National Guard Military Police & Masters Degree

[Cappello]

Hello all, first time at the forum and very new to how the national guard works. Thank you in advance for any help.

My name is Matt and I'm currently an emergency medical services management major at Springfield College. When I graduate it will be with a BS in EMSM, a minor in Criminal Justice, and a paramedic certification. After I graduate I plan on working as a paramedic while pursuing a masters degree in criminal justice. My question arises here, I am also very interested in joining the national guard as a military police officer. Would joining the national guard as an MP be able to work around getting my masters as well as possibly pay for it? And when enlisting with the guard can you get a guarantee in your contract for military police? Also are all Military police commissioned officers? Finally what is the time commitment/training timeline for being in the NG as a MP? Thank you again for your time and help

p.s. I also have this underlying dream of possibly applying for the FBI after a few years of all this, if anyone has any experience or knowledge of the FBI and their application process i would greatly appreciate any insight on how competitive of an application it would be after completing everything i mentioned above.

[LoneStarSoldier]

Hello all, first time at the forum and very new to how the national guard works. Thank you in advance for any help.

My name is Matt and I'm currently an emergency medical services management major at Springfield College. When I graduate it will be with a BS in EMSM, a minor in Criminal Justice, and a paramedic certification. After I graduate I plan on working as a paramedic while pursuing a masters degree in criminal justice. My question arises here, I am also very interested in joining the national guard as a military police officer. Would joining the national guard as an MP be able to work around getting my masters as well as possibly pay for it? And when enlisting with the guard can you get a guarantee in your contract for military police? Also are all Military police commissioned officers? Finally what is the time commitment/training timeline for being in the NG as a MP? Thank you again for your time and help

p.s. I also have this underlying dream of possibly applying for the FBI after a few years of all this, if anyone has any experience or knowledge of the FBI and their application process i would greatly appreciate any insight on how competitive of an application it would be after completing everything i mentioned above.

Let me be the first to welcome you to the forums! To answer your questions, one of the main things that distinguishes the National Guard from the Active Duty Military branches is the fact that the National Guard can pay for your school while at the same time allow you the neccessary time to go to school and earn a degree. Your obligation when you join the National Guard is one full weekend a month of Drill and two weeks during the summer for annual training. That's it. Keep in mind you'll still have to go to Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training for your chosen MOS (job) if you're going enlisted and a commissioning program as well as an Officers Basic Course if you're going to go the officer route. But other than the mandatory Initial Entry Training, that's really all the time you owe (excluding deployments).

The National Guard varies by state. Each state has their own National Guard which falls under that state's Governor. Therefore, what can be offered to you in terms of financial assistance for college and jobs will vary by state. Your job that you enlist with will all depend on how many 'slots' your state has for that job. If you're like me and wanted to go MP but was told that all the slots were filled, you'll have to choose something else. No, not all MPs are commissioned officers. They are considered Military Police Officers, but there are enlisted and commissioned officers that fall under the Military Police branch. As for the training/commitment timeline, most enlistments go by 4X4 or the 6X2 contracts. That is, you serve 4 years as an active drilling Guardsman (you go to your drills and annual training for 4 years) and then you'll be put in the IRR (Inactive Ready Reserve) which means you're still able to be called up if needed, but you don't have to go to drills or training. Or the 6X2 which is the same except 6 years active drilling status with another 2 in the IRR.

If you want to go enlisted as a 31B (MP), your training will consist of 9 weeks of Basic Combat Training most likely at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri along with another 12 weeks of Advanced Individual Training (where you'll learn how to be an MP) also at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. You may go through OSUT (One Station Unit Training) where they'll combine all of this training into one long session as a single place. I encourage you, however, to go for becoming a commissioned officer, you'll make a lot more money that way. Even then, seeing as though you already have a medical background, you could also become a Combat Medic if you wanted to go enlisted and fast-track through AIT with only 8 weeks instead of the usual 16.

As for the FBI application process, I'm not sure what the requirements are, but I don't believe you can be in the National Guard and at the same time be an FBI agent. That being said, there is also an age restriction for becoming an FBI agent, I believe the cut-off is 26 years old but you may have to double-check that. Needless to say, get in touch with a recruiter from your state. They can tell you a lot more than me, and what they can offer you. I hope some of this helped.

[Cappello]

Thank you very much for your input, I appreciate the time you put into responding and the detailed explanation you gave. Yet, I have one other question if you don't mind.

Since I'm still in undergrad now nothing for my future is set in stone and another possibility for me is to work as a paramedic for a year and then apply to a post-bach medical school program and apply to medical school or even apply to medical school right out of undergrad. Either way my interest in the National Guard stands but I'm wondering when the best time to enlist and begin/complete my training would be given the schooling circumstances. I just don't see a free 6 months anywhere in my near future to train for the guard, unless out of undergrad I trained with the guard instead of working. For students in college who choose to enlist during school how do they deal with the training? I assume some students take a semester off and then return but I'm curious about the options for this out there and your input.

Once again I thank you for your time and appreciate all your help

[11Bang]

Thank you very much for your input, I appreciate the time you put into responding and the detailed explanation you gave. Yet, I have one other question if you don't mind.

Since I'm still in undergrad now nothing for my future is set in stone and another possibility for me is to work as a paramedic for a year and then apply to a post-bach medical school program and apply to medical school or even apply to medical school right out of undergrad. Either way my interest in the National Guard stands but I'm wondering when the best time to enlist and begin/complete my training would be given the schooling circumstances. I just don't see a free 6 months anywhere in my near future to train for the guard, unless out of undergrad I trained with the guard instead of working. For students in college who choose to enlist during school how do they deal with the training? I assume some students take a semester off and then return but I'm curious about the options for this out there and your input.

