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

I’m going to answer this, 1:without reading every comment, 2:As a Retired Army Soldier that was a Recruiter at one time....
First off, I didn’t ‘put in’ many infantry, but I did supply the Army with a platoons worth of 19D Cav Scouts. And no offense to those great young men (combat arms wasn’t yet open to female Soldiers in my time), but it didn’t take much aptitude to qualify for 11B, 19D, and many other combat arms jobs. There wasn’t a recruiting day that went by that one of those positions weren’t available... ok, so maybe we had to call the ROC. but we could always get one of those CA jobs. A 15 series was a far more rare occasion, 1: to have a qualifying applicant 2:A job available. Your recruiter is/was doing you a very huge service. I put a few Soldiers into jobs far different from what they inquired about during my times, and not a single one ever came back with regrets. Of course on the other hand, I didn’t sign any finial contracts, that was between the applicant and a counselor at MEPS. My job selection at the recruiting office was merely a suggestion. For example, I never wanted to put anyone into ‘MP’, usually because every applicant wanted to use it as a steppingstone to go to a civilian police Or letter agency (CIA, FBI, NSA, ATF, SWAT) which, from my knowledge, was not the best way to go. One young man came back from MEPS excited, telling me how he had fulfilled his childhood dream of enlisting as an MP!

If you want to be an 11B, steer your recruiter back to that path. If your ultimate goal is to go Warrant and put in your flight packet in, ask your recruiter what the specific qualifications for that packet are and what the best way to pursue that path is. It will come down to a choice, but it is YOUR choice to make. Not his/hers.

Thank him?

War has been properly described as long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of stark terror. Of the two years I spent in Vietnam the time I saw "action" boils down to a few days, the rest was a grind. I generally considered new arrivals looking for "action" as dangerous. I concur with LTC Martin, become a cop in a hotspot city if you want action.

There is still some double standards as far as how you are treated if you take a non combat MOS, they idea that it is a team is still Slowly trickling through the Army mind.

I joined the active army 9 days after I graduated from high school. I went into field wire man course 321.10 at the time later redesignated as 36K. I served my three year enlistment in Germany! I ETS'd at Brooklin Army terminal in 1965. I spent 6 years in the Air National Guard as a Comm Specialist/Supervisor operating TTY and switchboard, I left as a TSGT. I joined the Army NG as SSG Crypto Supervisor, i left the Army Guard and joined the Army Reserve as a Recruiter. I transferred to the Test Section of the (91st Div (Training) mos 11B(infantry) with Test Supervisor Certification. I later transferred to 6237 USAR School as a ANCOC Instructor, back to 91st Div as a Committee group Instructor, then back to the redesignated 6237th USARF SCHOOL. I retired in 2005 as a 11B5X instructor. If you want combat arms you can get it, I am proud of my 43 years service, 40 years in the reserves and national guard.

Spend a day on an ambulance crew. When you see your first victim of serious trauma where parts of their body a missing, mutilated beyond recognition, and people are crying for their mother or begging God to keep them alive, you may feel different.

I have known may combat veteran's from World War II and on. I haven't seen a single one who was glad they were in the action.

I was an infantry officer who never saw combat. I consider myself damn lucky.

Maybe he's looking out for your best interest AFTER the 4 yrs is up. Grunt MOS's have changed and there is so much technology involved compared to 30 years ago that it'll make your head spin. But fact is, on a resume, high tech training and experience in avionics, jet engine mechanics or IT makes for a more marketable resume than one that opens with "My job in the military was to locate, close with and kill the enemy."
If you want to be in a profession of arms... you make the best of what's offered and do your best to succeed.
Right now, your job is to pursue the best course of action for you...Once you take that oath, your new job is to do your best...do what your're told, go where you're told and when you're told and be always aware that everyone around you depends on you doing your job to the best of your ability.

Ylou cant get much closer to the action that a combat arms MOS. There are many to choose from Infantry, artillery, Cav Scout, Combat Engineer, Special Forces, Psy-Ops.....and the lsit goes on and on

You know helicopter pilots can see a lot of action. More than any little stick-man down on the ground , moves faster too and no mud. I'd do the helo thing , better chow and accommodations than in the "combat arms" on average . But you might be stuck together anyway in a Cav unit overseas or on the same bases.

Repairing stuff good to know on the outside for a jobs, repairing helos good skill for that. "Combat" skills are largely superfluous and you end up working on/repairing vehicles everyday anyway.., be it your tank , SP, cannon , track, whatever that MOS rides/drives.