OK, there is a difference between getting commissioned and receiving your orders. You have to get commissioned first in order to receive your orders to go on ASR. Getting the orders will not be a problem, it's just a matter of when you get them. Going on active duty orders requires some extra leg work/elbow grease on the part of your recruitment & retention staff. Truth be told, I just got my official orders yesterday, but I started on 1 July (and will be retro-paid). I was told that deadline #2 was in November, but that may no longer be accurate.
I have it in writing from my C.O. (recruitment & retention officer for the state of Pennsylvania) that if a student joins for ASR and after commissioning, it falls through, he/she can voluntarily be let out of his/her contract. I therefore, sincerely recommend that you get your commission ASAFP (as fast as you can), clearly stating that you are doing so for the ASR program, and then (worst case) you start getting paid in Feb 2009.
I took the oath at the end of 2007 with the intent of going into the ASR program (back then we just called it the ADSW thingy). The deal fell through, but since I was told that if I accepted the stipend deal (MDSSP) that I would become ineligible, I declined the stipend. I drilled and waited. Then I got a call with some good news and some bad news. ASR was a go, but I was not eligible because my commission date was prior to 1 April 2008. Happy amindwalker took a break to get in touch with his inner bastard. I wrote an opus or two and sent them. My recruitment team went to bat for me like you wouldn't believe and took it straight to Washington. I got an acceptance to policy and got the first slot.
If you join the Guard planning/expecting to go into the ASR program, you will be able to do so. The AMEDD recruiters that you deal with at the state level are the ones that you will be working with, you are joining their staff. They will take care of you. EMH, it may be a few months before you start getting paid as an ASR, but you should expedite the process as much as possible (as you are doing), so that nothing can cause you to miss the next deadline (which is just a deadline for cutting orders, not for getting into the ASR program). I admit that I am a bit hazy on the whole deadline issue, which I hope explains why I haven't spent much time on the issue on this thread.
LT iatrosB, I strongly recommend that you contact a certain Captain in Washington at NGB. He can probably push it through for you, perhaps not actually in time, but as if it were magically prior to the deadline. If you don't know to whom I am referring, let me know quickly.
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