National Guard?

Bl8ckr0uter

Anybody in this branch? What type of IT positions are available? I see 25B and 25F but are those the closest ones as far as networking?

wastedtime

I'm not in the national guard component of the army but in active duty as a 25B. 25B is mainly your general computer/network person. If you are looking for a pure networking MOS it would be 25N which is more or less an updated 25F. If you haven't already you may want to look at this http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/53465-military-future-questions-civilian-jobs-thanks-advance.html. The whole 25 series of MOSes are signal related. Some of the other ones you may want to look into are: 25S, 25R, 25L, and 25P.

Bl8ckr0uter

Thanks for the point in the right direction. I just looked at that thread.

tpatt100

I am in the Guard. Was a 25F went to Ft Riley and got the 25N. You get a lot of "hands on" but the honest truth? They teach you the Army way which is the dumbed down method because they don't have tons of time to teach you real world knowlege.

You get routers and what not and if your ambitious you can learn a lot but expect to spend some time on your own doing certs because there is a ton of gaps. I remember doing Cisco Call Manager and they had no clue what half the menu options were they just wanted us to hand jam it in.

Same with the Promina and firewall. I work in IT for a living and I cannot just hand jam commands in without understanding what I am doing.

It looks good on your resume though. Just don't expect to only learn what they teach you and expect some awesome job. There are exceptions but the ambitious soldiers take what they are given and plow ahead with the rest

Bl8ckr0uter

For the 25Ns here, did you enjoy the experience? I was looking at the reserves or national guard and I plan to go talk to a recruiter on monday. I would have to drop weight (which I know how to do) but I think I could do it. It is now about getting the family (wife) on board....

At any rate it looks like a really good program but I am not stupid. I know that we are at "war". I know I could go to hot zones (depending on where I go). A couple of years ago, I thought about the miltary and I talked with a recruiter but I was much lighter and unmarried then. We will see what the wife things and such. This job market just really sucks now....

btowntech

I served in the National Guard but as a 13E and 13D. I joined when I was 18 and it helped me grow up quite a bit. I also did it more for the money for college and to not be a burden on my parents having to pay for college then for the experience.

All I can say is think long and hard about the decision and remember that it is not a job you can quit along the way. I only say that meaning that you have to remind yourself that this is not a normal job and that the Army owns you. Should you decide to join, make sure you start doing push ups, sit ups, and running (if those three still make up the PT test).

If it sounds like I'm saying don't join, that is not my intention. I'm just trying to get you to think past the possible job experience of the MOS and think more about military life. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

Bl8ckr0uter

btowntech wrote: »

I served in the National Guard but as a 13E and 13D. I joined when I was 18 and it helped me grow up quite a bit. I also did it more for the money for college and to not be a burden on my parents having to pay for college then for the experience.

All I can say is think long and hard about the decision and remember that it is not a job you can quit along the way. I only say that meaning that you have to remind yourself that this is not a normal job and that the Army owns you. Should you decide to join, make sure you start doing push ups, sit ups, and running (if those three still make up the PT test).

If it sounds like I'm saying don't join, that is not my intention. I'm just trying to get you to think past the possible job experience of the MOS and think more about military life. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

No really I understand what you are saying. I am not a quitter or anything. I know I really need to get back in shape (when in HS I wrestled 175-heavyweight). I know I can get the weight off and I don't have an issue with taking orders.


How was your National Guard Experience? Did you go over seas? Do you know the rules on family and such? How about you certs and gi bill? How long were you in for? How much money did you get for college? I am 22 just in case you are wondering.

btowntech

knwminus wrote: »

How was your National Guard Experience? Did you go over seas? Do you know the rules on family and such? How about you certs and gi bill? How long were you in for? How much money did you get for college? I am 22 just in case you are wondering.

I can tell you that I hated drill weekends just because we either sat around at the armory or we sat around in the field. A lot of wasted weekends doing nothing but then again that was field artillery. I enjoyed the people and if I could go back and change things I wouldn't. Might have been nice to have done a different MOS but hey I didn't have much choice. I never got activated or had to go over seas. I was single at the time so I'm probably not a great person to answer questions about family. I didn't have any certs or was even thinking about certs at that time. GI Bill helped with books and however much I got a month for going to college. Gave up my benefits when I got out of the guard after serving 6 years. I'm 31 now, so I've been out for a while.

As for the quitting, I didn't feel that you would quit. If you sign a 6 and 2 contract and hit year 4, sometimes you wish it would be over with so that you can move on. In the real world if you don't like where you work or the people you work with or get bored, you move on to something new. When you feel that way in the military you have to remind yourself that you have 2 more years to serve. Something to think about.

I just recently moved to Huntsville and I'm working for another military contractor which requires me to have a security clearance (the prior one also required it). I would have to say that I owe my ease of obtaining my clearance to my time serving in the guard (MOS required security clearance) and keeping out of trouble.

Bl8ckr0uter

Thanks for the reply.

I think the major issues for me will be getting back into shape and getting my family on board. I can see the pros and cons and the pros might out weight the cons if I can go for the 25N.

networker050184

25N is a great choice. Like tpatt100 pointed out, you only get out what you put in. When I went through the 25N course we had some excellent instructors that knew the stuff really well. I didn't have the kind of "hand jam" experience tpatt100 had. We had about six instructors in total with two each specializing in the different areas R&S, voice, Promina etc. Our Promina guys were top notch and had worked on those things for years. They could make that baby sing for sure. Maybe it had something to do with active duty vs guard training, but I'm not sure. It might just come down to the knowledge level of your instructors. I do agree with tpatt100 that you will need to learn a lot of stuff on your own if you want to master the technology. Just like with any other course.

Good luck!

subl1m1nal

Don't know much about the networking jobs in the Guard, but my wife is a 92A. If you want to enlist, you can let me know. I know the AIT for the IT people is pretty long.

Bl8ckr0uter

headed to go talk to the recruiter...

brad-

knwminus wrote: »

Anybody in this branch? What type of IT positions are available? I see 25B and 25F but are those the closest ones as far as networking?

National guard will be limited by what kinds of units are around you. You may not want to drive 200 miles on the weekend to be in a unit with the MOS you want.

You may also need to look at Army Reserve units in your area.

btowntech

knwminus wrote: »

headed to go talk to the recruiter...

So how was it?

Bl8ckr0uter

btowntech wrote: »

So how was it?

I went to the Army recruiter. Honestly it wasn't that bad at all. I am probably going to go to the National Guard (use to be in the same building as the Army recruiter but now they are clear across town) today or tomorrow. They guy was obviously trying to steer me towards active duty but I told him that wasn't going to happen. The 25N people are based out of a town 30 miles away from my city so it isn't to far.

chmorin

I'm trying to be on contact with my local Air Guard recruiter, in hopes that I can join a squadron near by. I'll let you know what I find out.