Within the next two years my guard contract will be up and I plan on going active. What should I do to prepare?

If you’re not changing your MOS most prior service get their choice of first duty station at MEPS. I would sit down and pick a top three with your spouse of where you’d like to go.

My lessons learned from switching over in 2011. #1 have enough funds to survive the first 30-60 days. This will come into play when trying to make a deposit on both on-post housing or an off-post house. It took around 45 days to get my pay right and even then it took almost 2years to get my uniform allowance right. #2 GET FIT! Seriously you should be doing all you can to smoke the ACFT. You're going to have to break free from the assumption that everyone in the NG is out of shape #3 Study up on your MOS and basic solder skills. I spent my first few days getting smoked and quizzed on what I knew.

Just get in great shape and look into what MOS you are interested in. Also if your MOS that you want for active needs a TS talk to one of your AGR guys and they might be able to start that for you.