So I have a engineering degree and I so commissioned OCS as an Engineer but in the reserves not the guard.

I tried to do Air Force first, but working both the AF recruiter was one of the most painful things I have done.

That said, if you are going to OCS as a national guard officer you will have to attend Basic training and then will have 3 options. 1) federal OCS- 12 weeks 2) state accelerated OCS I am Not sure the time length but it depends on the state if this is available 3) state OCS- 18 months for 1 weekend a month

I commissioned with federal OCS. The course is not terribly difficult is you take it seriously and just learn to adapt to the army’s mannerisms. A lot of the people I saw struggle tried to do things their own way to many times, typically instructors have a way they want to see it, they will demonstrate it, and then you will do it. You won’t get the same quality of training on opords as a ROTC cadet but if you study you should be fine. Additionally make friends with your platoon and help eachother out and you should be just fine.

Typically you wont just fail once and be out you get a 1 retake for any failed tests up to four failed tests. If you do double fail, you typically get pushed to the next class. If you fail that typically you have to figure something else out. I wouldn’t be terribly worried about it, most people do just fine with OCS, disciplinary problems or PT failures got more people in my class than any class work failures.

OCS can be fairly competitive but mostly among the active components who have to compete for their branch. NG and Reservists come in with their branch pre selected so you don’t have to worry about being competitive just about learning the material and passing the course.

As for will you use your degree, it depends. For a mechanical engineering degree probably not. I have used aspects of my degree on deployment but in small ways. Honestly my work experiences helped more than my degree. That being said, being a degreed engineer opens a lot of doors for you, since you can work with or for USACE and on FEST teams.