Guard is completely different from active duty as well as reserve. You get paid like a part time job, and it depends on drill weekends. I am not up to par on Army per se, but i know the Air Force Guard is a great way to go. The state that the guard unit is in will be the funding for it not like how the federal govt pays for active duty. So slots for different fields will have different availability versus active duty. Terms of enlistment are usually longer than active duty, but its not like you are there 24/7. The cool thing with the Airforce Guard is that there are active slot positions, which you can get paid as a civil service employee to do the job you are enlisted as..which means you just wear the uniform to work, an 8 or 9 hour day, and dont deploy if you dont need to. Unless..that guard unit gets activated. Now what i am guessing with the Army is that most of their Guard units are active, which means you will probably end up deploying...but i could be wrong. Dont hold me against it..lol. If you need any help, call recruiters, they will be up your ass after but if its something you really want to do, just look into it. The Army is alot more leinent with charges, but i know with the AirForce you have to deal with alot of stuff, even charges as a minor. Check out retirement aswell, its definitely not as good as active duty, and takes longer to recieve, but it might be a good route if you are looking for something long term. Best of luck. If you need any help dude let me know.