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

Did you ask, Wjy?

When I was a Recruiter I had some young men who wanted to fly Hueys right out of High School. Of course, no way..but I did steer them towards the mechanical side. That way they learned everything there was to know and always ask your craft operators if they would teach them how to fly...i do not remember ever hearing back from one of those young men that they did not get an opportunity to sit in the front seat and fly the chopper. I know of 2 who went to flight school and both retired as decorated pilots..there is always a way if you just ask..

You ought to think him . I was a 13 bravo artillery. Absolutely does not connect to the civilian world. Get an mos that will put you on to a career .in the civilian world.

thank him for saving your life

If I've learned one thing it's this. Not everyone, but I'd say 90 percent feel this way. Those who have never been in combat wish they had, and those who have been in combat wish they hadn't

I have two points of view on this. One point is that during my first tour stationed at Fort Hood(around 1996), one of my fellow NCO's(Not going to mention his name), decides he was going to change his MOS from 92F(petroleum supply Specialist), to 11M(Bradley Crewman). He did this to secure a promotion to E-6. I stayed in the 92F MOS, and got promoted to E-6 in August 2000. Now, point Two is this. My SECOND tour being stationed in Fort Hood, I was assigned to 1-4 Aviation Regiment from 1998-2004. During THAT time, I was DEPLOYED to Operation: Joint Forge(1999), JTF-6(2001), and Operation Iraqi Freedom(2003). The Helicopter Pilots in the Battalion, during those deployments were involved in Peacekeeping Missions, Assisting the Border patrol with Aerial Surveillance Missions, And Convoy Escort, and QRF Missions while in Iraq. As well as other COMBAT missions, I'm not aware of. No Pilots were lost due to enemy fire, but there were TWO that were injured in Iraq during a Maintenance test flight(Names WITH HELD). This unit deployed to Iraq again in 2005. I was not on that one, but I knew TWO of the pilots that lost their lives when their helicopter was shot down(Names WITH HELD). Bottom line is this. REGARDLESS of what MOS you are, you WILL BE EXPOSED to WARFARE ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.

A recruiter is just like any other job they have quotas and orders to fill, some time they have more needs in other areas, some times your skill set (right now ability to learn is probably the only thing) and aptitude may lead them to see your benefit to the nation is in other areas than your own personal interests. I wanted to be SEAL, but bad vision and a good brain pan lead me to where the Navy needed me most, so I went there. What MOS do they say you are suited to? Take it as an impartial suggestion of where your potential may best lay. "Action" is in many fields, just not getting shot at and blown up action, but there is hyper excitement in most any field you qualify for, just choose something and decide to give it a go. Once you are there for your first hitch they will know your value and so will you, when your time is near up make the choice to insist on an MOS you want to try in order to get four more years out of you, they are more willing to offer concessions to keep quality people in the force.

A young man I know wanted 11B but was encouraged to be an aviation mechanic because he would be learning a very marketable skill. He ended up receiving a nice re-enlistment bonus.

Mr Hay. Go to another location and speak with another Recruiter and don't mention having spoken to a recruiter, plus, don't listen to crap as below. If that was to take hold we would not have an Army! Good luck.

at some point in time you will ETS or retire. Those combat MOS that put you "in the action" have very little use in the civilian world. Recruiter is trying to do you a favor.