Does national gaurd offer to pay for your college,and you only have to work one weekend a month for training?

Question

Im gathering information on National Gaurd, A friend told me that you can join, get a bonus of 20,000 (depending on score) only 5-6k is upfront , the difference you recieve after taxes you can claim the following year. And that you can sign up and not have to be active, that if you sign up for 6years non active you only have to go once a month for training, they pay for school ..

Answer 1

It depends on the state, your aptitude in areas where they need recruits, and other factors.  You do one weekend a month, but there are also several weeks once a year.  And, you can be called up for active service if your unit is called up.  But, the training is great, you can get money for college, and have the extra money as well.  

Answer 2

Beware, practically every guard unit out there has been called into active duty in the past few years at least once.  Many units have had multiple deployments to Iraq!  This is a big surprise to those who signed up thinking they would only serve as weekend warriors.   Beware of recruiters -- they will feed you the line of bull as they need to meet quotas yet recruitment levels are at historic lows due to these reasons cited.  Also, read the fine print -- even when you leave the guard you are in the inactive reserves for a number of years and can be called into active duty.  This is usually a technicality never used until recently, where they have been pulling former guard members out of civilian life to send away.