National Guard girlfriend question

[caliny]

Hey folks!

One of the ladies over in the girlfriends section seems to be getting some conflicting information about her boyfriend's AIT and deployment sched. Can anyone lend some insight?

Thanks!
caliny

http://www.militarytimes.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1561890

[dorque]

My recruiter said you can receive orders for deployment while in training. You complete training and then ship off later to join your unit. Hope this helps.

[SFC Ret]

Generally - you will complete your training first. Report back home to your duty station and if there are any deployment orders, receive them then. only Active Duty personnel will get their next duty station orders during training and go from there.

[eliselove]

My ex just went on his orders a couple of weeks ago. He has been in the National Guard for a while now. I was curious how all the training is going to work out. He said something about doing his drill weekend, then his two weeks a year, another two weeks, and then he is off orders for a few days at the end of September before he goes active duty in October. Does this sound right or what? Just looking for an idea of what he is going to be going through. Thanks!

[SFC Ret]

Generally guard members do what most call "annual" training; that consists of two weeks of being on active duty pay status for 15 days. Now that is different from year round annual training that splits up the 15 days into three 5 day segments that can be completed any time during the year. The basic requirement for any guard or reserve member is perform training one weekend a month and 15 days of active duty for training; for a 63 possible pay periods a year.
It sounds like he may have some advanced training to do before going on deployment. The best thing for him is for your support and understanding. It's tough for loved ones to be separated, but he's doing it so that we can enjoy our freedom. Whether for training or real, preparing is half the battle won.