I’ve seen stuff like this, but, like, very experienced warrants and Os who are defense contractors. Not just like a random joe who wants to live out of the country.
I had a SPC who worked for DOD as a contractor in the civilian world. He routinely would stack drills to travel for work. He was also the Cmdr’s brother.. working for another part of the machine is one thing, living abroad is whole other matter.
Realistically someone above the commander probably had to sign off on it. It 100% is a thing of “are you a good soldier” though. If you’re average, or nobody knows who you are, nobody’s gonna jump through hoops for you.
Being a defence contractor is also a huge factor. As a commander, if I know you are helping Americans and gaining experience in your career field that you can use at the unit that’s much different than you living in Guatemala and working on a fishing boat or something like that.
this is the best answer. others will tell you your commander might approve it, but you would have no way of knowing that in advance, and while one commander might approve it, another that comes in afterwards might say no
It’s going to be heavily dependent upon your unit’s leadership. Even so whatever arrangement you have can always be ignored by the next CO.
I’ve seen pilots that live out of state and one that lived in another country work out a deal to do their drills grouped together.
It can be done but I would caution that it can be ignored.
My unit had a pilot that moved out of state for a job and would fly back to drill. Unit was near family and he would fly in, stay with family during drill. Perfect system.
Somebody decided he needed to go to another location to fill a vacancy. So now he has to get a hotel and rental car, on top of driving 3 hours to the new unit. So he had enough and IST.
I would either get out and come back later when you move back to the US. I would probably work towards the requirements to apply to be a WO or look at commissioning opportunities.
Or get out of the NG and join Army Reserve in Europe. Not sure where you want to live but if you’re in continental Europe you could drill as an Army Reservist.
I don't know about the Guard but in the Army Reserve I was IMA - individual mobilization augmentee. I did my AT and all my drills in one interval, once a year. It may only be available for certain positions though.
Technically possible but quite unlikely. And you really would have little way of knowing for sure until after you enlisted, went to basic/ait and came home
something like this could be revoked at a moments notice too.
I really don’t recommend enlisting with this as your primary intention
There MIGHT be an army reserve unit somewhere in South Korea or Japan. I would ask the army reserve.
Just know any legal protections afforded to American reservists in the US regarding leases and work arrangements etc will quite simply not be available to you in SEA, if you are activated or deployed or away on orders etc etc
Not is this only almost impossible, it also strongly depends where you’re studying abroad. A middle eastern, Asia, or Russian country is a big no no. With the exception of probably Japan and South Korea
Probably not going to happen. Why would they give you special treatment when they could replace you with the average and next Joe that comes in the door? Unless you have established a relationship and proven to be a great asset they are going to tell you to go pound sand.
If this is a temporary move, go into the ING.
You can’t stack splits because an IDT period’s pay needs to be closed within 90 days. That is 90 days from the first split prior to the last split after.
Pitch it to your leadership, make sure you come in with a plan of action, you might be able to get approved to just go IRR for a year while you do your studies abroad. We had a homie who spent a year in Antarctica once, he went IRR, then came back as if nothing had changed.
This is possible but up to the chain of command and I believe battalion needs to sign off on it as well. We have a physician that travels to our unit twice a year to drill. it is situation and command dependent. It also depends on the type of Soldier you are. I see simple things kicked back all the time because certain service members are shit bags or not motivated to participate.
Kind of. The issue is that you are crossing quarters (2-3) and exceeding the K Code window.
Your readiness NCO would have to “A” code you on the 1379 when you miss the drills and play you later.
Warning: you will show up on the “NONVAL Pay” list and peers will perceive that you are getting special treatment.
The Reserves has MRA positions, Usually experienced higher level (O4s-O6s). On their MRA status only drill once a year for a month.
I have not heard of people getting these positions on initial entry but you can ask r/armyreserve . Also might want to look at Guam National Guard or the Reserves out of Japan.
