If you were to complete your degree while on Active Duty, would you make the transition to Officer, or continue on your current career path?

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 01:42:18 -0400

Education, education, education! That’s what the Army is and has been preaching for years now, and with the Merit based promotion system factoring in education more than before. If otherwise able to commission, would you prefer to commission and hope to get into you preferred field equivalent in the military, or continue on your current career path?

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made Apr 24 at 2020 4:24 AM

SFC Michael Hasbun — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 04:24:10 -0400

Two degrees, still enlisted. Bucking for officer now isn't logical. I'm already over 20.

Response by CW4 Craig Urban made Apr 24 at 2020 5:41 AM

CW4 Craig Urban — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 05:41:17 -0400

I would go warrant. More respect

Response by CSM Darieus ZaGara made Apr 24 at 2020 6:30 AM

CSM Darieus ZaGara — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 06:30:17 -0400

I finished my degree and did not transition. I did it for me and my children. For me to prove I could do it while serving and to be prepared for life after the Army. I did not transition because that was never the plan. My heart was always with the Soldiers on the ground and in the dirt. Officers loose that touch much earlier in their career than Senior NCOs. Up through Brigade a CSM can stay in the trenches. After that, it is admittedly more challenging. Anyway!

Response by SPC Erich Guenther made Apr 24 at 2020 6:51 AM

SPC Erich Guenther — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 06:51:03 -0400

You actually have both choices open to you if you enlisted at an early age because once you retire about age 40-42, you can start another career as a civilian and put in easily another 15-20 years and retire very comfortably with an Army pension and a decent 401k. So it is a personal choice on your part based on what you want to do.

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 24 at 2020 9:29 AM

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 09:29:03 -0400

Warrant( current path). All the benefits of being an officer while still doing your job sergeant

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 24 at 2020 9:34 AM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 09:34:04 -0400

Do you want to be an Officer? That's the real question.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 24 at 2020 9:48 AM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 09:48:18 -0400

As old as I am....there would be no sense in transitioning to Officer. That being said, I would still continue my current path because I feel as though I would not do well in the realm of Brass.

Response by SFC Herve Abrams made Apr 24 at 2020 10:19 AM

SFC Herve Abrams — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 10:19:55 -0400

I completed my associates degree and bachelors degree while on active duty and stayed enlisted. I passed on an OCS opportunity because I just didn’t see myself dealing with the political side of being commissioned.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 24 at 2020 10:28 AM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 10:28:42 -0400

I have my degree, almost went officer, but decided to stay an NCO.

Response by LTJG Stephanie Thompson made Apr 24 at 2020 10:42 AM

LTJG Stephanie Thompson — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 10:42:46 -0400

This is a great question, but one that is entirely subjective. There is no right answer. There is no wrong answer. It depends on your beliefs about each of your potential paths, as well as your beliefs about yourself. Going officer is a great move for many reasons; there is more financial opportunity and frequently it is easier to become a civilian as an officer than as an enlisted (i.e. transitioning into higher level positions from a higher level position, etc.). As an officer, your day to day will include more strategy, rather than enlisted, where your day to day consists more of tactics. Do you prefer strategy or tactics? Both are crucial, neither lasting very long without the other, but what side gets you more fired up?

Staying enlisted also has many advantages. The [presumably] increased respect of your peers for continuing to help them and offer valuable leadership. You have more opportunity as enlisted to master a skill (such as your job) than you do as an officer (since officers often don't get to stick with a single line of work for the duration of their stay - at least in the Navy). When you go officer from enlisted, you are starting over, so to speak. This can be upsetting for some (you did all that work just to be the lowest common denominator again), or it can be liberating (it's like starting from the beginning, only knowing what you know now, which gives you an undeniable leg up to your peers who have not been enlisted).

What makes more sense to you? How do you want to shape your career in the military? What are your options in becoming an officer? Are the unknowns in that path worth the potential pitfalls (to family, etc.)? These are questions that only you have the answer to.

No matter what, once you have your degree you have your degree. My recommendation - no matter whether you go officer or stay enlisted - is to start preparing for your civilian career with your degree. Get as many certificates as you can, for instance. Stay current in your field of study. Network with people in that field of study, and get an unpaid internship on weekends if you can. This will set you up for success when you eventually get out of the military. You WILL get out of the military, even if it's not for 15 more years. So use this time to prepare for that transition, and any choice you make for yourself can easily be interpreted as the "right" choice.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 24 at 2020 11:46 AM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 11:46:04 -0400

I enjoyed my job so much that I chose to stay enlisted. There are no officers in my, so there would have been nothing comparable for me. After working with a lot of company Commanders, I realized that I don't think I would have enjoyed the officer route as well. They have a tough job and it seems like they're always trying to stuff 20 gallons of crap into a 10 gallon bag.

