BARNES AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Massachusetts -- Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps prepares you for a career as an active duty Air Force Officer and leader, giving cadets the responsibility of a management position straight out of college. Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps also provides educational benefits and scholarships to cadets planning on commissioning.
The Massachusetts Air National Guard provides 100% tuition assistance to college students. For those who want to commission as an officer in the Air Force but did not get the AFROTC scholarship straight out of high school, they can enlist in the Air National Guard and start using the tuition waiver immediately. This enables you to go to a state college in Massachusetts for free and participate in AFROTC as well. The advantages of taking part in both ANG and AFROTC are that you receive both benefits simultaneously.
There are parameters to this process; those interested would join the guard before they contract with ROTC and be considered an enlisted cadet and would have to be conditionally released from their guard position 30 days from commissioning. Therefore enlisted cadets would get the experience of being an enlisted member of the Air Force for 4 years before they are released. Additionally enlisted cadets would qualify to collect the Montgomery GI Bill which pays a monthly stipend of up to $362 per month toward college tuition and expenses. The Montgomery GI Bill also has a kicker that goes along with it for certain career fields in the guard, which provides additional money for college.
Based on the career field that enlisted cadets have chosen in the Air National Guard they can qualify for bonuses that come along with the position. Certain positions offer up to $20k in bonuses of which you can collect 50% after your third year mark of time in service in the guard. Thus enlisted cadets, on top of the money received from the scholarship, GI Bill, and monthly drill pay will be able to receive the bonus as well.
Besides the benefits that come along with utilizing both guard and AFROTC, cadets enjoy the experience of it. According to one University of Massachusetts Amherst cadet, Samantha Currie, she loves AFROTC.
“It’s definitely broadened my horizons and showed me a lot of different careers that I never thought were possible for me. It’s brought me a lot of my closest friends at college and its showed me that I’m a lot stronger than I thought I could be. Overall it's definitely a great opportunity and I’d recommend it to anyone.”