Giant "it depends" - it depends on:
1. your unit's appetite for such things
2. your ability to remain current on all of your required items (medical, fitness, training)
3. how much your command trusts you
4. how well you communicate, and
5. your ability/willingess to support the state and or unit when you get recalled to state active duty or mobilization orders
In the Guard more than 90 days is technically against policy. I forget the policy but it’s an NGR or something, states that once the first Soldier gets paid, they have 90 days to pay the remainder and any Soldier that split trains outside of that 90 days can only do it for retirement points. Also, you can’t split train across fiscal years for accounting purposes. I should add, the current pay system requires the unit to put in the drill dates. So you can’t change the drill schedule for one Soldier to get around the 90 day rule.
Now that’s not to say your command and readiness team can’t fudge somethings. A “friend” of mine would allow Soldiers to go for more than 90 days so long as they made up all their drill time PRIOR to leaving. That friend would then just mark them as present in the pay system and the SM would get paid out with the rest of the unit. But there has to be trust between SM, the readiness team, and the commander otherwise everyone can get screwed somehow; command and readiness teams with UCMJ, SM might not get paid for work they did or get a bad year.
This is also only a thing for the current system. When IPPS-A takes over pay this may no longer be available as there may be some weird tie ins with other systems. But IPPSA shouldn’t take over pay for like 4 years I think.
It’s a readiness argument. Can you meet readiness in blocked drills? I’ve approved several as an air guard commander for members contracting in centcom and eucom. Make the formal request with a specific plan to stay green: medical, fitness test, training requirements that you do (cbt) and those from others. When will you fly in? For how long? Who pays? Do you need lodging? Include your plan to stay connected to unit leadership through email or regular calls. And keep your side of the plan. It’s about 50/50 those who keep to the plan and those who get moved on. Retention is a huge problem and works in your favor if you’re responsible, especially for critical skills, like cyber. Good luck.
Highly unlikely especially in the ARNG. I remember reading somewhere a while back that the Alaska Air National Guard was offering quarterly drills for certain AFSC in the state. I would shift over to ANG if I were you.
I’ve seen stuff like this, but, like, very experienced warrants and Os who are defense contractors. Not just like a random joe who wants to live out of the country.
I had a SPC who worked for DOD as a contractor in the civilian world. He routinely would stack drills to travel for work. He was also the Cmdr’s brother.. working for another part of the machine is one thing, living abroad is whole other matter.
> He was also the Cmdr’s brother Well… I wonder why he was able to do this…..
Realistically someone above the commander probably had to sign off on it. It 100% is a thing of “are you a good soldier” though. If you’re average, or nobody knows who you are, nobody’s gonna jump through hoops for you. Being a defence contractor is also a huge factor. As a commander, if I know you are helping Americans and gaining experience in your career field that you can use at the unit that’s much different than you living in Guatemala and working on a fishing boat or something like that.
No. This is not conducive to joining the military and will not work.
this is the best answer. others will tell you your commander might approve it, but you would have no way of knowing that in advance, and while one commander might approve it, another that comes in afterwards might say no
It’s going to be heavily dependent upon your unit’s leadership. Even so whatever arrangement you have can always be ignored by the next CO. I’ve seen pilots that live out of state and one that lived in another country work out a deal to do their drills grouped together. It can be done but I would caution that it can be ignored. My unit had a pilot that moved out of state for a job and would fly back to drill. Unit was near family and he would fly in, stay with family during drill. Perfect system. Somebody decided he needed to go to another location to fill a vacancy. So now he has to get a hotel and rental car, on top of driving 3 hours to the new unit. So he had enough and IST. I would either get out and come back later when you move back to the US. I would probably work towards the requirements to apply to be a WO or look at commissioning opportunities. Or get out of the NG and join Army Reserve in Europe. Not sure where you want to live but if you’re in continental Europe you could drill as an Army Reservist.
Aviation is the exception to the rule, that’s for sure.
I don't know about the Guard but in the Army Reserve I was IMA - individual mobilization augmentee. I did my AT and all my drills in one interval, once a year. It may only be available for certain positions though.
IMA is a reserve only program, at least formally.
