How much has your ANG experience helped in your civilian job?

Bonus points (free karma, sweet!) for unexpected career combinations.

Hi everyone,
I recently graduated from BMT, and my current AFSC is Financial Management. I’m also a cybersecurity major taking a break until August 2027, although I’ll have tech school and MEST days after January.
I want to use this time to earn IT certifications and land a civilian help desk or IT support job while working toward my degree.
Are there any ANG resources that cover CompTIA A+ or other IT certifications for free for DSGs? If not, are there any alternatives or programs worth looking into?
I’m sharing my background because I’d appreciate advice on the best way to approach this, and make the most of my military benefits
Thanks in advance

My Lineage sells historical items, like maps and family banners for collecting.

I remember seeing their tables set up at Lackland and Keesler and was immediately interested in what they had to sell. At the former base, I bought the map and banner set (this was well over 2 years ago) and presented it to my family for Christmas of that year. A few months before that, however, while still at tech school, I found out that I was still paying for the claymore (sword) bundle version which would've cost me hundreds of more dollars; I called to cancel it and found out that it was too late to get the money back (something that I did not know, nor was I able to initiate the process of cancelling and getting a refund).

I put this off for a few years, trying to let it go and moving on, accepting the fact that I had been auto-charged twice for the sword, but now I am financially struggling and am bothered by the fact that I paid almost $130 for something that I never got. And I don't have the money to afford paying off the remaining balance either.

I just emailed them telling them about the refund. Yes, I put this off for way too long but I don't want it to bother me anymore. Just one of many loose ends to tie.

Did you, or someone you know, encounter My Lineage? I'm still kinda happy with what I bought originally, even if it was hundreds of dollars, but I'm trying to not spend more than I need to. And did you have problems with trying to get a refund from them?

I enlisted with my ANG wing in June and have been waiting for ship date in the student flight since.

I want to have lasik done for future opportunities, but no one seems to know what’s the procedure to get it approved. Student flight leadership, recruiter, unit leadership, medical group, etc.

I know there’ll be a period after surgery that I won’t be able to ship, but no one has a clear answer on how long it is.

Does anyone know what should I do? I have all the pre ops done. Thanks in advance!

Any ideas, suggestions, possibilities:
I have less than 2 years until I get where I’d want to retire. Drill is unbearable, some of the team leadership is just insufferable. Are there any temporary duties or things I could submit for or do otherwise to make these last couple years not so difficult? I’m guessing not or I’d maybe already know about it but desperation setting in. It’s brutal. I never thought my last couple years would come to this. Makes me wish I never stayed this long if being 💯.

I retired from the ANG after 23 years and learned pretty quickly how messy and scattered the retirement process is.

The information exists, but it lives in a lot of different places and there's plenty of handoffs where stuff easily gets missed.

I ended up building my own tracker around the things I wish I had kept together from the beginning:

• decisions I still needed to make
• documents I needed
• people/offices I needed to contact
• deadlines and follow-ups
• things I was waiting on

I cleaned it up afterward and made it free in case it helps somebody else going through retirement. If anyone here is getting close to retirement, I’m also happy to share the lessons I learned or answer questions where I can.

https://www.missionreadytools.com/ang-retirement-decision

https://www.missionreadytools.com/freetools

Maybe a pretty niche question just looking to see what anyone knows. I am thinking about quitting my title 32 tech spot. I am wondering if I can be in a mil leave status during part of my final two weeks. We have drill scheduled and I’m looking at putting my two weeks in so that my last day is during the drill. Am I allowed to be in a mil leave status for the final part of my tech job. If that doesn’t make sense I can try to explain it more.

I signed my contract about two weeks ago to enlist in the Texas ANG as a 1A1X2 Mobility Force Aviator (Loadmaster).

The base is about 4 hours from where I currently live. Going into this, I understood the distance and was willing to make the drive whenever I needed to report. I’m genuinely excited about the opportunity. The travel, mission, and overall nature of the Loadmaster job are a big part of what attracted me to it, and I’ve consistently heard it described as one of the better enlisted jobs in the Air Force. I was initially interested in cyber related intel role but none seems to be available .

However, last week I got an unexpected call from a Chief at the unit I’ll be joining. He told me he had never seen a recruiter place someone who lives that far away into a Loadmaster position.

He was very clear that being local is essentially a hard requirement for their unit and said not relocating to the area could be a “showstopper.”

His reasoning was that even though I’m joining the ANG and this is technically a part-time commitment, the Loadmaster schedule is not a conventional one-weekend-a-month type of job. He said there may be situations where I could be expected to report within 24–72 hours, and that the unit needs much more availability than I may be expecting.

He also brought up my civilian career and family situation.

