Retired TxARNG here; 4 years RA, 26 years RC. What the previous poster said about combat units. If you want to enlist in the Guard you need to consider several factors:
1. You want to get into a unit that is reasonably close to your home. You will attend drill every month, one weekend, and very likely go to Fort Hood that summer for your AT for 2 weeks. In normal years. As an EM you really need to be within 50 miles of your armory so that you aren't making a SERIOUS drive back and forth. Longer drives wear you out and become a reason for you to want to quit. FIND A UNIT CLOSE TO HOME.
2. Once you have identified a unit that is close. Go visit and see what type of unit it is. An infantry unit? An Engineer unit? An artillery unit? Whatever. Then you check on the MOSs available in that unit, what vacancies they have, i.e., where the slots are for you. You want to choose an MOS where you have a chance to grow - get promoted - over time in that unit. When you enlist, you sign up for a certain MOS - job skill - and that is the job skill you get initially trained up for (BCT/AIT). You pretty much get to pick it one time, kinda like getting married. So you have to pick wisely. Picking some 'kewl' MOS out of the sky that has NO slots anywhere in the state or at least 300 miles away from your home WILL NOT WORK for you as a young EM. Geography is a very important part of a good experience in the Guard. Pick an MOS that 'fits' a unit close to your home. Trust me on this. Over time, the rank is more important than the MOS. All MOS have good/bad points to them, you have to balance options/choices/benefits. If the unit close to your home is a Armor company, then sign up to be a tanker. Choose the MOS that the unit pretty much is - that way you put yourself into a position to do good and get promoted because there are going to be chances to move up. If you pick an MOS where there is just one of them in the unit and it maxes out at E4 you will NEVER get promoted to NCO unless you leave the unit - drive far away. Don't do this, you won't be happy over time.
3. The Guard is a larger/local organization in Texas. Plenty of growth/promotion opportunities over time because there is a larger unit organization structure. The Army Reserve is more a composite organization of smaller, dissimilar units, mostly company level. Meaning it can be easier to get promoted in the Guard because there are more chances to move up. This is a generalization obviously but depending on where you live, a USAR unit might be a dead end kinda deal.
4. You take a 5 year look at your life. Where do you want to be, what do you want to be doing in 5 years. Hard to see much past that. How would enlisting in the RC fit into your 5 year life plan? Think hard and choose well, not on just 'kewl' stuff. Hard questions and hard answers.
5. Be mentally prepared to get deployed someday. It ain't just for pay and bennies. It could happen and you signed up for it. Uncle Sam could call your unit up and you have to go. Where ever it is. Serious.
Good luck. Serving your country is an honor. Salute.
