I'm thinking about joining the guard. Questions.

I'm not sure if this is the right section but I'm hoping so.

I'm going through a hard part of my life. A very messy break up, lot's of poor choices, a large debt to my grandparents that haunts me every day. I'm not happy with who I am, where I am, and where I'm going. I want to get my life on the right track. I want to leave this town and every one(but my family) behind and start new. I want to do something for my country.

But I'm afraid I will not qualify.

1: All I have is my GED. However I have heard(but not confirmed) that the guard is taking GED applicants.
2: I have asthma
3: I have 2 blemishes on my criminal record.
3a: The first was a malicious mischief from when I was 12
3b: The second was a possession of drug paraphernalia about 2 years ago. It was put on a stay of proceedings and I followed through with it.

I have smoked weed in the past, but I haven't since I got the paraphernalia charge. Will that come back to haunt me?

However if I do qualify, what should I do to prepare? Aside from basic English I really haven't used anything from school so I'm sure I'm rusty as hell. I want to do as good as I can on the ASVAB as I possibly can. Are there any full length practice tests online so I can know where to focus my studies?

I'm not in very good shape right now. Not fat(5'7", 135lbs), just not in shape at all. Any recommended exercise routines you would recommend?

Thank you for your time

Cy

I say drop by a recruiter and they can tell you what the current requirements/disqualifications are.

Well if possible I'd like to participate in This program to help a fellow arfcommer out. Wouldn't I screw that up if I went and talked to a recruiter myself?

Nothing at all wrong with helping out a fellow ARFCOMMER, but I'd focus more on items 1, 2, 3, 3a, and 3b mentioned above.

It seems many posters lately are indicating that the services are not in dire need of recruits. I am not a recruiter nor do I have insight into force planning, but I have to say that with today's economy those issues may very well pose a challenge to you being viewed as a desirable recruit over someone else.

Good luck though.

Down here at least, they only take a few GED's per year. I recruiter I had spoken to said only 10% could be GED. They were opening up for GED's once or twice a year only. Don't know about the other issues.

I don't know about WA, but if I were you I wouldn't get my hopes up. Asthma is pretty much a no-go. GED doesn't help. And drug charges will limit your choice of MOS (nothing with a clearance) if it doesn't bar you from enlisting. But go find a recruiter, the states have some leeway in how their Guard is run, and only a recruiter can tell you for sure.

Good Luck.

As mentioned, talk ot a local recruiter. DIfferent states have difffernt strengh's. In WI, you'd likely not be qualified presently. 5 years ago was a completely different story, but now you've got guys coming in that held off because they were afraid of going to Iraq (IMO).

I think they forgot that we're still in Afg.

What are you doing for a living now? If it's nothing too incredible, i'd say just go active. Start running/sprinting, lifting weights, and studying up.

I'd run 1-2 miles for a warm up then go to the gym for a lifting routine.

I work at home depot as a cashier... in a small town I get to stand around and do nothing most of the day. I'll have to do that, once I'm active I'll be able to reduce how asthmatic i am.

I've got a friend who's going to help me study up. It's mostly the math that I need help with. I love math and I learn fast but I just haven't used it in years. Always been working bonehead jobs.

I talked to my recruiter. He said that only having my GED is ok. He said that my criminal background isn't severe enough and he can work with it. But the asthma is a deal breaker. He said if I got it under control he'd be happy to get me signed up.

God damn asthma.

Get it under control? Not sure what reg he's looking at but asthma is pretty much non-waiverable if you've had it after age 13. If you've been diagnosed with asthma, you're pretty much done.

The criminal record for the guard shouldn't matter much
The only asthma I've seen is minor sports asthma
Start running

I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you.

I'm still looking for the deployed service member I can keep in touch with or discuss current TTPs with in this section. yeah I know, immadik

I still can't figure out how Deployed means, "I can't figure out what I want to do in life and I can't follow directions and post in the right fucking forum".

Also can't the mods either shit can these threads or put them in the right section. Kudzu630 and others have pointed this out a number of times already. Let's get our shit in one sock moderators.

This is the hall of heroes forum and not the Deployed forum.

I think that if you take and pass a semester of college it helps with the GED. as long as u dont have a felony you are good. The asma might be a deal breaker. How bad is it?

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+1 on that one, not sure of your age but you do have a few strikes against you. You just have a GED not a lot of places are taking just GED's now they have a lot of super qualified future soldiers knocking down their doors. Younger and straight out of high school

You have asthma which I think is a non-waiverable condition, but you never know if it is manageable they MAY waiver these days waivers are not guaranteed.

then on top of all that you have those 2 things on your record, now I wont say it is going to be impossible, but very difficult. Good thing about joining the Army/Ng what have you they are bigger and tend to be more willing to accept certain things. My brother was going to enlist with me in the Marines but they wouldnt take him because of a tattoo on his neck, but the Army waived it.

Unfortunately the recruiter would be your best bet at this juncture, if it is something you want try as hard as you can for it, and dont forget to keep us posted.

I am an active army recruiter.......not by choice ........not necessarily good at it either. with that disclaimer, your drug charge stops you immediately from the army at this time. the GED, you can enroll in 15 credit hours of college, that would allow you to enlist and must complete those 15 credits before shipping to basic. As for asthma, did a medical professional ever do a cardio-pulminary ??? test to diagnose you? or were you just told you have asthma? When was the last time you used a fast acting inhaler? The part about you smoking weed in the past will prevent you from getting a security clearance initially. Those people don't know what you don't tell them....... Are all your fines/fees paid from your law enforcement encounters? to include traffic violations? The National Guard can put people in with certain things that would normally dsqualify you from the Army or Army Reserves, The biggest difference in the three is that the National guard is a state organization, not a federal one. The reason they can put more people with certain conditions in, is because they can write more waivers than we can. Ours are easily and quickly kicked back rejected if a training position is closed. The biggest thing to do is be completely honest when you do go talk to the NG recruiters, they will run your police checks and find anything, your not telling them, the stuff they don't find, MEPS will and if MEPS finds it, then it is a shit storm for everybody involved.

The Army isnt waivering drug charges? Or just not at this current time?

to my knowledge, not at this time. I kow that in the past they have accepted people with certain drug charges. We will occasionally get a training slot for people with GEDs, but that in itself isn't very often.

Just a SWAG... I've been out of the military for a long time.



Does this mean the charges were dismissed once you completed the the "stay of proceedings"? Or was it just a suspended sentence and you were still convicted? If you were arrested and not convicted then you should be good to go.

Since it was 2 years ago... how old are you? If you're enlisting at 20 and got popped at 18 then it isn't as big of a deal as being 30 and getting popped at 28.

On the asthma - as long as I can remember, it has been a no-go for enlistment. Kind of at odds with the whole, running, shooting, jumping out of planes, walking with a big green bag on your back lifestyle.

That being said, how bad is your asthma? (start running and then answer that question). Does it bother you? When were you diagnosed? Are you on meds for it?

I'm not saying you should lie about it - but if you had asthma as a kid and it has never bothered you and you can run and don't need medication. Fuck it, don't tell anyone.

Could try and join the merchant marines, just hope your dont get sea sick though, just another option if your trying to get out of your hometown. Not sure of the qualifications though just another option for you.

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