I searched for AGR in the good old search box and came up with a grand total of ZERO.  Maybe I could have built a better search term, but that just tells me it has been a while since anyone posted anything so I am here to get the ball rolling!

I’m a basic branch Infantry Officer, Functional Area 57A (Modeling and Simulation Operations) direct accession into the USAR as an AGR.  Prior to AGR I was National Guard and on a long term ADOS assignment at a 1st Army Combined Arms Training Brigade (CATB) in their Plans and Exercise (PLEX) shop.  My first duty assignment was as the A/S3-Simulation Operations for one of two Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigades (ECAB) in the Reserves and immediately entered a mobilization and deployment cycle in support of Operation INHERENT RESOLVE.

I’ve suffered probably all the growing pains that can be suffered in my move to the AGR program: revocation of federal recognition and loss of commission, reinstatement of commission, lost promotion eligibility, lost health insurance, gone 6 months cumulatively without pay, fought a system that doesn’t allow a single point of contact to correct personnel issues, and yet come out on the list for resident ILE (something that wouldn’t have happened in the Guard) and with some exciting career prospects ahead of me.

I’m putting myself out there to discuss anything you’d like to regarding a switch to AGR, the 57A career field, or what it is like to be a non-aviation branch officer in the S3 shop of an ECAB.

Patrick