Those knowledgeable about the ARMY please put my mind at ease.

[MomLovesClassics]

My oldest is set to graduate from the university after his last fall classes. He has to go to Fort Lewis for two months in Washington to take some sort of evaluation for ROTC I think. He is also in the National Guard. After he graduates it is back into the ARMY in infantry. Why he chose infantry, I do not know something else would have been better for me. He does not want to be stationed in a small place, he is hoping to be stationed close to home. If he can't be, he wants to be stationed in Germany. Now I am seeing all this Korea stuff on the news, and I do not want to get freaked out, or let fear set in. I do not want him going there, as I am sure other mothers and wifes feel the same for their loved ones. He has already been in Iraq. I am not sure if something happened and things got too heated, would they make him go somewhere without finishing school first? He could not take his classes until the fall because of the trip to Fort Lewis. I am assuming he would be more valuable to the Army after this two months in Fort Lewis. I am already afraid that as soon as he graduates they will send him somewhere that I don't want him to be. Can someone more familiar please tell me how this works? Right now I just want him to finish school. He has always been so casual about this sort of thing, as if there is nothing to it.

[5KidzRUs]

Is the course he is lined up for AIT or an OBC ... Is he 'on orders'?

I think if it is any of the above then he should still likely go.

Having said that, we have had orders change to a different state, when our furniture was already in VA to a totally different state, two weeks before our move date.

It is hard to, but I think it will be better for you all if you just know that you have no control over all this and the military can change orders and 'their mind' on a lot of situation with very little notice sometimes.

As a last resort, if there is an injustice, a Rep. Or Congessperson can intervene ... But that is a whole 'nuther ball of wax ...

[MomLovesClassics]

At the moment I am unsure of his orders. He said he had to be evaluated, because he was completing ROTC training. He did basic, and AIT for artillery years ago. He did not have to do any AIT for the national Guard. He just does his weekend duty for the guard which he says is mostly boring, plus he does ROTC. He says ROTC has strange schedules that often interfer with his other studies. His is not suppossed to have ARMY orders until after he finishes school in the winter. My fear is things getting heated with Korea, and more units having to ship out. I am worried they may decide they need him before winter not giving him a chance to finish his fall classes. So far he has no idea what the winter holds for him. Gosh, it is unbelievable they would decide to move a family to a different place at the last second. WOW! I do know soldiers have been sent to Iraq fresh out of basic training. It breaks my heart.

[Debora R]

When he signed his contract, if he got the choice of duty station option, he will have some say in where he goes. But, the Army gives him the list of options based on where they will be needing personnel...we were hoping for Germany too, unfortunately, it wasn't one of the choices that were made available to us when the time came to put in the request for orders.

 

Best wishes to your son. I hope he gets a prime duty station.

[TXMomof4]

This is just a somewhat educated guess. What I'm getting from your post is that he's in ROTC and will be an officer when he graduates from college, right? In that case, he will have to finish before they can ship him anywhere. I'm guessing that this summer is just part of his ROTC duties/training. Basically, they can't send him anywhere until he finishes his officer training. I doubt the NG will pull him out of that to activate him, BUT stranger things have been known to happen. It would be to their benefit to wait though. They definately need more officers so it would be a waste to have him get only part way though.

 

Good luck with everything.

[Paintedlady]

It's always possible to get your orders changed at the last minute, but he'll probably end up in Ft. Lewis as planned. Sounds like he's got some specialized training to do and I doubt they'd cancel that.

 

I had verbal orders that I was going from MO to VA, but upon AIT graduation, they handed me orders for CA. No warning or explanation, just go where I'm told. The difference is that I was finished with my training and on my way to my permanent duty station. Your ds's situation sounds a little different. Try not to worry. :grouphug:

[MomLovesClassics]

Thanks ladies! I feel much better now. I believe Ft. Lewis is actually some type of test. I was unclear if the Guard could derail his training. Knowing it would benefit them if if finished makes me feel more at ease. In the past I have seen students deployed in the middle of their education. He is so close to graduating, I keep my fingers crosseed that he will.

[Crimson Wife]

Typically the Army will let an officer in the Reserves who is a full-time student finish out the current semester before having to go Active Duty. We know several people who got called up from the Reserves to serve in Iraq in the middle of the semester & they all were permitted to delay until after classes were over.

 

Now if the Army calls him up before the fall semester begins, then he would have a harder time pushing back his start date. The reason has to do with all the controversy about student deferments during the Vietnam War. Too many people were abusing the system (including some who went on to become prominent politicians) and as a result, the Army had to tighten the rules.

[homefront]

If your son is getting commissioned as officer, he has a minimum of 3 months job training after he commissioned. (My dh took about 7 months, finish about a year ago). This is before any additional classes he going to try to get into. Because of this length of time many people see changes in their duty station. Different locations have high priority to get filled first. These get filled no matter what your top chooses. Many people try to get Korea, so unless you son has it down as one of his top chooses you don't have much to worry about.

If they try to or have active him before finish, ask him to get the officer in charge of his ROTC to check on it. (Orders can be changed but doesn't workout) Since your son doing both, higher ups will decide where he more valuable.

[....]

I was in the army for 7 years...my sister just got her LT bars about a month ago. I have some other officers in my family. Feel free to pm me with any questions. I was also stationed in the Middle East. I have friends in Iraq right now. I wouldn't mind answering any questions you have about it.

 

Your son will finish school before he gets sent anywhere. Also, if he is going to be an infantry officer, I'm guessing he will first spend some time training (Ft Benning?). Almost every infantry officer goes to Airborne School and/or Air Assault School.

 

They're going to make sure he gets the right training before he is sent somewhere overseas.

 

As far as going to Korea. Almost everybody gets sent for a tour in Korea at some point in their time of service. Better Korea than Iraq or Afghanistan... A lot of my friends did tours in Korea...it was fine.

 

:grouphug:

[Starr]

Every time my brother goes to Germany they send him somewhere else from there. So his Germany posts were mostly spent in Bosnia and Afghanistan.

[MomLovesClassics]

He was in the Army for 3 years prior to going to the university. He has only had one tour in Iraq, so we assume a second tour is near. He says when he was there, they called people to come back to Iraq who were already out of the Army. He had someone advising him telling him he would be better off taking ROTC, it would help keep him close to home while he was in school. I think there was some type financial incentive for joing ROTC. He has used his money wisely taking no student loans, and paying off a truck. He got the sign on bonus too, plus he had the Army scholarship, and the pay from the National Guard. After school it is back to the Army full time, hopefully that will be delayed until January. He says he would rather be across the ocean than on the other side of the US. If he can't be close to home, he wants to be where he can travel and see the world. He also does not want to be stationed at one of the bases in the middle of nowhere in the US. He says there was nothing to do in Oklahoma, it bored him. He claimed there was not enough to do there, and it was too far from bigger cities. He is a people person, and active. He likes to be where there are lots of outdoor type activities, near big cities to explore. He is not the kind to sit home and do nothing. He makes my head spin sometimes. He is on a soccer team and a hockey team. He is always doing something. School is important to him, he is so close to finishing.