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

Take the aircraft repair mos and set yourself up for a real high paying job when you get out.

As a pilot, your recruiter seems like he’s well intentioned and informed. A majority of my fellow pilots are prior maintainers. Quite a few combat arms as well, we all get tired of walking everywhere.

Like others have said, there’s no barrier to becoming a pilot from enlisted MOS if you meet the physical, moral and aptitude requirements. Aviation maintainers are an undervalued asset. These soldiers work their butts off and without them, the flights don’t happen. Some of our maintainers are part an important part of the flight crew. Personally I wish I had originally enlisted as a UH or CH maintainer and become a crew chief prior to my flying career.

Then don't sign.

But your recruiter is right on in this case. the experience you will learn in aviation and the POCs you'll need for recommendations for your flight packet.

Plus the best pilots are always crew chiefs first. because you know ever inside and out of the aircraft.
So...
Quit bellyaching.


Your recruiter is right. (I cant believe just I said that!)

MSG Bo

It’s probably not open and he wants to make a quota, they are real and every recruiter from every service is required to strive or make it. Btw you can still ‘see the shit’ in any MOS depending on how you play your cards. No ones gonna want a lazy ass to come out with em that’s not already in that MOS.

Even as a welder I didn’t have a boring day, there was uneventful days but even thoughts aren’t boring. If your goal is to get shot at, well like the LtCol said, join a police department in the shit hole side of a city and you’ll get your wish. If you thought you were gonna join the infantry and get some Saving Private Ryan or We Where Soldiers action, surprise we aren’t in a nick out drag out war and haven’t been for a long time.

OK, do some research on all the Army jobs. There are lots out there that almost nobody knows about.
Your recruiter can only tell you about jobs and see if you are qualified for service, it is the GUIDANCE COUNSELOR at MEPS that will pick your job with you. Your recruiter can get you a tentative reservation on an MOS. When the recruiter is behind his computer putting in all your info, at one point a screen will come up with everything that you qualify for AND there is an opening for. So, there literally may be only 1 MOS on the list, there could also be 180. You need to look and pick the best one for you. What you want to do, and what you feel best fits your life aspirations. If you want to get out and do real world operations - look at 18X and 37X. The "action" and combat deployments are not all Black Hawk Down and Tears of the Sun. Iraq and Afghanistan, especially now, are BORING. Look at the High school to flight school option, as someone else stated - boom you're a pilot. SF and PSYOPS are constantly conducting missions around the world, just not the "cover me while I move" stuff. Many of the people joining as Infantry, Scout, Tankers are very disappointed because there isn't much of a mission right now for them except to go to Afghanistan and be bored. It's not the wild west.

In another question you say you enlisted as an 11B. Did that happen after this question?

No matter what you want to do in the military, it's mostly akin to "staring into the abyss while eating glass." My recommendation is that you focus that energy and effort into your over-arching goal of flying, and try to grow up real quick and forget about playing soldier with the rest of us broken bodies and education-less cave men. I can't begin to tell you how much I wish I had focused my efforts into getting a degree while attending ROTC on an aviation career path at the age of 18. If you don't feel like you're up to that challenge, then maybe you can enlist in the Army as whatever you want to enlist as, then try to apply to become a warrant officer. Down side is, if you don't get selected warrant, you go back to your unit. If you wash out of flight school for whatever reason, no matter how silly or serious, you'll probably go back to your unit. All I'm trying to say is, if you're going to "stare into the abyss while eating glass" focus that effort to the best outcome, then adjust your fire as life comes at you.
That being said, I don't regret enlisting so that I could run and gun with the boys, but I sure do feel a little pain in my heart when those jets go screaming over, or the UH-60 does a simulated "hot LZ" landing nearby. I am a private helicopter pilot, so I know I can fly. I just didn't put the effort into the "other" education recognized by the military to make that happen for me. Now I'm 28 and out of the military because I lucked out on an ok civilian career. Once I learned my lesson, I was too old to get a degree and still have a chance to apply for any flight MOS, not too mention that rarely do other branches accept prior service from other branches, unless it's reserve duty. Of course, that was just my experience, your's may vary.

You mean he twisted your arm. Stand up for yourself or take what they give you

Be careful what you wish for. Many of guys have folded in the action. In all honesty if you are considering a non-combat MOS, then you may not really want it. When I went in there was nothing he could say to steer me away from being a grunt and they tried every attempt even telling me there were no infantry slots. When I got up to walk out of MEPS 11 magically opened up.