by Russell Reeder

Created on: October 24, 2008

The Army National Guard, is quite possibly the best choice for young men and woman who want to go to college for free, support there country while also being a civilian, get a taste of military life, or just to get in shape and earn extra money. It also goes without saying that young men and women who join also learn necessary basic principals in being a professional, on-time, hard working member of the work force.

Upon first signing your military contract, you go right off to basic combat training. While undergoing this training you will learn the core values and what it takes to be a soldier. You will be faced with many challenges, like conducting team exercises, paying attention to detail, working under stress. You will also get to find out the limits of your mental and physical ability and go past these limits to become a person you did not know you can be.

After graduation of basic training you are sent to A.I.T. (advanced individual training) which is your job training. This training is determined upon what you signed up for. Some jobs such as infantry, the training is only like 5 weeks, but jobs such as a linguist, the training can take up to two years. My personal advice for soeone picking a job in the military would be to pick something you would be able to do in the civilian world. This is because in the military world you get paid to learn these skills. Usually in the civilian world you have to pay to learn these skills. So chose somethig that you can picture yourself doing as a civilian job.

Completion of A.I.T. is when you become a fully functioning member of the united states military. You are now ready to go out and take part in your unit drills and be deployed to different assignments. There are also many jobs within the national guard that pay pretty well. So you can work for the national guard full time.

As for me. Joining the Army National Guard was the wisest decision I ever made as a teenager. Now I get to go to college, I have a considerable amount of work experience, and I know what it takes to be a soldier in the military. This is something I highly recomend to anyone who dosn't know what they want to do in life. It is also great for college students who want to pay for college and become physically fit. So next time you pass by your local national guard recruiting station, stop in, say hello, and find out what were all about because there might be an adventure waiting for you.

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