Options as I approach my ETS

Hey all! Just seeking some career advice :)

Bit of background: I am an E5 with about 7 months left on my first contract. Returned from a 14-month deployment to Iraq last fall and got promoted during pre-MOB, so my time as a SGT has been mostly done through deployment (and I didn't really lead troops due to being in a MEDEVAC team for a different state's Guard). I'm a 25U in a combat engineer unit now and not the biggest fan of Signal work anymore, so I have a few options that I'd like some input on:

(1) I'm one semester away from obtaining my bachelor's degree (law/sociology), so I could ETS and pursue my master's degree in either counseling psych or cybersecurity (I am CompTIA Sec+ certified already) and maybe come back in at a later date as an officer

(2) reclass to a 35-series MOS for my TS clearance; might just do a 3-year contract in order to do this if retention allows. Is it worth re-enlisting for a TS in your opinion?

(3) lateral transfer over to the reserves in order to reclass into PSYOPS, mostly because this sounds like a very interesting line of work (but I know the reserves are kind of disorganized compared to the Guard). However, I don't know how many positions are available (if any), so I would have to research this more

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Posted Jun 16, 2021, 9:44 PM UTC

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kad202•

1st option all the way.

Your long term life should be priority

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Seconded

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born2kill2891OP•

I appreciate it my guy!

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Programmer_Latter•

In my experience the reserves are not more disorganized.

Outside of the state provided education benefits, the army reserves is better because in general the funding is better; funding flows directly into your brigade and battalion, as opposed to in the national guard funding flows into your state and then they give their brigade(s) and battalions the bare minimum needed to survive while maximizing the benefit to the states higher HQ.

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born2kill2891OP•

I never knew that - thanks for the info! My buddies in the reserves seemed to have had bad experiences so maybe I shouldn't take their words as the whole truth, hahaha

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imdatingaMk4625Aaaaaaaah•

TS requires re-investigation after 5 years, so that’s probably not super worth it imo

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born2kill2891OP•

I wasn't sure what the protocols were surrounding that, so I think you're right. Thanks man!

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Azula-Kun•

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