
http://www.nationalguard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5145
http://www.nationalguard.com/forums/showthread.php?p=70828
http://www.nationalguard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13470

ROTC now requires all contracted cadets to demonstrate proficiency in the use of the SEARCH feature before commissioning.

onethirtyone
June 16th, 2009, 12:44 PM
I actually read those posts right after posting my questions :o Sorry!

Most of my questions were answered, one remaining question I didn't see covered is if in fact I can direct the Housing Portion of the scholarship towards myself, or my mortgage company rather than paying for room and board on campus, which I do not use. For some reason I remember this being an option, but now I cant find the documentation. Can you confirm?


Thank You!

Bill

matthew.ritchie
June 17th, 2009, 04:52 AM
There is a provision in the Cadet Command regs that addresses this possibility. I'm deployed, so I don't have my full bag of tricks with me. Nevertheless, your ROTC cadre have all these regs available, although you may need to push them to open the document and reference it. As I recall, the ROTC commander has some discretion on this, to preclude fraud. If you're off campus, then you'll only get a housing allowance, and (again, from memory) it relates to unaccompanied E5 BAH rates for your college ZIP code.

OCSAllTheWay
June 17th, 2009, 09:36 AM
I actually read those posts right after posting my questions :o Sorry!

Most of my questions were answered, one remaining question I didn't see covered is if in fact I can direct the Housing Portion of the scholarship towards myself, or my mortgage company rather than paying for room and board on campus, which I do not use. For some reason I remember this being an option, but now I cant find the documentation. Can you confirm?


Thank You!

Bill

Closest answer I could find for you:

http://www.rotc.usaac.army.mil/command/ng/ng_GRFDscholarships.html

Passage that's important says:

"These scholarships pay full tuition and mandatory fees, or can pay room & board (not to exceed $10,000 per year). Room & board payment is for on campus (pays actual cost, not to exceed $10,000) or off-campus (pays the average R&B plan for the university, not to exceed $10,000)."

shortnsweet8
June 17th, 2009, 11:07 AM
Well the last 2 posts helped answer another question I had. Still have a few more:

I am working on re-enlisting in the Guard this summer (considered NPS) and will be going back to school whenever I return from AIT and doing ROTC. I do not know when I will contract, but I am also thinking of applying for an ROTC scholarship. Is there anything that prevents me from getting a bonus from the Guard (should I be eligible) since I would have received a portion of it prior to contracting?

Also, if you get the GRFD scholarship for 2 years and you have 2.5-3 years remaining, could you use the GI Bill for the years not covered by scholarship without getting penalized? I know there is a 3 year scholarship available, but apparently you can't use the 1606/1607 GI Bill while under that scholarship.