Once again I thank you for your time and appreciate all your help

Hm, hopefully I can help. I was in my Junior year of college when I enlisted in the Guard. I chose the split-option for BCT and AIT. For me it was a big mistake. I went to basic training for approximately 9 weeks then went back home. I drilled once a month with my local unit (even though I wasn't MOS qualified) and returned to lovely Ft. Benning for AIT the following summer for an additional 8 weeks of AIT. With split-option you end up going for a longer period of time compared to OSUT which is 14 weeks. We were treated like Day 1 privates when we arrived at AIT the next year. However, on the plus side I was non-deployable for the year after Basic and before AIT and I finished my bachelor's degree. It's all up to you how you want to do it, but it can be done.

[fmcityslicker]

Hello all, first time at the forum and very new to how the national guard works. Thank you in advance for any help.

My name is Matt and I'm currently an emergency medical services management major at Springfield College. When I graduate it will be with a BS in EMSM, a minor in Criminal Justice, and a paramedic certification. After I graduate I plan on working as a paramedic while pursuing a masters degree in criminal justice. My question arises here, I am also very interested in joining the national guard as a military police officer. Would joining the national guard as an MP be able to work around getting my masters as well as possibly pay for it? And when enlisting with the guard can you get a guarantee in your contract for military police? Also are all Military police commissioned officers? Finally what is the time commitment/training timeline for being in the NG as a MP? Thank you again for your time and help

p.s. I also have this underlying dream of possibly applying for the FBI after a few years of all this, if anyone has any experience or knowledge of the FBI and their application process i would greatly appreciate any insight on how competitive of an application it would be after completing everything i mentioned above.

Let me second that welcome to the forums. This is a highly informative venue for Army National Guard information as well as general soldier information.

Now the Guard as well as other components and branches can provide Tuition Assistance. But the Guard was in the forefront of that. Now I know the Guard pays for TA for State Universities and I do not know the current guidelines for private institutions but I believe some should be covered as well. As long as drilling member with no issues or flags, you can receive TA.

A slight correction for the PFC that the active component in providing the necessary time for higher education for their soldiers. Some officers even take some time off for an advanced degree studies while being paid for the Army. Also, active duty soldiers can embark on a green to gold program where they will be paid just to go to school to ultimately get commissioned.

MPs are just called MP (aka military policeman/woman/soldier). The officer bit attached can be misleading if you attached that to an enlisted member then you are thinking they are commissioned. The majority of any MOS in the military is manned by enlisted personnel vice officers.

Also, the majority of MP units in the Guard are designed to be tactical MP units trained to work in the combat zone working outside the wire vice doing law and order on garrison posts. You can definitely get that type of assignment in the active component but its not guaranteed.

A recruiter can provide the specifics and I am almost done with my masters and the military has paid for every cent of it except books.

[Wobbly Emu]

Cappello,

You are getting good advice from the soldiers above in regards to school - I can speak more to the MP side.

I have two friends with whom I served in the Marines as CID agents: one is a U.S. Marshal, one is a FBI field agent. I went the corporate security route.

The marshal joined the guard soon after he left the Marines, and went into the Marshal's service about a year later. In his experience, he found the guard a bit distracting, in that the training for law enforcement duties were a bit....antiquated? He ended up leading a number of training evolutions due to his federal LE experience. But as mentioned above, MP work now, especially during the GWOT, is mostly battlefield circulation, detainee operations, and route clearing. He did use the Guard's educational benefits to finish his degree, and left the guard and the end of his first enlistment.

The bureau guy went from enlisted to commissioned, and later that same year was accepted into the FBI. I lost touch with him during much of his training with the guard and at Quantico, but I do know there was a lot of conflict between the two. While I do not know all the details, he left the guard about two years after he became an agent.

Come the end of the day, MP experience will not necessarily give you a leg up on your competition in applying for federal law enforcement positions. A solid military background with a clean record and steady progression will serve you just as well.

Medics that I'm familiar with find a lot of parallels in their civilian work, but this is on an enlisted/ER/EMT level. I cannot speak to the medical officer level.

I hope this helps. Good luck in whatever you decide to do!

[49thadband]

and let me offer another alternative on the medical side, if you decide you like treating people. The Armed Services have a military college that can train you to become a Physician's Assistant. It is called IPAP, and located at Fort Sam Houston. Interservice Physician's Assistant Program, is a full-time active duty program, where you have no life except for studying to become a Physician's Assistant for 2 years. The good news is that the 2nd year of the two is when you do your clinical rotations at whatever bases they station you throughout the world. If you complete this program you have a Master's Degree-you're certified as a P.A., and ready to go to work on Active Duty or in the Civilian world, obviously you would still owe the government plenty of time in the National Guard or Reserves.

Other good news. If you get into IPAP, you are paid on active duty, no cost for the school, and you would finish as a commissioned officer as an O-2(1st Lt.)

Google IPAP for the details.

[Cappello]

Thank you immensely for all your help everybody, the IPAP school looks like a great opportunity.

If I decide I want to go to medical school however, does anyone know what the military options for medical school are? I'm familiar with the uniformed services medical university. But I was just curious to see if there was anything else out there.

Also, to the poster who has the friend in the FBI: if you don't mind do you know what his qualifications and schooling was or was his critical skill was that got him into the Bureau?