Hello everyone, i'm pretty new to this website. i do have a few questions for anyone that can help me out though. i'm currently in the army reserves right now, my whole mistake was not going active when i should have...thinking while i was in highschool id join the army reserves and go to school. well...since recently returning from deployment i just cant find any interest in school, or a civilian job...they bore me, i find absolutely no excitment in many things now.i also tried going active duty and the recruiters pretty much told me the only shot at active duty id get is a slot in SF school, im a fit guy but i really dont want to take a chance of failing out and then getting dumped into some job where i am a water purifier for 8 hours a day...or a cook..i need a combat MOS, or some sort of training MOS. anyways...im transfering from the reserves as a combat engineer to a guard infantry unit closer to my house. in the reserves its verrry tough to get any sort of slots for schools. i've been told by a few people i know in a couple guard units school slots are handed out what seemed to be a few times every FY. i was just wondering if this is true and how easy it is to get into a AGR/Drill sergeant position if thats available. pretty much my whole goal is to worm into active duty or an AGR slot preferrably recruiting or being a DS, if possible. but i will take the route of going to SF school as long as any that has an knowledge in this is certain i will fall back into some sort of combat MOS if i happen to wash out from the school. thanks for your time, and sorry for the annoyingly long story. haha.

Ok, first thing to address is your lack of interest in anything. You really need to get to the VA (in spite of their reputation) and get with the mental health professionals. Don't worry about your commands involvement. No matter what anyone else tells you, their involvement is limited, or non-existent in most cases.

As far as trying to switch to the Guard, yeah, you will have opportunities at combat arms MOS's. But trying to go anywhere near Recruiting Command is a kiss of death. AGR slots in RC are difficult to get, saved for those who are lucky enough or unethical enough to meet mission. Drill Sergeants fall under RC, and last I knew, there was only 1 AGR/E7 DS slot in the state. And its filled.

There are a lot of people who think moving to RC is an immediate AGR slot and promotion to E6 or E7. It's not. My quick story: I joined RC after my last deployment, and it was a disaster. I was a bad recruiter (you will be surprised at the things they want you to do to be "successful"), switched over to the DS side, and found out I would be E6 for a long, long time. No thank you. Left RC, got a civilian job, and got promoted through normal channels.

My advice: go to the VA, stay away from RC (they don't care about your deployment experience, they think their recruiter badges are their combat patches), transfer to a combat MOS within the Gaurd, get MOS-Q'd, and then transfer to AD if you still want. Till then, just get a regular job and understand that your perspectives are vastly different than your co-workers, and in their world, they are right. They won't understand. Ever. Just gotta accept that.

Hope this helps.

thank you for your help i do appreciate it a lot, ranking isnt to much of an issue for me if i where to stay a drill sergeant for a while, just need to earn to get my packet together and put in any hopefully a 5 slot will be around i could nab for the DS. but other then that you are suggesting checking in every month with a recruiter would be the best option and seeing if theirs any AD slots to fill?

A recruiter won't be able to put you into an AGR/ADSW slot. But, you need to talk with them to figure out what your options are right now. I don't think as an E4 you're gonna have too much luck getting a DS slot (they are all E6 positions and last I knew all filled).

I take it you are from Wisconsin? If so, where abouts? I got a buddy who is still a recruiter, one of the good ones, who could give you more accurate info than me.

I'm currently live in the Green Bay area, was hoping this transfer to the guard from my current reserve unit in wausau would open some more doors to any sort of active duty slot but its not looking so hot.