Posted on May 31, 2018
What are the best branches for Army Officers and why?
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I am in the process of joining the Army for OCS. I am prior service Navy and separated to get my degree. I would love to hear what Army Officers or Soldiers in general think of their specific branch. My current list in order is: Infantry, MI, Artillery, Engineer, Ordnance, Signal Corps, Armor... Any info would help!
Officer Candidate School (OCS) (Army)
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Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 49
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Well, I’ve been Infantry, Aviation, Mil Intel, Cyber. And have been Human resource management. Aviation is a lot of work. Mil intel has a lot of utility in the civilian sector. Counterintelligence is fun. Any branch you end up doing there will be a lot of staff work time. Read the duty descriptions and figure out what your interested in. Good luck.
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COL (Join to see)
No it is not easy. I was tracking maintenance pilot so I was sent to logistics advance course. Stay away from logistics! That was a total bore. I changed branches cause I was medically grounded. Most people stay the same branch their entire career. They do havevbranch details where you do something like Infantry for about four years then go to your basic branch like Mil Intel. It’s all a crap shoot.
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COL (Join to see)
You can. It all depends on your standing in class as to your chances of getting it.
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LTC Robert Harter
COL (Join to see) - My first two years I was an armor officer: one year as a tank platoon leader and the second year as a scout platoon leader. In those days you had to serve a year in a combat arms before applying for flight training. After getting my wings I stayed on the operations side of aviation and had a great career. I avoided logistics like the plague then, but having spent the last several years after retiring from the military in the civilian sector, there are many, many more career opportunities for logisticians, far more than there are for any combat arms. You have to look beyond your service years. At some point, we are all civilians again.
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The same as it is for Enlisted, whatever suits their personality the best. Thank you for your service.
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PO3 (Join to see)
I respect that answer. I am highly motivated and would love to do combat arms. However, I know that I may not get exactly what I want in OCS. So I just want to learn as much as possible about all branches.
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CSM Darieus ZaGara
Your best bet is to go to each branches website and read their hustory. You can also go to the home base websites and read about their mission.
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You have a lot of choices to make. I don't know how old you are but I suspect that joining the Infantry May mess you up physically because of the heavy loads they put on you. This may result in bad knees and a bad back when you get older and possibly flat feet. Even though the Infantry is so important, there is a downside. Talking from the perspective of seeing Infantry officers in my civil Affairs branch, they eventually Branch off into Logistics.
I know a Lieutenant Colonel who was my company Commander a long time ago. He was in the National Guard. He was a infantry, mechanized Infantry, Airborne, air assault , Pathfinder , Master jumper and also an Army Ranger. He ended up joining the Special Operations Branch of civil affairs which I still belong to in the Army Reserve. The active-duty does have civil affairs but it's an Airborne unit at Fort Bragg. I lost track of him for a while. He was then an S3 for a Logistics Brigade and now switched over to be a battalion Commander in a sister civil Affairs battalion. Everything seems to go to Logistics it seems in a long run. You should also look into military police as well.
I was an armor officer as well and armor is awesome but I don't know if they're going to be expanding armor or not. I knew of an armor officer that didn't make it to full bird colonel and had to leave after 28 years active service. I know another Lieutenant Colonel who was armor that did make it the full bird colonel because he finished War College. You have to be diversified if you want to go up the ranks. Signal is awesome because you can take the signal experience and use it in your civilian life. Nothing wrong with combat arms. You need to follow your heart. Military Intelligence is pretty good and especially if you know another language or they can teach you one from the Defense Language Institute in Monterey. Each branch has its pros and cons.
You may not have a selection when you get through OCS. I was lucky that I was able to pick my first choice off the bat which was military police Branch after being at military police enlisted. I have been in combat support, combat arms and combat service support. Make your top 3 choices. Being an armor officer was an awesome experience even though it was very difficult for me.
