Alright, I've been thinking about this a lot lately and need some info if possible.
I am currently in the Army National Guard, in an ADA unit, as a SSG with nine years in. I have never been Active Army, but I have over five years of active Guard time due to staying on full-time stateside orders whenever possible. I have a one year stateside deployment next year, and I am looking forward to it since it should be a good mission. When all is said and done I will have eleven years in total. After that mission I think that I want to go Active Army.
The reason for this is, I like my full time service, I'm ready to move on now and do something more high-speed and worthwile. So far it has been all humanitarian missions after hurricanes and such, no overseas deployments, high speed schools, anything like that. Also, even staying full time Guard I won't recieve any retirement benefits until age 60, whereas if I go ahead and bite the bullet and go Active Army, I can start recieving a pension around age 40, if I get out with twenty years in.
The thing is, ADA is kind of dying out in the Active Army. Most ADA units have transitioned into something else because of the change in mission the past five years. Additionally, I am not particularly fulfilled by my branch. I think I want to switch to either Infantry, Combat Engineers, or Cavalry Scouts. I spoke with an Active recruiter about three years ago after my first six-year enlistment, and even with wanting to go infantry, he was not very helpful at all, and seemed uninterested in helping with the transition, so I really don't know much about how to make the switch over.
Will I have to repeat Basic, or OSUT? How difficult is it to switch mid-career? Any info would be appreciated.