[D9 (RIP)]

It's as simple as this: two things cannot occupy the spot of "top-priority" in your life at the same time. If you are setting off down a path in law that will demand your all to succeed there, then do not kid yourself that you can work SF in as second fiddle. The teams do not just need guys who can pass the Q-course. We need people who will commit to the success of the team beyond. That means time and priorities with your schedule.

I left a somewhat upwardly promising high-powered career in finance to come and do this. Man, was I right to leave! I could never have reconciled the commitment both required. Being in ARNG SF is a tricky deal. On the surface one gets the idea that you can have your cake and eat it too. You can't.

There are people out there, in the Guard, with tabs, who do not deploy or go to schools or serve any valuable purpose to their organization because they have other priorities. We do not need more people like this. Being an SF soldier is a commitment. The level of commitment is static whether you are active or not. It just depends on whether or not you are going do your training time M-F like a regular job, or try to cram it in on weekends or when the baby is taking a nap.

Either way the extent of the commitment is dictated not by whether you are active or guard, but rather by the nature of the job. I am not now and have never been an attorney, but truthfully trying to build a career in the law and be a worthwhile detachment member at the same time seems a little detached from reality.

Good luck. FWIW.