Going from ADA to AirNG?

deadday · 11-10-2007, 09:43

Any of you guys done it? Were you able to keep your rank? Would you do it again or rather go ArmyNG?

drew

**Sam White** · 11-11-2007, 18:02

I went from USAR to ANG. AFAIK, any prior service can keep their rank up to paygrade of E6 (provided you make the switch within a year or two). The culture in the ANG is a bit different from the Army. ANG is much less "military" and run more like a business for many of the career fields. I love the Air Guard, but then again I was a support type in the Army anyway.

md2lgyk · 11-12-2007, 09:48

I went from the Army Guard to the Air Guard 12 or 13 years ago. I kept the same rank, which is usually the case. The two services are like night and day as far as how you are treated - I wished at the time I'd made the switch earlier. I retired from the Air Guard last year with 24 years total.

Something to check into though: I was able to get a waiver of the requirement to go to tech school based on my active-duty training and Army Guard MOS. I've heard that waivers aren't granted any more.

**Sam White** · 11-12-2007, 14:07

When I switched in 2006 they still had waivers for tech school. From what the other airmen say, this is pretty rare on my base. The recruiter had a conversion chart in one of his books showing the AFSC equivalent to my Army MOS. I didn't have to go to tech school, but I did have to do 5- level CDC's. For those that don't know, CDC's are correspondence courses you do on your own time to upgrade your skill level. You can also do NCO courses this way. I had the WLC in the Army but the Air Guard wouldn't accept it. They let me to Airman Leadership School as a CDC. I like being able to do those courses on my own time, some like to in-residence.

FWIW, about 40% of the people on my base have done any enlistment or two in the Army. A lot of them have gone on to finish their 20+ years with the Air Guard.

deadday · 11-17-2007, 23:17

That does seem to be the growing trend, and since I'm now being force reclassed into a pogue, I figure, I might start looking into the AF so I could get the QOL imporvements as well...

drew

**Sam White** · 11-18-2007, 14:10

One piece of advice: try to get a current periodic physical and photocopies of the results before you leave the Army. Air Guard bases have their own clinics and will let you "cross into the blue" without going to MEPS if you can show them copies of a current physical when you see the recruiter. I gave the recruiter copies of my physical and bypassed that step altogether. If you're becoming a pogue for medical reasons I would suggest you do the same if you want to get in the ANG.

deadday · 11-18-2007, 15:19

Yup, they are medically reclassing me, I've been fighting discharge tooth and nail..Went so far as to sit down with the (Acting) Surgeon General MG Pollock to go over my situation and my options. I want to serve, I need to serve.

drew