Guard training is focused at ensuring readiness across the force to ensure that during mobilization, train-up time is limited. Guard personnel generally train during one weekend per month and two weeks of annual training each year. Additionally, these soldiers attend active-duty and part-time military schools to receive required training. Individual training and education requirements mirror that of the active component. An example is that all soldiers attend the same initial basic training while officers attend branch qualification and most specialty training courses alongside their active-duty counterparts. Although much of the Guard's training is focused on Platoon level tasks and below (in order to focus limited resources), larger scale training takes place continually, often using the Army's combat training centers such as the National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, California, and the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) at Fort Polk, Louisiana as well as many other domestic and overseas training sites.

In the Army National Guard, you can have it all. As a citizen-soldier who serves part-time in the Army National Guard, you can:

• Have a part-time job with full-time benefits
• Earn money for college
• Earn an additional paycheck
• Serve Your Community and Country
• Gain Career Opportunities
• Find Adventure and Challenge

You can do all of these with part-time service while maintaining a full-time civilian life. You serve as little as one weekend a month and two weeks a year; the two weeks of annual training are typically held during the summer.