I'm trying to make a decision as to whether or not I should join the National Guard. I am entering my first year of law school this August. I want to be a part of the JAG corps and would like to take advantage of the benefits offered if I join prior to entering law school, i.e. money for school. My only concern is deployment. I was told the JAGs of my state's Guard are never deployed because theyre assigned to a non-deployable office and JAGs that are deployed are ones on active duty. Does anybody know about this? If i join, and upon the successful completion of law school and relevant exams, can i have the option of working in an office where I could be certain I wouldn't be deployed?

So you want the benefits but you don't want to deploy? Anytime you serve a military service, mission is always first priority. I don't know what state you are in but JAG officers are still needed when Soldiers deploy. We are a nation still currently sending Soldiers overseas and that is part of the total package. Why should you reap the benefits without having to do what is expected of every Soldier signing the dotted line, this is a Volunteer force after all.

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Armygirl4ever,
Proudly Serving in the Silent (okay, maybe not always so silent) Ranks

You're misunderstanding my question. I would LOVE to work as a JAG officer. I love law with all my heart. What I'm trying to find out is if there are ways of working in offices within the United States, perhaps in big cities. I think it makes perfectly good sense that active duty JAGs would be the ones deployed considering they are the ones with more experience, etc. I don't think staying in the United
States as a JAG officer is not doing whats is expected of him. In fact, can't a JAG officer continually do more within the U.S than a typical soldier since there are still legal matters to attend to here?

When you join the Army, you're a Soldier first. Coming onto an Army forum asking if you can serve in the military but not deploy sends a wrong message. You say I misunderstood but you didn't give me enough of an argument to imply that I did. Yes, JAG officers serve in multiple venues and sure we can use them in many places but JAG officers work typically on a military installation. I know many JAG officers, both Active and Reserve, who are currently deployed. Why should they go over and over while you serve in an office in a big city? Again, you want the benefits but you don't want to be the total package.

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Armygirl4ever,
Proudly Serving in the Silent (okay, maybe not always so silent) Ranks

As Armygirl4ever said, there are plenty of ARNG JAGs deployed to active duty.

Here is an blog article about a number of JAGs from the Minnesota's 34th Red Bull recently deployed [url]http://minnlawyerblog.com/2009/01/23/jag-officers-readying-for-yearlong-deployment/[/url]
(with an update here [url]http://minnlawyerblog.com/2009/03/13/a-jag-officer-update-from-fort-lewis/[/url]).

If you join the ARNG as a JAG, be explected to be deployed at some point during your service. It is part of the "package."