Response by 1LT Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 24 at 2020 1:48 PM

1LT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 13:48:16 -0400

I left active duty to pursue my BSN and a commission. When I enlisted back in 2011, I always knew that I wanted to be a commissioned officer. Had I not pursued my desire I would have always done the “what if” drill. So when the opportunity finally presented itself, it was a no brainer for me.

Ask yourself what you want to be at the end of you career... MSG/CSM, CW3/CW4 or LTC/COL. Your answer to that question will tell you which path to take.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 24 at 2020 3:42 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 15:42:43 -0400

I'd stay enlisted. I would like to commision because I believe in the whole "be the change you wish to see" and while I've had a select few officers I'd go to war with any day, I've also experienced a lot more that probably shouldn't have made it past 2LT.

However, I'd stay enlisted because I've seen how political the O grade side of the house can be, and I haven't really mastered the art of shut the hell up trying to make sense and do this dumb shit because PowerPoints and doctrine says it'll work.

I also, like being able to train and mentor my troops. And as a NCO I've only had one PL take his time to teach his SLs new methods that worked for officers and we could try on the enlisted side.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 24 at 2020 9:05 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 21:05:50 -0400

I earned my first Bachelor’s degree while on AD. In general I liked being enlisted, but the job I ultimately wanted to do was only available on the Officer side. It was honestly a little rough “starting over” in my mid 30s (many of my age peers at the time were Majors or even LTCs), but I think it was still the right choice.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Apr 24 at 2020 9:49 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 21:49:23 -0400

Let's say you become an officer and end up in combat arms. There is a good chance you can branch transfer after a couple years because combat arms has a pyramid rank structure. Branch transferring is a means to cull the herd.

Response by LTC Nathan Bond made Apr 25 at 2020 3:32 PM

LTC Nathan Bond — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 15:32:06 -0400

If you really like what you are doing, keep going. I happened to stay an engineer when I got commissioned. But besides PL and Co-Cdr, I never actually did engineer shit again—a little as an instructor at the engineer school aside. Being an officer predominantly means serving on staff, doing managerial actions. It’s not a bad career and you learn a lot, but it doesn’t mean doing what you like about your field.

Response by Capt Bill Spickerman made Apr 25 at 2020 11:03 PM

Capt Bill Spickerman — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 23:03:09 -0400

I can't speak for the other services, but it worked well for me in the airforce. I was a aircraft weapons loader on the F4 during the Vietnam war from 68-71 and stayed in that career field until I made E-7 in 13 years. The weapons career field was critically inbalanced. Becoming an officer was the only way to change careers, and from E7 to 2nd Lt with 14 years prior service was a substantial pay increase.10 + Years later I retired as a Captain.

Response by LCDR Joseph Richter made Apr 27 at 2020 9:59 AM

LCDR Joseph Richter — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 09:59:14 -0400

This is all up to you. The navy had two avenues to commission for enlisted. One was direct commission and the other was called inservice procurement. Direct gave you a USNR commission and Inservice a USN commission. I had a bachelors degree and went inservice procurement, the competition is brutal. 4000 applied and 15 selected. Direct commission applicants had quotas and those with a Master's Degree were usually selected first. We put in a commissioning package complete with recommendations from serving active duty officers and other influential persons. A well articulated package identifying your qualifications, and strengths was key. You never know who will sit on that board, could be someone that has served with you past that knows you but never count on that. Warrant Officer programs are something to take a look at as well. In my opinion, Warrant Officers were well qualified upper mid grade leaders that ran navy programs well within their field as a technical expert, not to be mistaken, they often have roles that parallel that of a commissioned officer depending on the size of the command and what the command is, I was on a couple large ships that had a warrant running food services as a department head. Commissioned officers developed in to senior officers that develop navy programs, their scope of leadership is usually much more broad based and to be effective must rely on the skills and expertise of their warrant officers and/or chief petty officers assigned to them for technical aspects, of course, if that same commissioned officer is prior enlisted, they themselves have a significant technical expertise base, and are recognized for that and are referred to as a Mustang Officer. Follow you dream, want to be commissioned, go for it!

Response by SCPO Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 11 at 2020 12:09 PM

SCPO Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 11 Jul 2020 12:09:37 -0400

YES!!!