Military police was awesome. Civil Affairs was also very awesome because I got to see people from all branches mixed in. If I had not broken my ankle in Afghanistan, I would have been Airborne qualified in my civil affairs branch but I'm also older and a bad landing would have destroyed my civilian career and possibly made me a cripple. You also have other interesting branches like psychological operations, cyber warfare and even special forces that you can try now or later . You have to weigh the cost and benefits. Either way, all of us here rallypoint are very happy that you are choosing to become an officer in the army!
COL Mikel J. Burroughs CSM Charles Hayden CPT Chris Loomis 1LT Sandy Annala SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL COL (Join to see) MAJ David Potter CPT Pedro Meza LTC Stephen C. LTC Stephen F. Lt Col Charlie Brown LTC Ivan Raiklin, Esq. Col (Join to see) CW5 Jack Cardwell
I know a Lieutenant Colonel who was my company Commander a long time ago. He was in the National Guard. He was a infantry, mechanized Infantry, Airborne, air assault , Pathfinder , Master jumper and also an Army Ranger. He ended up joining the Special Operations Branch of civil affairs which I still belong to in the Army Reserve. The active-duty does have civil affairs but it's an Airborne unit at Fort Bragg. I lost track of him for a while. He was then an S3 for a Logistics Brigade and now switched over to be a battalion Commander in a sister civil Affairs battalion. Everything seems to go to Logistics it seems in a long run. You should also look into military police as well.
I was an armor officer as well and armor is awesome but I don't know if they're going to be expanding armor or not. I knew of an armor officer that didn't make it to full bird colonel and had to leave after 28 years active service. I know another Lieutenant Colonel who was armor that did make it the full bird colonel because he finished War College. You have to be diversified if you want to go up the ranks. Signal is awesome because you can take the signal experience and use it in your civilian life. Nothing wrong with combat arms. You need to follow your heart. Military Intelligence is pretty good and especially if you know another language or they can teach you one from the Defense Language Institute in Monterey. Each branch has its pros and cons.
You may not have a selection when you get through OCS. I was lucky that I was able to pick my first choice off the bat which was military police Branch after being at military police enlisted. I have been in combat support, combat arms and combat service support. Make your top 3 choices. Being an armor officer was an awesome experience even though it was very difficult for me.
Military police was awesome. Civil Affairs was also very awesome because I got to see people from all branches mixed in. If I had not broken my ankle in Afghanistan, I would have been Airborne qualified in my civil affairs branch but I'm also older and a bad landing would have destroyed my civilian career and possibly made me a cripple. You also have other interesting branches like psychological operations, cyber warfare and even special forces that you can try now or later . You have to weigh the cost and benefits. Either way, all of us here rallypoint are very happy that you are choosing to become an officer in the army!
COL Mikel J. Burroughs CSM Charles Hayden CPT Chris Loomis 1LT Sandy Annala SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL COL (Join to see) MAJ David Potter CPT Pedro Meza LTC Stephen C. LTC Stephen F. Lt Col Charlie Brown LTC Ivan Raiklin, Esq. Col (Join to see) CW5 Jack Cardwell
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PO3 (Join to see)
Thank you very much sir for your very informative reply. I am young (only 24) and my prior service time was spent as a river boat gunner in the USN. Being in the combat arms field in the Navy is really why I would love to do CA. All of the things like psych, civil, and sf sound amazing. I have a deep passion to push myself, grow, face my fears, and become the best leader I can be.
What did you enjoy so much about armor? My only reserve is not wanting to be stuck in a tank honestly. I would love to hear what you liked about armor, and civil affairs.
What did you enjoy so much about armor? My only reserve is not wanting to be stuck in a tank honestly. I would love to hear what you liked about armor, and civil affairs.
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LTC (Join to see)
What I liked about armor was the fact that you're doing the same tactics as infantry or even working with mechanized Infantry. Going from a soft-top Humvee or a basic Humvee to an M1 A-1 Abrams tank was quite a shock. I don't know if you noticed today I had put the story of about the last Dodge Demon being made for 2018 going to be auctioned off for charity. I like muscle cars and machinery. I love Navy ships, battleships Destroyers and anything mechanical like steam locomotives.
