Posted on Jun 15, 2018
As an infantryman, how long and often can I expect to be in the field? Is it dependent on the unit I'm with, or same across the board?
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The wifey wants to know. You know how that is.
Posted 7 y ago
Responses: 34
I'll share this with you: in one of my first units we had a CSM who would continuously look at the blotter report and when the members of the BN began to show up more often we would head to the field. Normally our field problems would last two to three weeks, on some occasions our field training lasted a couple months. Overall I would say that it is not uncommon to spend over 200 days a year in the field. Some units optempo are higher than others if you are in a rapid deployment unit you can expect a great amount of field time. Remember though, this is the lifestyle and demand of a Grunt train train train because when you go to the show you should be ready to dance.
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SGT Sesar's said it best. What you need to do is train your wife. You must be thinking WTF, but what I advise will save your marriage and career. The first thing is how to budjet your pay. I taught my wife how to handle the bills and who the unit's wives coordinator was. The military wives will help your wife on issues as they occur. It will be hard making things work on a private's pay. I had a break in service and came back in as a PV2, BCT, AIT and unit assignment as a PFC. We cut out all vour vices and my wife learned to cook and buy things we needed cheap with the help of other military wives we lived near. Train her to be self sufficient if she is not already that way. Sometimes it is better to wait a while separated which is what I did until I had the pay grade to support my wife and child. Be all you can be and Soldier Hard! I hope you consider some of my advise.
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SP5 (Join to see)
MSG Danny Mathers Great advice - especially about the budget. Wasn't anything more heartbreaking than to see a PFC or SPC4 family down and out back when payday was only once a month and the cash ran out a week before payday.
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PFC (Join to see)
Thank you! I will absolutely keep your advice in mind and will sit down and talk with my wife about it. I appreciate your insight MSG!
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All depend on the unit and your leadership in that unit. You will have long periods of time where you are either in the field or packing to go into the field. Make the best of it. That’s where you will make friends for life.
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Ordinarily, field training runs in cycles. Post's with Divisions on them use all Brigades and Battalions and some separate companies for post detail. 3 months local training...ie, local ranges, qualifications, squad level type training, then you'll likely get a rotation somewhere...NTC or another maneuver center for live fire and Platoon and Company level certifications and qualifications. You should expect to be gone 4-6 weeks. In todays Army, all this is working up to a rotation is support of a global mission...Afghanistan. Somewhere in there, you'll have a phase dedicated to post detail. guard duty, post cleanup, etc. Every unit is slightly different. Just remember, every day in the field working on field craft and wartime mission, is a day worthy of your time as an Infantryman. Take advantage of it because the bullets start flying you'll wish you had a few more.
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PFC (Join to see)
I appreciate your words of wisdom CSM. I will absolutely take full advantage of all of the opportunities I have.
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Plan on being divorced in 24 months or less. Lol, seriously, depending on the unit, upcoming missions, deployment cycles, you could be out there a lot, or not. you won 't know till you get there.
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You will train often, there is only so much maneuver space out there and all units have to train and qualify. You will do you fare share, but no more than the rest. Thank you for your Service. Divorce is not inevitable.
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I understand you’re a young private new to the military and the married military life, but you did join the infantry. If you wanted to see your family, you should have picked 42A
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PFC (Join to see)
I understand that im going to be away from my family often, but it was a sacrifice we were willing to make. I chose infantry because it's what I want to do SSG.
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SFC (Join to see)
I feel you man that’s why I chose it too, but understand your job is to kill the enemy and you need to train non stop to be better at it than your enemy.
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Different across areas of operation. In Germany you can expect long excersises away from your home base. Ranging from 15-45 days with a good chunk of that under field conditions. In the US, you will spend 7-14 days in the field, maybe more if you go to NTC or JROTC. Either way, as a grunt expect to embrace the suck!
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As infantry you should expect to have time in the field. If your unit is NOT in the field I would STRONGLY SUGGEST that you GET THE HELL AWAY/OUT of that unit just as fast as you can. The infantry is a unit that has to spend time in the field so that they can get AND keep their edge. If you have a skill and don’t use it then you will lose it. Same thing in the infantry.
Look at it this way, think of all the big lies that you can tell after you get out/retire. I remember one time marching 50 miles both ways up hill and through a swamp in a snow storm and it was 105 in the shade.
Look at it this way, think of all the big lies that you can tell after you get out/retire. I remember one time marching 50 miles both ways up hill and through a swamp in a snow storm and it was 105 in the shade.
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PFC (Join to see)
I was thinking the same thing about a unit not being in the field often. I definitely want to be around the best infantrymen that I can be around. If my unit isnt doing that and is being lazy, id be able to request to transfer to a different unit? Would that be frowned upon and would that be ample reason to request a transfer? Would it even likely happen?
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SFC George Sease
I just don’t know. I lucked up and transferred to a jam up unit and was able to stay until I retired. Admittedly it was a NG unit BUT I had a butt load of veterans and good officers in the unit . I would not trade the unit for any other. I was proud to go to war with these men.
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It depends on the unit- in the 82nd we set a record 1 yr by being in the field (exercises, training, etc.) for 271 days. It boils down to how active the unit is- what deployment level it has. 82nd runs or did 3 cycles- Training, Support, DRF ( Division Ready Force) each cycle 9 wks long. Training 9 weeks in field as much as possible probably weekends in garrison to refit. Support- 9 wks doing Range Control, Drop zone ops, school spt, etc. DRF- on call 2-6 hrs, readiness exercises around the nation, close in training.
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