What do you need to know about the different National Guard Full Time Jobs? In this article, I want to educate you about some of the different ways that you can serve in the National Guard on a full-time basis. Let’s get started.
- AGR – This stands for Active Guard and Reserve. In essence, the AGR force is a permanent full-time force. The AGR personnel normally serve in support positions at the unit level, but there are also many higher level staff positions. The AGR is often referred to as the best kept secret in the Army. It’s like the best of both worlds. You can serve in the state militia and have all the same benefits of an Active Duty Soldier. These positions are highly sought after and competitive to get.
- Dual Status Technician – A dual status technician is someone who works as a GS Employee during the week and serves as a part-time Soldier one weekend a month and two weeks a year. The Soldiers who serve in this program HAVE to stay in the National Guard in order to keep their technician job. That’s why it’s called dual status. The benefits of this National Guard Full Time Job is that you can earn two pensions, one from the technician job and one from the military side of the house. The downfall is that you typically have to serve until you are 60 (or close to it) before you can retire and draw a pension.
- Deployment – When Soldiers deploy with their unit, they have a temporary National Guard Full Time job. Most deployments are 6 to 12 months. During this time, the Soldier has the same benefits of an Active Duty Soldier. Normally, they are on Title 10 or Title 32 Orders (State or Federal mission). When they return from the deployment, they will go back to their previous status.
- ADOS or ADSW – This is another example of a National Guard Full Time Job. I spent almost two years working on ADOS and ADSW jobs. They are “temporary” full-time jobs, normally assigned with a specific project. When I was on ADOS, I often served as a Project Officer. While on ADOS, you get the same entitlements and pay as your Active Duty Counterpart. It is a great program. I’ve met some people who did a 20 year career on ADOS. This program is often a feeder program for the AGR Program.
To the best of my knowledge. these are the only four types of National Guard Full Time Jobs. if you know of another way to serve in the National Guard on a full-time basis, please let us know. Just leave a comment to this post to share your thoughts. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them and we will do our best to provide an answer.
Sincerely,
Chuck Holmes
Former Army Major (resigned)
Publisher, Part-Time-Commander.com
Email: mrchuckholmes@gmail.com
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Chuck Holmes
Former Army Major (resigned)
Publisher, Part-Time-Commander.com
Email: mrchuckholmes@gmail.com
Suggested Resources
Our Books & Training Courses
Recommended Reading List
The Dual Status Technician position looks quite good. I find it amazing that you could qualify for TWO pensions. You write that a downfall is that you would need to serve until you are sixty years old to draw that pension, but that is actually not bad at all. Many civilian companies no longer offer a pension these days, and the ripe old age of sixty is younger than the typical retirement age (which just keeps getting higher and higher).
Each post on this Part Time Commander magazine that I read … causes me to do more research on the web, so I looked up dual status technician and discovered non-dual status technician jobs. This is a civilian employee of the Department of Defense serving in a military technician position who was hired before November 8, 1997, is not a member of the selected reserve, etc. April 15, 2010, fewer than 5 % were of the “non” type. The remainder of the 52,000 technicians were deployable. Air Force Col. William Kolbinger, the National Guard Bureau’s head of technician personnel, said something to the fact that these personnel provide crucial governmental, non-military continuity. Also there is a LIUNA NGDC Technician Web Survey available for dual status technicians and non-dual status technicians to complete online.
FTNGD, Full Time National Guard, is similar in pay and benefits to AGR only it is short-term and not a permanent position. In any FTNGD role there is a maximum number of days you can serve continuously before your status on FTNGD will count against the strength of the AGR force of your state. These positions are based on the availability of funding. Movement of household goods is not authorized.
Thanks for all the information about the FTNGD, Emily. I appreciate it.
I imagine the Dual Status Technician positions are highly competitive. Receiving two pensions would certainly go a long way towards providing financial security to a soldier in retirement. However, I can see the longer commitment before retiring making this a hard choice. For Recruiters, I would think that highlighting all these full time employment options would help them acquire new recruits.