The downside I had with armor was it was a branch transfer from military police. It was a very hard adjustment and I did not have the same preparation as an officer that would go through armor officer basic course which is quite a few months long. I was deficient, I didn't know platoon fire commands and I didn't know my position very well. Either way, I was able to complete my armor Captain's career course while I was still at Fort Knox two. I was able to deploy with an armored unit doing non armor physical security yet I was able to brush up on my tank skills while deployed at dugway Proving Ground. I surprised people who didn't know me because my platoon knew me as military police yet I knew my fire commands. We were able to get to Abrams tanks and one of our close combat tactical trainer trailers shipped out there so we were able to do platoon operations in a simulator when we were doing our 3 days of training. We had three days of guard Duty, 3 days of training and then 3 days off title 32 while guarding the way Proving Ground during operation Noble Eagle 3 in 2003 and 2004.
When operation Noble Eagle 3 was whining down, I was able to get my Battalion Commander to sign me off to join the Idaho Army National Guard that was going to Iraq. Just before I deployed, Our Brigade forced Fort Knox to take us in their Armor Captain's Career Course. We were being mobilized on the 4th of July, 2004 so we went to Fort Knox in June. That Captain's Course opened doors after Iraq.
We were going to be mechanized Infantry and only one company of the brigade's tanks we're going down range to Northern Iraq. While in transit to my base in Northern Iraq, kirkuk, I met a civil Affairs officer who looked like the Chinese exchange student from 16 Candles. He had Airborne, Ranger, Pathfinder, Special Forces and I asked him what his Branch was. The sword in the scroll is a civil Affairs branch. We don't show the branch anymore in our newer uniforms. That is something I miss from the old days prior to 2008 when you used to be able to wear the btu or battle dress uniform and you knew exactly what branch of soldier you were dealing with. He told me that civil Affairs was at 70% strength. I happen to talk to some civil Affairs people at the dining facility in kirkuk(FOB Warrior). You had economics teams you had different kinds of specialty teams. That interested me more. When I came off of active duty, I went into the inactive ready Reserve and picked up my 03 rank or captain that I had already been selected for but I couldn't take it because I was in an O2 position. It used to be, but I doubt it is anymore, that you can only join civil affairs if you were a first lieutenant would already completed his Captain's career course.
I hear that in active duty, you can join civil affairs as a brand new second lieutenant. In my opinion, you want to have a different skill-set prior to joining civil Affairs so you have more to offer. Usually, your civilian skillset also helps out a lot. Your experience in the Navy will help as well. Anyways, civil Affairs allowed me to go to Fort Bragg and to learn more about the political, social and economic factors that will help the u.s. win the hearts and Minds through doing counterinsurgency by being a military guy with an M4 with cash available or direct deposit to buy things or fix things so people will not Revolt due to your basic infrastructure not working. In Afghanistan, I was the Commander's emergency response program officer. That was cerp for short. I was working at a forward operating base in Afghanistan. I was basically approving projects from $500 to $200,000 and going through all the layers of getting all kinds of projects signed off. The base commander could approve up to 25,000 dollars. The area commander could approve up to $200,000 in projects. We would do simple things like fix broken Wells to build Wells to build schools 2 build roads and even upgrade existing hospitals with generators, computers, solar lights in areas that have no light and even buy wheat seed for Farmers so they could Plant wheat instead of opium to have her the Taliban getting a major cut from these poor Farmers for their opium crop.
Civil Affairs goes out into areas ,where you wouldn't think of. to try to improve the quality of life in areas so they'll be less likely to be Isis followers by making poor areas of certain parts of the Horn of Africa better so people will be not be so desperate to listen to Isis and become a suicide bomber. There are all kinds of reasons and you could say that civil Affairs is as multi-purpose being in military police. Currently, I am an observer controller trainer or OC - t which is as you know a referee or a counselor Mentor for those units that are being trained or validated to go in a deployment or in an exercise. I hope I answered your questions.
