Posted on Dec 27, 2019
What advice do you have for someone considering branching as an Infantry officer at 35+?
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Happy Holidays to everyone. I just recently found out I was accepted into Army OCS and I’ve been researching branches that fit my personality and skill set. Ive been really interested in Infantry but I that know if me being 35+ would be a good fit in that environment as a LT. Physically I’m in the best shape of my life. Running a 13 min 2 mile and maxing out the pushups and sit-ups on every PT test I took since I’ve been in the Army. Im in Artillery now but I’m more intrigued with the Infantry. I like rucking and being outside, I just need advice if being a Infantry PL is a young mans game?
Officer
Officer Candidate School (OCS) (Army)
11A: Infantry Officer
Posted 5 y ago
Responses: 15
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Honest opinion here:
I did G2G and branched Infantry at 32 y/o. At IBOLC I surpassed most of my peers, both physically and academically. I passed Ranger right after IBOLC, no issues. Since then I’ve had two platoons, one Infantry and one Armor.
The plus sides to being an Infantry Officer are that it’s a great fit for a hard-charger, A-type personality that likes to do the gritty stuff. You will be afforded (and encouraged) opportunities to go to all the Hoaah schools. I got Ranger, Pathfinder, Air Assault and some others. I was already Airborne. I even got to train for and go to the Best Ranger Competition earlier this year. You’ll get the freedom to train your Platoon your way, which has been a blast and a great learning experience as a leader. And, you’ll get to do solid PT. As an older guy with over 10 years of prior enlisted time, it has only been an advantage for me (and I was not prior Infantry either). The community is driven by competition, so if you are a competitive kind a person, you’ll do great! I am very glad I branched Infantry. I have no regrets with my decision. I am 34 now and still in great shape.
The Infantry goes to the field, a lot. If you are good with that, it’s not an issue. Honestly, I’d rather be eating MREs, conducting patrols and curling up in my fart-sack at night over plugging in DTMS stats or doing training meetings any day of the week...
If you have any questions about anything, hit me up, I think I’m a good resource for you brother.
I did G2G and branched Infantry at 32 y/o. At IBOLC I surpassed most of my peers, both physically and academically. I passed Ranger right after IBOLC, no issues. Since then I’ve had two platoons, one Infantry and one Armor.
The plus sides to being an Infantry Officer are that it’s a great fit for a hard-charger, A-type personality that likes to do the gritty stuff. You will be afforded (and encouraged) opportunities to go to all the Hoaah schools. I got Ranger, Pathfinder, Air Assault and some others. I was already Airborne. I even got to train for and go to the Best Ranger Competition earlier this year. You’ll get the freedom to train your Platoon your way, which has been a blast and a great learning experience as a leader. And, you’ll get to do solid PT. As an older guy with over 10 years of prior enlisted time, it has only been an advantage for me (and I was not prior Infantry either). The community is driven by competition, so if you are a competitive kind a person, you’ll do great! I am very glad I branched Infantry. I have no regrets with my decision. I am 34 now and still in great shape.
The Infantry goes to the field, a lot. If you are good with that, it’s not an issue. Honestly, I’d rather be eating MREs, conducting patrols and curling up in my fart-sack at night over plugging in DTMS stats or doing training meetings any day of the week...
If you have any questions about anything, hit me up, I think I’m a good resource for you brother.
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LTC Mackay wrote an excellent post about it, but the short version is that you get what the Army needs to put you into.
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LTC Jason Mackay
2LT (Join to see) - I think if you are physically prepared, go for it. As SFC (Join to see) said, you'll be leading a Platoon for about two years, then its staff, CCC, staff, Company command (which is THE leadership experience), staff, ILE, staff, compete for command, if selected command a BN or Garrison.
If your branch is not exactly what you thought you could consider a FA track.
https://www.rallypoint.com/answers/how-do-i-choose-an-army-branch-a-framework
If your branch is not exactly what you thought you could consider a FA track.
https://www.rallypoint.com/answers/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....
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MAJ (Join to see)
Not necessarily. There is an OML that determines how soon you can choose your branch. The needs of the Army determines how many slots for each respective branch each class gets. If you’re #1 on the OML, you get first pitch of all available branches. If you’re last, you get the branch that’s left over!
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Great question! I graduated OCS at age 39, graduated IBOLC at age 40, 17th out of 43 in a very competitive JUN-OCT class. It's a tough course, but if you're mentally and physically fit, you can crush it! Tremendous pride in the Blue Cord brotherhood. Age should not deter you if you already bleed blue! Best of luck.
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CPT (Join to see)
2LT (Join to see) best practical advice I can give is, never let someone else tell you, you can't. You can do whatever you want to do. Determination is a virtue, sometimes finesse, sometimes intellectual, and sometimes brute force. I'm rooting for ya! Keep me posted.
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