SMP makes dollars and sense! - Simultaneous Membership Program - Brief Article

Army Reserve Magazine, Summer, 2001

If you are already in the U.S. Army Reserve, and don't take 5 minutes to read this, you could be throwing away more than $20,000.

Recent changes instituted by the Chief of the Army Reserve, Lt. Gen Thomas Plewes, allow Army Reservists who are college students to receive the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) Kicker. That means the Army Reserve pays you $263 per month for the MGIB, along with your drill pay. Once you have 54 credit hours you can enroll in Military Science.

As a contracted cadet the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) pays you as a member of the Simultaneous Membership Program (SMP). Cadet Command pays you a $250 per month stipend.

As an Officer Trainee, the Army Reserve will pay you the MGIB Kicker ($350 per month) and you will get Sergeant (ES) or your current rank pay at each drill, which ever is higher ($184 for a MUTA 4). That works out to around $1,047 per month just for taking ROTC and going to one weekend drill per month.

If you're wondering what the catch is, there isn't any. You do not have to go active duty and you are guaranteed, before you sign any ROTC contract, that you will stay in the Army Reserve as a second lieutenant.

So stop by the ROTC department at your college and get all the details or visit the ROTC web site at www.armyrotc.com to find a ROTC program near you.