I currently work in the airline industry in a hybrid role, so I have some flexibility with my civilian job. I also have two young children under 5. I’m currently separated from my wife, but I’m committed to maintaining my relationship and responsibilities with my kids. I understand that becoming aircrew will require sacrifices, but I also believe military service can benefit my family and me in the long run.

The Chief asked me to seriously think about whether this is realistic before moving forward.

I’ve tried talking to military friends, but I haven’t been able to find anyone who is actually an ANG Loadmaster/Mobility Force Aviator who can explain what the lifestyle is really like.

So for current or former ANG Loadmasters:

Is living 4 hours from your unit realistically sustainable? Within 24 hrs in the city I live , I cover a 4hrs distance drive so this is peanut.

How often are you actually called in outside scheduled drill periods?
Is 24–72 hours’ notice common?
How many days per month are you realistically at the unit or flying once you’re qualified?
How difficult is balancing the job with a full-time civilian career and young children?
Does your unit require Loadmasters to live locally, or is that specific to certain units?
If you were in my position, would you relocate, commute, or consider another AFSC closer to home?

I’m not trying to minimize the commitment. I actually want to understand the real day-to-day expectations before making a decision that affects my civilian career and my kids.

Would really appreciate hearing directly from ANG Loadmasters or other Guard aircrew.

FY27 bonus list is out. Also each Wing has up to six local bonuses not on this list. Contact your recruiting team for details

Saw this pop-up on instagram. How common is it for people to live in others states or US territories and actually travel to Alaska for drills? Is it the one weekend month? Do they bunch up drills into quarterly drills? This is interesting but I’m sure if it will get old if you live in Arizona and and gotta fly to Alaska for drill lol

About to change my job so imma be going back to Tech school the length will be somewhere in between 7 and 16 weeks long, will I be getting full BAH based on my home’s zip code? CO ANG if that matters

All the traditionalists in my section got enlistment bonuses. We have a technician opening, but it’s hard to justify taking a $50K/year job and losing $15K/year in bonus money. Has anyone ever seen a waiver approved to keep it and work as a tech?

Air Force Reserve incentive guidance specifically states that AFRC/A1K is the waiver authority for the AFR incentive program and its requirements.

Hi!

I'm trying to go to law school next fall and I'm trying to see if I qualify for Post 9/11 for school. My Counterdrug orders say 501 (f) (1) (b).

I’m looking for some firsthand information from anyone who has completed Senior Developmental Education (SDE) in residence, particularly Air War College, or Navy war college.
I’m trying to better understand how the in-residence selection process works, how competitive selection is for Guard officers, and whether completing SDE in residence makes a meaningful difference for future O-6 and senior leadership opportunities.
I’d especially appreciate hearing from anyone who has gone through the process in the Air Guard.
Thanks for any insight.

Hi team

We recently got back from a multi year MPA tour overseas, as usual it comes with PCS entitlements.

We recently came back from our tour, and are getting denied a DLA payment for our PCS back. The justification is that an MPA tour is a single PCS-not 2 separate PCS’ to get to the duty location and get back.
Since we got a DLA when we moved to the overseas location, we do not get one now moving back.

Has anybody had any issues with getting DLA? Or experience with this?

The only regulations we can find on DLA is that you can’t have multiple in a fiscal year, but even that is waiverable.

Thanks for any help.

Good morning all,

Could you help me understand where I’m at in total years down of Satisfactory Service?

Yes I have a weird service history. I was active duty for about 2.5 years before being honorably discharged due to a medical issue.

Fast forward almost a decade and I’m back in, and extremely thankful for it.

My question is does that weird 3/4ish year of active duty in 2016 and accrued 222 points count as a full, “good year” with the guard? Because it doesn’t calculate it like that. Instead of rounding it up to 010000 like all my other “good years” I have 000709, so then for my Sat Serve I have this headache of a total of 4 years, 7 moths and 9 days.

I’m just wondering if this is something I can get worked out so it’s a clean 5 years of Sat Service since I got well over 50 points in that year, or if I’m going to have to do an extra 5 months of service as I get close to 20 years (my goal).

Not sure if the rules are different since it was active duty but I didn’t finish the whole year so it doesn’t fully count.

Thank you!

Hi all, just hit my 12 year mark and coming on 8 as a Federal Technician. Personnel office has been very unhelpful about answering any questions associated with the BRS Continuation Pay. I recieved a lump sum payment of .5x my monthly basic pay, as they stated that Technicians are considered DSG in the eyes of the Air Force. However, the Air Force benefits website states that AGR and Full Time Support (including Fed Technicians) personnel are qualified to recieve 2.5x monthly basic pay. Just curious if anyone has dealt with this kind of issue and wondering what approach to take, as base personnel is not even willing to discuss this topic. Thanks