Officers, how did you choose your branch?

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 12:54:56 -0400

Needs of the Army (or other service) excluded, how did you personally decide what you wanted out of your military career? How did you choose which branches you wanted to put in for?

Response by SSG Carlos Madden made Oct 8 at 2019 1:10 PM

SSG Carlos Madden — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 13:10:35 -0400

Check this out too:
https://www.rallypoint.com/command-post/how-do-i-choose-an-army-branch-a-framework

How do I choose an Army Branch?: A Framework | RallyPoint

The purpose of this article is to address one of the biggest Rally Point questions among Army ROTC Cadets: I am a with a major in , which branch should I choose? One of my goals is to help you filter through what you will get back. After all, don’t we all turn to the nameless, faceless internet trolls to determine our future? The immediate challenge is that the people responding are well intentioned but generally don’t know you from Adam....

Response by CWO2 David Bertoldo made Oct 8 at 2019 2:38 PM

CWO2 David Bertoldo — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 14:38:28 -0400

1964 long beach took the elevator and stopped on the top floor Marines they said they needed a high school drop out 20 yrs later GySgt too CWO

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Oct 8 at 2019 3:37 PM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 15:37:06 -0400

Total stupidity on my part, honest....

Response by CAPT Kevin B. made Oct 8 at 2019 7:02 PM

CAPT Kevin B. — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 19:02:17 -0400

Actually a pretty straightforward process that folk should use. Forget any service for the front end. What is it that you want to do professionally? I decided I wanted to be an engineer after working for a while in the medical field. So the professional pedigree target was a registration. Then I looked at the services to see if there was a match. The MC and AF are not that much into high end engineering as the Navy and Army were. So two candidate services and ultimately wound up being Navy. I get a little put off by the erroneous logic of "I want to be this in the Pick a Service. That thing requires any degree so I'll go with any." Very short sighted. Get one in something that interests and excites you. Then there is a decent backstop for when you get crunched out either physically, numbers game, FOS, whatever.

Response by LTJG Richard Bruce made Oct 8 at 2019 9:14 PM

LTJG Richard Bruce — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 21:14:35 -0400

Long history of military service in family going back to the Revolution. During high school, I started researching the different services in the Library (with real books before the internet). Growing up in Indiana, I naturally wanted to be a sailor. Don't know why, but I suspect I fell in love with the idea of going to sea from the movies and books. The only school I applied to was the US Coast Guard Academy. Made finalist, but didn't get accepted. I enlisted two weeks after high school. Studied and took the SAT again, getting higher scores. First billet after boot camp was at the Academy working with the Jack of the Dust. Met Admission officer while playing on base soccer team. Asked and was sent to BOOST, a USN/USMC/USCG prep school in San Diego. Reapplied to the Academy and was accepted for class of 84. Rest is history.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 8 at 2019 10:00 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 22:00:10 -0400

I wanted to be an audiologist in the reserves. Navy reserves had no reserves audiologists. Air Force reserves had no open slots. Air National Guard had no slots. Army has the largest medical branch and had reserves slots so I went with the big green.

I haven’t regretted it one bit so far.

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 9 at 2019 12:06 PM

LCDR Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 12:06:56 -0400

Waaayyyyyy back in 5th grade, I kinda got hooked on Star Trek. 6th grade, I wanted to do Navy, since to my tween brain back then it was like Star Trek. 7th grade, submarines. Gradually the fiction part wore away, but still went to ROTC intending to do submarine warfare in the Navy.

But then God got in on the act, and called me to chaplaincy. I just got lucky that He wanted me to do Navy, which I'd been doing up to that point. So, I guess I didn't really choose my branch, but my branch called me.

BTW, years later He saw fit to put me on a USCG Antarctic ice-breaker. Which has science labs. So, science, engineering, medical, security/rescue going out into the unknown/frontier on a lone ship.....guess He did let me have a bit of a Trek experience.

Response by 2LT(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 9 at 2019 2:20 PM

2LT(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 14:20:38 -0400

For me (25A) I had spend 12 years enlisted as a 25U in the guard and loved it. I also worked as a network admin at the time so I was familiar with much of the technology. Plus the usefulness of the skills outside of the military was a major factor as well. It's hard to find good, lucrative work when all your military experience is in the combat arms. That was the theory that I worked under and it is something that I honestly enjoy.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 9 at 2019 3:42 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 15:42:55 -0400

I took my long-term “teaching” professional goals, the things I wasn’t able to currently pursue in my civilian career (due to need for a clearance or something of the sort) and decided based upon that. In my eyes, the military could give me a route to those lofty goal jobs. And they did, MI was a great choice for me, opened many doors I couldn’t find other ways to open.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 10 at 2019 12:01 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 12:01:30 -0400

The ARMY choose for me as my degree didn't line up with any specific branch. My MOs was taken into consideration by the Army for my branch.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 14 at 2019 12:53 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 12:53:44 -0400

For me it came down to what types of MOS’s I worked well with as an enlisted Soldier and coupled with what made the most sense for me given my existing skill set and goals for my career (both military and civilian wise). I narrowed my choices down to “branches I’d definitely enjoy/be good at” “branches I wouldn’t be too upset with” and “branches I absolutely don’t want if I can help it.” From there it was a matter of ranking each category based on a pros and cons comparison.

Response by 2LT Gerald Dominy made Nov 27 at 2019 11:05 AM

2LT Gerald Dominy — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 11:05:19 -0500

I had done radio communications in Air Force and also done multiple areas of radio communications in the army. It was my expertise I enjoyed it understood it and already had a large amount of Education in that area so I chose signal Corps