My Recruiter steered me away from a combat MOS. What should I do?

Mr. Hay, I am confused by your comment, "I want to be in the action?" If you want to be in the action join a Police Department in East St. Louis, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Los Angeles, ect and you will instantly be in a war zone. And the term "boring", that is one of the greatest moments in a Soldiers' life. Why, because then you can reflect on all the times that we not so boring. You might think about why you want to join the Profession of Arms as well. This is not Hollywood. Broken minds and bodies are real. Memorials are real. Children growing up without parents are real. Military Service is a calling, it is not a selection into a particular MOS. At the end of the day, we are all infantrymen sworn to defend the ideals of this nation. Good Luck.

There could be several reasons he is pushing you toward that MOS. Regardless of his reasons, you should be able to take any MOS that is available and that you are qualified for. Being in aviation repair does not give you an advantage when it relates to becoming a pilot of any sort. Your aptitude scores and recommendations of leadership will make that determination. Thanks for serving.

Go the street to seat route and drop a packet as soon as you can. Worst thing that can happen is you don’t make that first one and you can be enlisted for a while as a 15 series and have a little experience in aviation before dropping another packet. I’m a prior MP with zero aviation knowledge, so it really doesn’t matter where you come from when you make it here.

Recruiters are filling the needs of the Army, that's their job. If you really want to fly later on he is actually doing you a favor. I can assure you the infantry can take its toll on you. SOAR needs support too or you can get into an airborne unit so you get to Benning for a bit without getting torn up all the time by being infantry. Sometimes your recruiter is trying to help you reach your end goal without making it too difficult. I loved the infantry and always will but I wont blow sunshine up your butt and tell you it's easy. If you want to fly then I think you should stick to aviation, just my 2 cents worth.

William Hay ask around of people you know who are pilots if they agree with the recruiter's suggestion. If they do maybe you should go that way if it will really help. If not then go for what you want. However, NEVER sign anything until you have time to review it and get what you want.

“Do what you love, and love what you do.” There are advantages to going 15 series. Your exposure to the Aviation operation will make you accustom to the way things are done. As a maintainer, your systems knowledge on the aircraft SHOULD be pretty good. Lastly, you don’t have to hunt too far to get an Aviator Letter of Recommendation for your WOFT packet. I will also add that 15 series MOS enlisted soldiers are often only 2-3 feet behind the pilots “in the action.” The Crew Chief and Flight Engineers are right there.

With that said, I was never a 15 series enlisted Soldier. Know why? I didn’t want to do that job. Despite the excellent advantages of getting into Aviation earlier and the benefits it would bring, I thought doing something else for 10 years would round my career out more. So chose running around in the woods (desert) with a machine gun and jumping out of airplanes. Absolutely no regrets.

Each of the Army’s Career Management Fields have different cultures and qualities that they will pass on to you. Some are good, some are negative. The Combat Arms arena is going to inundate you with a mindset that you are warrior. There are two types of people in the infantry... people that couldn’t score high enough on the ASVAB to do something else... and people that WANT to be Infantry. The draw back is if you dabble in Combat Arms, you will not excel in it, which means you may not enjoy it as much. An E-4 in Aviation is far more comfortable than an E-4 Cav Scout. They both work hard. But if that Cav trooper is pulling his trigger on a WOFT packet after getting out of Basic a year or two, he spent 1-2 years at the bottom of the rung and never mastered the craft.

You will get out of the Army what you put in. If you aim high, you will score high. AND NEVER NEVER NEVER assume a recruiter is looking out for your best interests. Whoever said that was either pulling your chain or a recruiter themselves. Your military career is your book to write. The chapters you author are up to you. I found it to be an easier transition going from Combat Arms to Aviation versus the other way around. Once you step foot on Rucker for Fight School, you won’t be leaving the cockpit to go eat snakes and crawl in the mud. It’s more fun when you are young.

Bottom line: Do your research, do something you are going to love, and remember that the coolest, funnest, sexiest, most “awesomest” jobs in the Army are always the hardest, most challenging, have the longest schools, and require the most sacrifice of your time, effort, energy, and body. And nothing will supplement your WOFT packet better than a Special Forces tab. Good Luck!

William-Becoming a military aviator is a long and challenging process, but much depends on just "what" you want to fly, and "who" you want to fly for. If you want to fly tactical jets or "most" fixed wing aircraft, you're options are basically Air Force, Navy or Marines. You will need a commission first, as these services draw their tactical aviators from officer ranks. Getting a commission can be accomplished in one of several ways, the most common being OCS, ROTC or one of the service academies. You can, and sometimes are of great benefit to apply to these programs following a period of enlisted service, but it is not required. Bear in mind that age, educational and physical standards are all applied to that process. If you are looking to fly helicopters, and I believe a few select fixed wing aircraft (mostly intel transport) and/ or UAVs, the Army offers Aviation Warranty Officer pipelines:

https://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/current-and-prior-service/advance-your-career/warrant-officer/flight-warrant-officers.html

As others here have already wisely stated, your recruiter may be steering you away from a "combat MOS" in order to put you in the best position for future application to any one of the above detailed programs. Aviators are highly systems oriented, so a background in maintaining the aircraft you may one day fly would be highly valuable. "Combat" MOSs such as Infantry, will be no less challenging, and you'll learn a great deal about teamwork, pushing your limits and leadership...all excellent qualities for a future officer and aviator, but you should seriously consider the time required to attain your goals, and what they may mean for your future.