CPT Pedro Meza MAJ (Join to see) COL (Join to see)
The downside I had with armor was it was a branch transfer from military police. It was a very hard adjustment and I did not have the same preparation as an officer that would go through armor officer basic course which is quite a few months long. I was deficient, I didn't know platoon fire commands and I didn't know my position very well. Either way, I was able to complete my armor Captain's career course while I was still at Fort Knox two. I was able to deploy with an armored unit doing non armor physical security yet I was able to brush up on my tank skills while deployed at dugway Proving Ground. I surprised people who didn't know me because my platoon knew me as military police yet I knew my fire commands. We were able to get to Abrams tanks and one of our close combat tactical trainer trailers shipped out there so we were able to do platoon operations in a simulator when we were doing our 3 days of training. We had three days of guard Duty, 3 days of training and then 3 days off title 32 while guarding the way Proving Ground during operation Noble Eagle 3 in 2003 and 2004.
When operation Noble Eagle 3 was whining down, I was able to get my Battalion Commander to sign me off to join the Idaho Army National Guard that was going to Iraq. Just before I deployed, Our Brigade forced Fort Knox to take us in their Armor Captain's Career Course. We were being mobilized on the 4th of July, 2004 so we went to Fort Knox in June. That Captain's Course opened doors after Iraq.
We were going to be mechanized Infantry and only one company of the brigade's tanks we're going down range to Northern Iraq. While in transit to my base in Northern Iraq, kirkuk, I met a civil Affairs officer who looked like the Chinese exchange student from 16 Candles. He had Airborne, Ranger, Pathfinder, Special Forces and I asked him what his Branch was. The sword in the scroll is a civil Affairs branch. We don't show the branch anymore in our newer uniforms. That is something I miss from the old days prior to 2008 when you used to be able to wear the btu or battle dress uniform and you knew exactly what branch of soldier you were dealing with. He told me that civil Affairs was at 70% strength. I happen to talk to some civil Affairs people at the dining facility in kirkuk(FOB Warrior). You had economics teams you had different kinds of specialty teams. That interested me more. When I came off of active duty, I went into the inactive ready Reserve and picked up my 03 rank or captain that I had already been selected for but I couldn't take it because I was in an O2 position. It used to be, but I doubt it is anymore, that you can only join civil affairs if you were a first lieutenant would already completed his Captain's career course.
I hear that in active duty, you can join civil affairs as a brand new second lieutenant. In my opinion, you want to have a different skill-set prior to joining civil Affairs so you have more to offer. Usually, your civilian skillset also helps out a lot. Your experience in the Navy will help as well. Anyways, civil Affairs allowed me to go to Fort Bragg and to learn more about the political, social and economic factors that will help the u.s. win the hearts and Minds through doing counterinsurgency by being a military guy with an M4 with cash available or direct deposit to buy things or fix things so people will not Revolt due to your basic infrastructure not working. In Afghanistan, I was the Commander's emergency response program officer. That was cerp for short. I was working at a forward operating base in Afghanistan. I was basically approving projects from $500 to $200,000 and going through all the layers of getting all kinds of projects signed off. The base commander could approve up to 25,000 dollars. The area commander could approve up to $200,000 in projects. We would do simple things like fix broken Wells to build Wells to build schools 2 build roads and even upgrade existing hospitals with generators, computers, solar lights in areas that have no light and even buy wheat seed for Farmers so they could Plant wheat instead of opium to have her the Taliban getting a major cut from these poor Farmers for their opium crop.
Civil Affairs goes out into areas ,where you wouldn't think of. to try to improve the quality of life in areas so they'll be less likely to be Isis followers by making poor areas of certain parts of the Horn of Africa better so people will be not be so desperate to listen to Isis and become a suicide bomber. There are all kinds of reasons and you could say that civil Affairs is as multi-purpose being in military police. Currently, I am an observer controller trainer or OC - t which is as you know a referee or a counselor Mentor for those units that are being trained or validated to go in a deployment or in an exercise. I hope I answered your questions.
CPT Pedro Meza MAJ (Join to see) COL (Join to see)
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LTC (Join to see)
Correction , plant wheat seed not marijuana seeds. LOL I did this all by voice text.
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