All,

I'm going to transition from active duty to Army National Guard. I'm going into the combat arms MOS. Am I able to volunteer for deployments, or is that something I have no control over? Thank you in advance for your advice.

Probably depends on the state. I volunteered for one. Had to re class. Was worth it to get a ticket over.

Thanks for the info sir!

Could be both. Some deployments are smaller in scale and are volunteer. Usually those are looking for leadership, though.

There are also deployments where you have no choice. Not sure what the optempo is in the guard anymore, but with AFG winding down, who knows.

I'm in Kuwait and have the luxury of seeing every unit that goes to Iraq, Afghan and everywhere else.

There's alot of Guard coming to Kuwait for year long tours, some of those Units send personnel to Iraq/Afghan for stints in support of. A female I know in the FL Guard volunteered for a deployment here to Kuwait because she wanted to see Iraq, and welp she is in Iraq now. I work next to a Reservist who's been here for a 1.5 yrs and has extended for another year with the Corps of Engineers.

Part of the Aviation assets in Afghan are Guard units as well. So there are opportunities, you just have to know where to look

If you're going into a combat arms unit I'd presume it's an MTOE unit, (as opposed to TDA). In such a case, they get called up as units. So if you're in 1-221 Cav, for example (My old unit), when 1-221 Cav gets called up in the rotation, everyone goes. If they are short-handed, they may ask for volunteers, if they're substantially short-handed, you'll be voluntold. (As in my old, old unit, we got mobilised to provide a company to fill out an undestrength battalion in another brigade).

Last I heard, the cycle was that every five years, a Guard unit becomes available to Big Army. The Army may or may not choose to call upon it, depending on what is going on in the world at that point. If it does not get called up within that year, the unit resets, and starts the four year spin-up process again.

TDA units tend to be those required for State/US-specific missions, such as State HQ, training institutes, and so on. They generally do not deploy.

You can volunteer and it doesn't mean shit. Network like a mofo, let other units get to know you and trust you and you can possibly pick up a slot on deployment. Otherwise, good luck.