Good Question Here... Special Forces or ParaTroopers?

[Can I Join]

Does the National Guard have Special Forces and/or Paratroopers..? I would love to do either... Please reply if you know... Thank you.. And if you do know, please give a little or as much info on the subject as you like.. Thanks everyone who reads and responds to this..

[Rockets softball]

im not sure if they do or not but if you email one of the sr, on this site i bet they could tell you!

[Specialist Purdue]

Yes the National Guard has both. There are not that many Special Forces Units for the National Guard. There are Airborne units also in the National Guard ones like a LRS (Long Range Surveillance) unit.

[?ARNG]

The ARNG (Army NG) currently has two special forces groups (SFG): the 19th & 20th. The 19th covers the west & the 20th the east. ARNG SF unit locations tend to be concentrated in certain states so it may be necessary to do some traveling to get to the unit of your choice. I've read of folks traveling from many states away to get to a ARNG SF unit. But hopefully you won't find that necessary.

As far as selection, from what I've read, it's very difficult to get into SF, either AD Army or ARNG, much more so than the paratroopers. And once in, expect to do a lot of training. Usuaully two plus years!

On top of that, the optempo (operational tempo = activity level) can be extremely high, which translates to more than 1 weekend per month & more than 2 weeks per year, plus the possibility of 6 months or more deployments.

Two sites you might find informative are: professionalsoldiers & socnetcentral. But ... WARNING! ... do NOT post before reading the rules! Readers on both those sites are NOT AT ALL TOLERANT of newbies posting questions that have already been answered or before their profiles have been completed & backgrounds have been provided.

Good luck.

[ch47fe21]

I belong to the Guard in Alabama.There is the 20th SF Gp. here.You can join, but the process after you join can be gruelling.There no longer 1 weekend a month & 2 weeks annual training any longer.I just returned from Afghanistan on April 1,2005.We may have to return overseas in about 2 or 3 yrs.I have 22 years in.I'm a flight engineer in the Guard.

[19thspecialforces]

I am a retention NCO with the 19th Special Forces in Huntington, WV. The National Guard has two groups 19th and 20th. My unit is around 3 hours from you and you actually have a Intelligence group located right there in Louisville. If you need anything else drop me a line. Good Luck

[Mac]

I belong to the Guard in Alabama.There is the 20th SF Gp. here.You can join, but the process after you join can be gruelling.There no longer 1 weekend a month & 2 weeks annual training any longer.I just returned from Afghanistan on April 1,2005.We may have to return overseas in about 2 or 3 yrs.I have 22 years in.I'm a flight engineer in the Guard.

Considering re-upping to be part of the 20th's Support group. (I live in Birmingham, about 10 min from the 20th on Oporto Madrid...) Can you tell me what life is like in SF Support?


Thanks,
Mac