Careers: Military--Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, Coast Guard/getting an honorable discharge

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Expert: Rod Powers - 1/22/2008


Question
Hello sir.


in 2006 i enlisted in the army national guard as an ocs candidate. ( my mos is 09S). my  recruiter knew that i am a permanent resident and still enlisted me as ocs.
my ocs school will start soon, and the ocs office are telling me that i can't finish the ocs training if i don't have my citizenship ( which is going to take a while ).

i strongly feel that my recruiter made a mistake by enlisting me in ocs enlistment option. and since more likely i can't finish it ( due my citizenshup status) , i want to request an honorable discharge, since i wasn't planning to enlist in the army if it wasn't under ocs option.
so in what category i am going to request the discharge?
Erroneous or Defective Enlistment? and do you think that i should hire a lawyer ? your advice please

thank you

Answer
Hi ghosn,

I'm afraid you are correct. You were not eligible to enlist under the 09S program for OCS as a non-citizen. One *must* be a U.S. Citzen to attend OCS (either active duty or Guard), and gain a commission.

You should make a written request to your unit commanding officer, requesting discharge, based on "breach of contract."

I personally wouldn't worry about hiring a lawyer, unless for some (unlikey) reason your commanding officer denies the discharge request. Then you may wish to get a lawyer involved.

For more information about the United States Military, feel free to visit my U.S. Military Information Website at: http://usmilitary.about.com

Hope this helps!

Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com

Careers: Military--Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, Coast Guard

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Rod Powers

Expertise

Rod Powers is considered one of the premire experts about U.S. Military career information on the planet. He has more than 30,000 articles about U.S. Military career information on the About.com U.S. Military Careers Information website at: http://usmilitary.about.com. Additionally, he is the author of "ASVAB for Dummies," "ASVAB AFQT for Dummies," (available in Dec 2009), and "Veteran Benefits for Dummies," all published by Wiley Publishing. He is also the author of "Barrons' Guide to Officer Candidate School Tests," published by Barron's Educational Series.

Experience

Rod Powers is a retired Air Force first sergeant, with 23 years of active duty service, 11 of those years as an Air Force First Sergeant. He has helped thousands of military members, recruits, and military applicants since he took over the About.com U.S Military Careers Information site in 1999. He has a reputation for "telling it like it is," so questions may not be answered based on "what you want to hear," but will be answered based of the bast available information, concerning the service/situation.

Education/Credentials
Rod is a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Noncommissioned Officers Academy, the Air Force Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy, and the Air Force First Sergeant Academy. He also holds an Associates Degree in Personnel Administration from the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF).

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