Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hello! Just wondering if anyone here has advice on doing a stint as an Active Duty ROTC Instructor. My husband was given a list of locations and we are kind at a loss as how to rank them. Most of them are at places that we'd rather not go (middle of nowhere), but there are a few that we are considering - UC-Davis and Pittsburgh (not sure which college).
We have always lived or on a military installation, so I do have some worries about housing and accessing medical care. Mostly housing. I had a friend whose husband was on recruiting duty a while back nowhere near a military installation, and there was some type of government contracted housing available for them. Does anyone know anything about that?
I served 22 years of continuous active duty Army and volunteered for several assignments and duties. They all benefited me in the end... Some assignments were unaccompanied, and we pulled through. I was an instructor at Fort Meade and then in the Washington D.C, area. Sometimes you just never know how things will work out.
Looking back, I would have volunteered for for more overseas accompanied assignments. You know what day you will get there, and you know what day you will leave, and you can extend the tour for an exact period of time....
Having said that, I have no idea how an "Active Duty ROTC Instructor" would be. I would think it would be an adventure which you might enjoy. First Sergeant Parnell would always say to me, "How bad could it be"...
what is not to like? the chance to interact with young minds and teach them something that may save their lives? living some place different and in a non military environment for awhile? change of perspective.
My husband was an active duty Professor of Military Science while I stayed at our last duty station with my assignment. He lived on base and commuted home nearly every weekend. We had BAS at our permanent house where I was. He lived in the temporary BOQ space available.
We were on CHAMPUS at the time because the military hospital was not at my duty station.
Just saying it all worked out. He really loved his ROTC students. It is refreshing to see the future.
A lot has to do with where the college is located. All of the instructors where I went to college loved it (Arizona State) but at the time there were not one but two active duty bases located within an hour of the campus, Luke AFB and Williams AFB, the latter being associated with Air Training Command, the associated MAJCOM for Air University/AFROTC at the time. My senior year instructor stated he was there for (1) the weather, understandable since his previous duty station was Plattsburgh, NY, and (2) to give us cadets the knowledge we'd need to succeed in our first assignments as 2nd lieutenants. He was fired-up about teaching, and clearly enjoyed it.
One of my squadron commanders when I was a captain left to take the PAS position at UT-Austin; Bergstrom was still open, so there was that association with an active base. I don't think he ever flew again, it was something of a retirement job for him (located near where he wanted to settle down).
A caution about being detached from the active duty: being out-of-sight, out-of-mind. I did a short tour as an ALO at an Army installation, and enlisted JTACs can spend nearly their entire career off Air Force installations. How significant it is depends on where one is in one's career. Can hurt (not likely unless a rated officer), but probably will be helpful (joint/education ticket punched).
Looking back, I would have volunteered for for more overseas accompanied assignments. You know what day you will get there, and you know what day you will leave, and you can extend the tour for an exact period of time....
That was precisely my strategy during my career.
Having been an Army brat, I knew about the problems of remote (short) tours on the family left at home.
So my strategy was always to have a long-tour volunteer statement on file. Whenever I hit a CONUS station, I immediately went to the personnel office and put in my long-tour preferences.
Because most people are trying to stay CONUS as long and as much as possible and because the system does actually factor preferences into its calculation, I always got long tours. Although I didn't always get the specific long tours I wanted (I never got to Europe, and I so wanted to get to RAF Mildenhall), no place where families are supported truly sucks.
So I spent 26 years without a short tour. The downside was that my family and I were essentially vagabonds--we were overseas for 15 years (which included Pearl Harbor)--and both my kids were born overseas, but except for TDYs I was never separated from them.
Now, my cousin who joined the Air Force about the same time took a different tactic. His tactic was to get his family to San Antonio (where there were four bases) and then volunteer for short tours--which gave him priority for his CONUS return choice--and thus keep his family in one place.
The downside was that he spent years and years separated from them.
A caution about being detached from the active duty: being out-of-sight, out-of-mind. I did a short tour as an ALO at an Army installation, and enlisted JTACs can spend nearly their entire career off Air Force installations. How significant it is depends on where one is in one's career. Can hurt (not likely unless a rated officer), but probably will be helpful (joint/education ticket punched).
That pinged me even as an NCO.
Missing chief time after time, I discussed my career with a colonel who had been on several promotion boards. He told me that because my previous ten years had been in joint commands, "You're not blue enough."
Hello! Just wondering if anyone here has advice on doing a stint as an Active Duty ROTC Instructor. My husband was given a list of locations and we are kind at a loss as how to rank them. Most of them are at places that we'd rather not go (middle of nowhere), but there are a few that we are considering - UC-Davis and Pittsburgh (not sure which college).
We have always lived or on a military installation, so I do have some worries about housing and accessing medical care. Mostly housing. I had a friend whose husband was on recruiting duty a while back nowhere near a military installation, and there was some type of government contracted housing available for them. Does anyone know anything about that?
Thanks in advance!
Is this Army ROTC? I was an instructor. What are your specific questions? Best tour I did in my career.
For housing, there is a program to have the corps of engineers lease a house but you have to do so much of the legwork that it’s not much better than just, you know, taking your housing allowance and leasing a house. If you are in commuting distance of a base you can sometimes get assigned quarters there.
Unless you are near a base you’ll be on TRICARE Select, using civilian providers and paying a copay.
A few friends did it. Most loved it but, at least for the Navy, it seemed to be a kiss of death for the competitive types since you were out of the community on shore duty. For my pilot friends that went, they understood that they would never fly again and not make command.
Officer or NCO? Housing allowance? Last duty assignment or not?
SNCO, not last duty assignment. BAH is $2355
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