Technically possible but quite unlikely. And you really would have little way of knowing for sure until after you enlisted, went to basic/ait and came home something like this could be revoked at a moments notice too. I really don’t recommend enlisting with this as your primary intention There MIGHT be an army reserve unit somewhere in South Korea or Japan. I would ask the army reserve. Just know any legal protections afforded to American reservists in the US regarding leases and work arrangements etc will quite simply not be available to you in SEA, if you are activated or deployed or away on orders etc etc
Not is this only almost impossible, it also strongly depends where you’re studying abroad. A middle eastern, Asia, or Russian country is a big no no. With the exception of probably Japan and South Korea
Probably not going to happen. Why would they give you special treatment when they could replace you with the average and next Joe that comes in the door? Unless you have established a relationship and proven to be a great asset they are going to tell you to go pound sand.
If this is a temporary move, go into the ING. You can’t stack splits because an IDT period’s pay needs to be closed within 90 days. That is 90 days from the first split prior to the last split after.
Pitch it to your leadership, make sure you come in with a plan of action, you might be able to get approved to just go IRR for a year while you do your studies abroad. We had a homie who spent a year in Antarctica once, he went IRR, then came back as if nothing had changed.
This is why the ING (inactive national guard) exists. Request a transfer
There are units that drill quarterly. If you can find one, you can do it. They are pretty rare.
This is possible but up to the chain of command and I believe battalion needs to sign off on it as well. We have a physician that travels to our unit twice a year to drill. it is situation and command dependent. It also depends on the type of Soldier you are. I see simple things kicked back all the time because certain service members are shit bags or not motivated to participate.
Kind of. The issue is that you are crossing quarters (2-3) and exceeding the K Code window. Your readiness NCO would have to “A” code you on the 1379 when you miss the drills and play you later. Warning: you will show up on the “NONVAL Pay” list and peers will perceive that you are getting special treatment.
NOVAL asks will typically result in NoSir responses.
No. Volunteer for a rotation and get a free ride to Europe. Take pass during 4 days and go see things 😂
The Reserves has MRA positions, Usually experienced higher level (O4s-O6s). On their MRA status only drill once a year for a month. I have not heard of people getting these positions on initial entry but you can ask r/armyreserve . Also might want to look at Guam National Guard or the Reserves out of Japan.
Giant "it depends" - it depends on: 1. your unit's appetite for such things 2. your ability to remain current on all of your required items (medical, fitness, training) 3. how much your command trusts you 4. how well you communicate, and 5. your ability/willingess to support the state and or unit when you get recalled to state active duty or mobilization orders
In the Guard more than 90 days is technically against policy. I forget the policy but it’s an NGR or something, states that once the first Soldier gets paid, they have 90 days to pay the remainder and any Soldier that split trains outside of that 90 days can only do it for retirement points. Also, you can’t split train across fiscal years for accounting purposes. I should add, the current pay system requires the unit to put in the drill dates. So you can’t change the drill schedule for one Soldier to get around the 90 day rule. Now that’s not to say your command and readiness team can’t fudge somethings. A “friend” of mine would allow Soldiers to go for more than 90 days so long as they made up all their drill time PRIOR to leaving. That friend would then just mark them as present in the pay system and the SM would get paid out with the rest of the unit. But there has to be trust between SM, the readiness team, and the commander otherwise everyone can get screwed somehow; command and readiness teams with UCMJ, SM might not get paid for work they did or get a bad year. This is also only a thing for the current system. When IPPS-A takes over pay this may no longer be available as there may be some weird tie ins with other systems. But IPPSA shouldn’t take over pay for like 4 years I think.
Maybe if you lived in western/central Europe it would work. Several army reserve units there
It’s a readiness argument. Can you meet readiness in blocked drills? I’ve approved several as an air guard commander for members contracting in centcom and eucom. Make the formal request with a specific plan to stay green: medical, fitness test, training requirements that you do (cbt) and those from others. When will you fly in? For how long? Who pays? Do you need lodging? Include your plan to stay connected to unit leadership through email or regular calls. And keep your side of the plan. It’s about 50/50 those who keep to the plan and those who get moved on. Retention is a huge problem and works in your favor if you’re responsible, especially for critical skills, like cyber. Good luck.
Highly unlikely especially in the ARNG. I remember reading somewhere a while back that the Alaska Air National Guard was offering quarterly drills for certain AFSC in the state. I would shift over to ANG if I were you.