Military service or a commitment to future
military service, or attending a military academy, may be a
good way for some of you to help finance your education.
These military options can provide money in the form of wages
and salary, scholarships, and entitlements to future cash
payments for education. Consider the following
possibilities:
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Serving in the reserves as
an enlisted person. Enlisting in the Reserves
generally involves attending an initial training phase,
commonly called "boot camp"; this may be
followed by some additional training in a specific career
field and/or a short assignment to active duty. At
this point, you would then be put into a regular reserve
status which will probably involve attending training one
weekend an month and one longer annual training exercise
lasting 2 -3 weeks. The total time involved in the
initial training and/or duty may range from as little as
two weeks to a few months, or longer. Due to the
variety of Reserve programs, we will not attempt to
provide details on them here. You really need to
contact a recruiter for full details if you decide to
explore this further. Keep in mind that Reserve
forces can be called to active duty if needed to support
special missions such as the operation in Kosovo in 1999.
But, except for such unusual circumstances, once you
complete the normal initial active duty/training
requirement, you could then attend a college or university
while you serve in a reserve or national guard unit.
Thus, you have a source of income while you are going to
school. In addition, reserve and national guard
personnel can qualify for educational financial benefits
similar to, but smaller in magnitude than, those available
to full-time, active duty forces. And, keep in mind you
may get some training or experience during your military
service that is related to your civilian career interests.
For more information on the Army Reserves,
visit www.army.mil/usar/;
Air Force Reserves, visit www.afreserve.com. The
Navy
Reserve Force is divided into two major components:
Air Naval Reserve and Surface Naval Reserve. The Marine
Corps Reserve Web site is at www.mfr.usmc.mil/.
The U.S.
Coast Guard also has a Reserve component. If you
can not find the information you want at these Web sites,
you should contact a recruiter.
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Serving in the national guard as
an enlisted person. Like the Reserves, joining the
National Guard generally involves an initial active
duty/training period followed one-weekend-a-month training
sessions and one 2-week training requirement each year.
But, National Guard forces can also be called to active
duty in support of a major national military mission, and,
unlike the Reserves, they can be called to duty by the
governor of the state in which the unit is based.
The latter could happen in case of a very serious civil
disturbance or a natural disaster such as flood or
hurricane. And, some National Guard units are
involved in special missions such as road-building in
Honduras. A list of National Guard (Army)
organizations by state is available at www.arng.ngb.army.mil/links.asp?Cat=state.
To get some good information, whether in high school or in
college, about getting into the Guard and the benefits of
serving in it, visit www.arng.ngb.army.mil/Operations/.
For information on the Air National Guard,
visit www.goang.af.mil/home.asp.
Visit The National
Guard for current news as well as a historical
perspective of the National Guard - both Army and Air. Navy,
Marine, and Coast Guard are not part of the National
Guard.
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Enroll in an ROTC
program at a college or university. As
with enlisting in the reserves or national guard,
enrolling in an ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corp) while
a student at a college can provide some income while
getting your education. But, that's where the
similarity in these two options ends. Acceptance
into an ROTC program means you will be trained to
become a commissioned officer in the armed forces.
This generally means you will be serving on active duty
for a few years or so after graduation from college.
This is not a bad thing, since the training and experience
you get as an officer can be quite valuable to you in
whatever career path you decide to follow once you
fulfill your military commitment and have the option of
staying in the military service or transitioning into a
civilian career. Your peers will have similar
educational qualifications since a college degree is
usually a requirement for getting into military service as
a commissioned officer. The work you do is highly
likely to develop professional and/or leadership skills.
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Serve in the regular forces
as an enlisted person before going to college. This
basically means spending 3 or 4 years on active, i.e.,
full time, military duty, then returning to civilian life.
The U.S. military services offer substantial financial
educational benefits which can used to pay college costs
after your military service. To maximize these benefits,
you need to contribute some money out of your pay each
month, but the potential return is far greater than what
you contribute. Besides these benefits, you may be
able to obtain college credits during your military
service which, once it is completed and you return to
civilian life, you can transfer to the school you want to
attend. This is possible because many military
installations have college classes right at the
installation. In fact, some people are able earn an
associate, or even a bachelor's, degree while they are in
the service. Of course, there is no guarantee you
will be able to take college classes while in military
service; temporary assignments requiring you to travel in
the performance of your duty may prohibit you from
partaking in college classes while in the service. And the
mission does come first. On the other hand, the
educational benefits to which you would become entitled
upon completion of your service, as a veteran with an
honorable discharge, can not be denied.
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Enroll in a military academy.
Being admitted to a military academy generally means
getting a fully funded 4-year college education, followed
by active duty as a commissioned officer for a certain
minimum time in the branch of military service related to
the academy from which you graduate. The four
academies are the U.S.
Air Force Academy, the U.S.
Military Academy at West Point, U.S.
Naval Academy, and the U.S.
Coast Guard Academy. The experience at these
academies is quite different from civilian schools.
The standards for admission are high, but the benefits are
exceptional. If you're curious, take a look.
If you think this might be what you want, start planning.
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Apply to the U.S.
Merchant Marine Academy. It is mentioned
separately here because it is not part of the Department
of Defense. But, like the military academies
mentioned above, acceptance into the academy is based on
nomination by a U.S. Congressman or Senator, your
educational expenses are paid by the federal government
and, therefore, you have an obligation to serve in the
maritime and/or transportation industry, and to Armed
Forces Reserve duty.
Where can I get information
on these programs?
Visit www.armyrotc.com.
You will find information pertaining to the options discussed
above and more, including links to schools with Army
ROTC programs and contact information for local
recruiting offices. The home page for Air Force
ROTC is www.afoats.af.mil/rotc.htm;
click on "Detachments" to find the schools that have
ROTC programs. Likewise, visit this Navy's
site at www.cnet.navy.mil/nrotc/nrotc.htm.
To enlist in the reserves or national guard, or to enlist in
the regular forces, look in the whites page telephone
directory under U.S. Government; look for Army, Air Force,
Navy, or Marines. Once you have found it, look for a
recruiting office phone number. There may be separate
recruiting offices for regular forces and reserve or national
guard forces.
To seek placement in ROTC for one of the
branches of service, first determine whether your school has
an ROTC program. If so, contact the ROTC department at
the school. The Army has a specific Web sites for
information on their ROTC program. Click on this: Army
ROTC National Headquarters. The Navy's
main Web site has links to pages for College Students
considering Navy careers. Here's the Air
Force ROTC Home Page. For the Marines, click on the
link at the top of this page.
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