I know, I should go talk to a recruiter.  Last time I did that, tho, it took me six months to get them to stop calling me.

Anybody go thru a state OCS or accelerated OCS?  How was it?  What's the best option?  Any $ out there-i.e. enlistment bonuses, school loan repayments?  Anything else I should know?

Thanks in advance.

I stuck this in the wrong forum, meant to put it in Hall of Heroes.

I went through traditional OCS. It sucked because it was 18 months of useless bullshit. Definately go accellerated. No idea on the $ available.

If you are definantly sure you want to be a officer in the National Guard I would go accelerated OCS. There is a problem however it does take time to have your commission federally recognized like it is from traditional active duty/reserve OCS, direct commission, ROTC or a service academy. What this means is the possibility of your rank as an officer not being recognized for some time as you got a state commission instead of a federal. However, I hear they are speeding up the process due to the amount of deployments. It still can take up to 9-10 months. I have heard a horror story of an LT getting deployed and he kept his possistion as a PL but was paid as a E-6 until he got his federal recognition. This meant that in his unit he held an officers possistion but wasnt an officer because he was "federalized"

That being said if you are sure that you just want guard go accelerated state OCS. If your not sure go to ROTC where you can get an option to go active duty upon commission or stay in the guard. If you are already enlisted and "MOS" "Q"ed there are major educational benifits to this such as free tuition and 1300 a month pay by the time you count all your incentives. I am in this program. I hope to get active duty armor. I think similar benififts exist for state OCS as well however. Another beig benifit is that you are sloted as a Platoon Leader in a guard/reserve unit as a cadet where you have all the responsibilities as a 2LT until you commistion. Again, you can still go active if you choose.

Another prob with the federal recognition is the fact that it is often hard to go active duty from the guard because of the lack of reserve componant officers.

I recieved my federal recognition the same day I was commissioned in 2003. Some states may have difficulty obtaining this due to their OCS program losing their TRADOC seal of approval, but that is just a guess.

I went through the accelerated programme. I would -hate- do to the long version, and would not recommend it if you have a choice.

I went in as a 09S, which meant I went straight from Basic to OCS without stopping at AIT on the way.

My diary of OCS is at www.clubi.ie/exalted/40th.htm

NTM

Why did you hate the traditional programme so much, is it because it takes so long?

Yes, the length of time involved was tedious. And I was involved in OCS practically daily in between drills. As a prior service NCO, I found the course to be nothing more than hazing to get a commission.

It's far too easy to quit the long version. Once you're in the full-time version, it's like any army course. put yourself on autopilot and just go with the flow for three months.

The traditional version, you're going through civilian life for a year thinking "Oh great. I get to be tortured in seven days time. Again. I don't need this. I'll just quit"

I considered OCS not so much to be a course, but an evaluation. Are you of the correct character to be an officer? It didn't really teach me a damned thing about the job. That was left for the branch school.

NTM

I have heard it was one of the easiest ways to get a commission going the 15 16 month rule. I take it they just abuse you during drill or somthing? What will you expect to do on a drill weekend?

Traditional OCS is more than just drill weekend. But I will start with that.

Friday: Arrive at the barracks after work. Set up your wall locker for inspection (you couldn't keep all of your equipment and uniforms there so you have to haul them back and forth). Report to the TACs if you are in leadership that weekend or if you had an assignment to complete, which we all invariably did (one candidate had a 15,000 word report of the Class A shirt). Get smoked a few times for good measure.

Saturday: Conduct APFT and must show improvement from last score, if not the TACs will ensure the entire class gets 30 days of PT in 2.5 days. Shower and dress for class, never enough time. Go to chow, eat square meals, get harassed by the TACs. Go to classes, take tests, get smoked. Evening, get smoked and harassed. Prepare for the next days inspection, good luck finding your stuff because the TACs have mixed everyones crap together in one big pile...again, they never get tired of that one. Peer evals sometimes. Some bizzare control game with the TACs. Get thrown out of the rack a couple times that night for more games and smoking.

Sunday: PT. classes, smoking, rinse, lather repeat. Go home.

Lots of fun. Glad I did it but wish I would have went accelerated.

Yeah I am in ROTC and it is pretty much the same crap every day here. I wish I just went to OCS. I did the SMP program and it is so drawn out. I would have rather did one weekend a Month and be smoked then dealing with this crap every day. We have one of the worst programs and all of us cadets pay for it. I am supposed to commission next december.

I guess it all sucks. Good luck and enjoy Iraq.

Gee thanks,

Well, its interesting cause I volunteered to go to Iraq many times, but I never got a chance to go. As soon as I became a cadet I had a chance, but I was non deployable,