I have been told that I should go Officer. But I enjoy being enlisted but promotion doesn't look favorable. Any suggestions?

1SG (Join to see) - I am glad you someone else sees this the same way I do.

Sir I see what you are saying, at the same time cut off scores for a lot of mos s are high. I threw in my response to this that I hope this Soldier actually went to work and not just milked the system to be a full time college student because that does happen. If this Soldier did milk the system I agree with you, but if this Soldier did everything he could to get promoted and is looking at another avenue can you really blame him?

SSG (Join to see) - My question to you is who is that MOS got promoted? Did anyone? I am sure there are some out there. If there were then someone did something to get there. So it is possible. So why not work towards that? An example of this is Ranger School for Infantry Officers. If you don't a tab your career will be limited. You shouldn't expect anything different. But if an officer came to me and said he got passed over for command while his peers did get a command then I would ask him why? They may not want to blame themselves but that is the only person to blame. It isn't the Army's fault you picked a job that you knew would be hard to promote in.

Sir when a Soldier enters active duty they have no idea how promotions work. Soon after that Soldier hits his or her first duty station they figure out how to get to Specialist, but they already enlisted. When Soldiers try to reclassify at the end of their first term, because of funding issues a lot of times even though the MOS they want to change to has openings magically there are no class seats for two years and that is how a good Soldier can get in a bad situation with RCP. My concern with the Soldier who wants to abandon the enlisted side to go to the Officer side is his possible motive. Did this Soldier spend his enlisted contract as basically a full time student and basically become wasted manpower on the MTOE, or did this Soldier do his best and could not make cutoff? The only person who really knows is the Soldier, but if he is otherwise qualified, why are we going to have an issue with him getting commissioned? The officer ranks are no more perfect than the enlisted ranks, there are good officers and bad ones just like NCOs.

Please realize that it is EXTREMELY competitive to become a Warrant Officer. Many Warrants are fed by enlisted MOSs. About the only Warrant that would be obtainable would be aviation. Again, extremely competitive.

Of course it's tough getting into the guild, CW2 Carl Swanson. The Lifestyle of the Elusive Warrant should be a privilege few can earn.

By the way, I just realized that I forgot the most important talent for a Wobbly: Making everything look effortless....

Sir he is too close on his RCP plus he is an E4. Most warrant officer openings require an NCO plus at the very least ALC

We had WO PAs up until about 1996 and as I recall they were all made LTs based on their WO rank. We had a CW3 in our Cav Squadron and one week he was a CW3 and the next he was a 1LT. I don't think there are any Warrant PAs anymore.

Exactly.

what exactly constitutes "wanting to be an officer", CPT Russell Pitre? SSgt (Join to see)?
I just wanted to lead troops doing something worthwhile. I was happy doing it as a lieutenant, as a sergeant, and as a corporal. Does not being driven by a desire for a particular rank make me someone you would be uncomfortable taking order from?

1LT William Clardy - For me I was an NCO and felt I could do more as an Officer so I went to OCS. I wanted to go to OCS. Or someone that going to ROTC or a Service academy want to be an Officer. Those are good examples.

But you didn't want to be a commissioned officer just to be an officer, CPT Russell Pitre. You wanted to be an officer because it would allow you to do more -- and that was your *real* motive. ROTC, OCS, West Point... those are just stepping stones to accomplish something, not goals in and of themselves.