Here was my path to military aviation:

7th grade to HS graduation: Accumulated the necessary academic, extracurricular and volunteer pre-requisites to apply for ROTC and service academy scholarships. These included Eagle Scout, Civil Air Patrol, American Legion youth programs, and graduating in the top 10% of my HS class.

Application process: Beginning in my junior HS year, began applying, interviewing and competing for Congressional Appointment to service academies, and acceptance into scholarship ROTC programs for all services.

Senior HS year: Offered Army ROTC, Navy ROTC and Naval Academy scholarships. Obtained Congressional appointment to Naval Academy

Naval Academy: Four years of intensive military and academic training culminating in service selection process Junior year at USNA. This involved evaluation of academic GPA (called QPR at USNA), physical fitness and military competency scores, medical evaluation, and interviews with senior officers from aviation community. During senior year, offered acceptance in undergraduate Naval Flight Officer training at NAS Pensacola.

Flight Training: Navy flight school starts with Aviation Preflight Indoctrination (API), a rigorous academic and physical "weed out" period involving intensive class work, water survival and egress training, and constant medical evaluation. At end of API received "Up Chit", or medical certification to progress to Primary Flight Training. Primary begins with introduction to the basic trainer (in my time, the T-34C) which included competitive, graded performance for each flight in syllabus. During Primary, I was selected for Tactical aviation (i.e. fighters) based on my academic and physical performance, as well as personal preferences. Upon completion of Primary, students move onto Intermediate, and their first jet aircraft.

I didn't make it any further than that.

Had I, I would've completed the Intermediate syllabus before proceeding to Advanced, then upon graduation and "winging", gone onto the Replacement Air Group (RAG), currently called the Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS).

From start to finish, flight school for Navy and Marine Corps (also Air Force) aviators can take up to two years. Tack on the four years of ROTC in college, or one of the Academies, plus the minimum two years of HS work to get there, and you could be looking at as many as eight years towards pursuing that goal. If you succeed, you will also "owe" the service time in exchange; potentially as much as seven years. Paths to a Warrant and Army Aviation may be shorter, but I assume no less challenging or arduous.

After military aviation, a tactical pilot may find commercial aviation a rewarding career; there is a current pipeline shortage of these pilots, and though starting pay is low, hours are long, the long-term rewards can be appreciable. Rotary wing pilots often find careers in law enforcement or rescue aviation operations. Highly skilled rotary wing aviators can also find themselves working lucrative contracts off shore and for other industries. Then again, one can always stay with the military where entre' into one of the elite demonstration squadrons (Blue Angels, Thunderbirds, etc.) can add to one's resume for future applications to test pilot programs and even NASA.

My advice is to decide what you want to be "most"; a combat solider or Marine, professional aviator, or officer. True, if you want the fastest route to "combat", the infantry is likely the best choice...but bear in mind that that too is a long, challenging road, especially if you aspire to elite units such as the Airborne, 75th Ranger Regiment, Special Forces ("Green Beret"), Marine Raiders, etc. My understanding is that you would not be competitive for these units without the years of training and qualification commensurate with E-5 if not E-6 for non-commissioned officers, and O-3 for officers.

Focus on "one step at a time" because much will change as you progress, as will your personal desires and goals. Marriage, children, re-location, deployment cycles...all of these factors may make some choices for you, whereas your own choices may dictate how much (or how little) of the former you can realistically take on. The absolute "worst" things you can do would be to either enter basic training without focus on the immediate tasks at hand...or set out on a long-term goal without all the practical considerations of how to get there.

Best wishes, and good luck.

He could be trying to fill a slot and you fit the bill. I had a kid ace the ASVAB and ACT. MEPS pushed hard to get him into the 02 intel field. All he wanted was to be a grunt. So I made him a grunt. You will have the opportunity to put in a package later on. Just don't wait too long.

I heard plenty of soldiers get a MOS cause they didn’t know about other MOS and they thought that’s all they had to do. Go with the MOS you want so you wont regret it later!

1. It's your choice, not the recruiter. 2. You can sign for any MOS that you qualify for. 3. If you want to fly, what's wrong with WOC? 4. Combat after the adrenaline high, haunts you for the rest of your life.