The life of a National Guard Officer?

[James2912]

Preferably an Infantry lieutenant, but basically, a junior officer. What kind of things would I be in charge of how much extra time would i be expected to spend. Also any oppurtunities for loan repayment and how long are the current deployments? Lots of questions I know... But thanks in advance.

[California Major]

Easily a couple hours a week, maybe more for NCOERs. Dark Night / Training Meetings also take some time. The amount of time seems to go up each year.

[Marine2Guard]

As a new LT I am spending around 5-10 hours a week on different things. The tasks range from researching AR's and FM's for various reasons, to working with my training NCO to develop a training exercise. It will depend on your CDR, mine has me dealing with all of the soldiers that want to go to OCS, and per her SOP they have to pass an APFT before she will allow them to even apply for OCS so I get to give an APFT in between drills.

SLRP is a no-go for officers.

Most deployments are a year, that can always be adjusted at the last minute. But you may also get smaller trips, I am headed to Germany for 3 weeks for my AT in Apr.

[cyall]

If you had SLRP in your enlistment contract you can still use it as an officer. At least that's the experience of the LT sitting next to me. I spend at least an hour a week just trying to hunt down the AGR type I need to speak to.

M2G I can't seem to track down any info on that CDT you asked me about a while back. I remember meeting him last semester, but he seems to be a ghost now.

[Marine2Guard]

M2G I can't seem to track down any info on that CDT you asked me about a while back. I remember meeting him last semester, but he seems to be a ghost now.

Yeah come to find out I have two with the same last name that are both in ROTC one is with you and the one I needed to know about is at Ole Miss, thanks for looking.

[JonTheBaptist]

I didn't know AT could be conducted outside the country... thats pretty cool

[SteveGuard]

We have any MI Officers that could speak about their experience?

[dnall]

The problem with these kinds of threads is there is no common experience.

The time and duties required vary dramatically by position more than rank. Even in the same positions, they'll vary considerably based on what the CO wants you doing. In stuff like MI, it'll depend a lot also on what type of unit you're attached to. Then it'll depend on what part of the training cycle the unit is in and what kinds of things they're doing. On a more basic level it'll depend how jacked up some of your soldiers are, how good your NCOs are (1SG &/or PSG), and what your readiness NCO is like. In the end, it's as much or as little as you want to make it.

[RedLeg]

The problem with these kinds of threads is there is no common experience.

The time and duties required vary dramatically by position more than rank. Even in the same positions, they'll vary considerably based on what the CO wants you doing.

x2

I've been a PL twice, staff officer and CO twice and they all had varying amounts of time I spent outside of drill working on projects.

[rat4spd]

I find myself having to visit my "Readiness Center" about two times a month, which is a 130 mile round trip. That doesn't count the hours I spend preparing for things at home.

Every now and then I can get funds to pay for my visits, but it's really a token gesture.

I like it though.

[dnall]

Yeah you certainly can't be doing this for the money. There's all kinds of little expenses from uniforms to this kind of travel that'll eat up a lot of your drill check. You can have them pay you a some RMAs. I've certainly done that, but at some point you think about burning that budget so it's not there for important projects or to help with some of your enlisted troops.