How much does my civilian career affect what I branch as a National Guard officer?

2018-07-12T09:12:56-04:00

I am a potential recruit that is going for MEPS round two tomorrow. Hopefully, I will clear and swear in tomorrow as a 09S candidate. Shouldn't be an issue. My question is regarding further in my career when I am getting towards the end of OCS, and am preparing to list my preferred branches in order. My number one goal has always been to branch Infantry. However, I am a civil engineer on the civilian side of things. How much of a role do you think me being a civil engineer will play into where the National Guard decides for me to branch? I will put Engineer Officer in my top 5, but number one and two will definitely be Infantry and Armor, respectively. If I continually max my APFT, do well on my exams and peer reviews, and am pretty high on the OML, do y'all think I will have any issue branching Infantry instead of Engineer?

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 12 at 2018 9:22 AM

2018-07-12T09:22:50-04:00

Good morning! I just graduated OCS a few days ago so I'll try to offer as much fresh insight as I can. As a NG officer you will receive your branch from your state, based upon their respective units' vacancies. The only folks that create their top 20 choices for branching are active duty candidates. If your state doesn't have infantry units, you would have to join into the NG of a state that does. Same goes with engineer. Ask your recruiter what those vacancies look like.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 12 at 2018 9:34 AM

2018-07-12T09:34:06-04:00

You need to see what slots are open in your state. Call the units and talk to them. They'll know more about what will be open down the road also. I talked to a couple of different units before making my decision. Both had slots and both were willing to add me. But one was closer to home and was the quickest path to company command. If you can meet with them and they want you, they can pull some strings to get you.

Response by LCpl Shane Couch made Jul 12 at 2018 12:31 PM

2018-07-12T12:31:12-04:00

Being a Civil Engineer, I would think that Logistics might be the better fit with your civilian career. I believe experiences from both careers would help benefit the other. I could be wrong, but that's my thought.

Response by CPT Lawrence Cable made Jul 12 at 2018 12:47 PM

2018-07-12T12:47:08-04:00

A quick look at the units in the NYANG says you probably won't have any issues getting Infantry. You have 42nd. Div Headquarters and a full Brigade Combat Team, plus and Aviation Battalion, so there should be slots AND opportunity to promote, at least through the company grade Officers. OTOH, there seems to be only one Battalion of Engineers, so slots and promotions may be harder since the numbers are very large. Looks to be a Heavy unit, so real construction instead of Sapper Work.
I enlisted Infantry and Commissioned Infantry, then Branch Transferred to the Combat Engineers when I moved to Kentucky. I'll always be a Grunt at heart, but I had a couple of position as a Combat Engineer that were the best jobs I had in the Army, Active or National Guard (Sapper Company Commander and Assistant Brigade Engineer). At the time I made that switch, Kentucky had two full Battalions of Engineers, a Corp level (Heavy Engineers) and a Divisional Combat Engineer unit that supported the 35th Division and also 3rd ID Europe when they were short handed on big exercises. Had I went back to Ohio with it's large National Guard Infantry unit, 73rd Brigade (Air Assault) Sep. when I was living there, I would have probably stated a Grunt. If you are looking at it as a career, find a branch that is large enough on the State level to promote and that you want to do for awhile.

Response by MAJ Milan George made Jul 13 at 2018 10:02 AM

2018-07-13T10:02:50-04:00

It'll have nothing to do with what branch you're awarded. Your state will have some say based off of their needs. If you were in Texas for example, we have a full Infantry Division within the state, so you'd have a high likelihood of getting Infantry.

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 20 at 2018 8:40 PM

2018-07-20T20:40:41-04:00

As a National Guard option, your slots are allocated by your state. Everyone that I know at Federal OCS had their branches assigned before arriving to Basic.

Response by 2LT Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 5 at 2018 11:04 AM

2018-09-05T11:04:49-04:00

I was an 09S and just got done with OCS. In the civilian world I am an attorney. I sit at a desk all day. I did well at OCS and won the PT award so I was told I was going to be put in a combat slot. I got engineer and have 0 experience with that. A lot is based on your performance and the needs of the Army.

Response by 1LT Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 26 at 2020 11:01 PM

2020-02-26T23:01:30-05:00

I too was 09S, I have a finance background and other interests. Depending on what your state is, VA I can speak on is IBCT an infantry brigade combat team, therefore lots on battalions for infantry officers; at the moment I was commissioning there was a heavy need for field artillery officers, so myself and three others (one prior 13F- AGR, one prior service 37F- civilian nurse). So you can be high on the OML to compete for your top 5, but it matters if your guard commissioning is accelerated or traditional, and then the needs/availability of your state. Of course, if you’d like to contact a CO/BN commander and introduce yourself, the guard is great on connecting the right people. Keep your PT scores high, crack open the ranger handbook, and study knot tying.

Response by MSG Roy Cheever made Mar 4 at 2020 2:27 PM

2020-03-04T14:27:06-05:00

Follow you ASVAB score and your heart in what you want to become and do.

Response by CPT Brad Wilson made Nov 13 at 2020 3:39 PM

2020-11-13T15:39:50-05:00

It is largely your choice. You have to decide if you want to do the same thing at drill as you do on the civilian side. I was FA and had a commander with pilot wings so I asked him why he wasn’t in the Apache battalion that was in my state. He said he flew Apaches for 8 years on active duty and was a pilot for Delta and switched to Artillery when he joined the Guard because he wanted to do something different.