Posted on Dec 13, 2014
What Army MOS (branch) is the best to commission into?
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I am currently in a program offered by the National Guard called "Accelerated OCS." When I finish I will have the opportunity to branch one of the following; Logistics, Field Artillery, Infantry or Intelligence. In your opinion, what would be the best option?
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Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 24
Thanks to LTC Stephen C. for bringing me into this.
SGT(P) (Join to see) First, I am AMA grad from their AOCS program. I am in the North Carolina ARNG. I have been out of OCS for a bit over two years now. I was in the same boat you were in at one time. I was prior enlisted for ten year before I went so I think I had a good idea what I was doing. From then I even learned more. So here it is.
First, you want to look at your career progression potential. It may sound cool to be a intelligence officer but you have to map out your career path. If you plan on making up to LTC you are going to have a very rough time. Even being a Logistics officer, of which you would attain only at CPT, in your state would be a career killer.
In your state you seem to have two major units. You have a BCT and a Fire Brigade, maybe the AV BDE. Those are going to be your units that you would be primarily spending your time in your state. So if you were pick intel you would be looking some intel PL slots and only one Company Command per Brigade as there is only one MI company in a Brigade. Then you would be looking at a CPT slot in Battalion staff. The MAJ slot as a MI officer would be in BDE staff or maybe State Staff. If you were looking at Logistics you would find more slots as the Support battalions would all be Logistics officers up to the Battalion level with their battalion staff also. Beyond the battalion level you would be limited to where you could promote too.
Now you could go the path that I went. I went Infantry. Due to the BCT that we have in my state. You also have a Fires Brigade so FA would also be applicable here. If you choose IN as your branch you would have two battalions of PL slots. On top of that you would have Ten companies in which you command command, being HHC, A, B, C, and D companies in either of the Infantry battalions. In addition to that you would have all the staff slots in battalion. As you could see there would be more Infantry Captains then MI or LOG. That only means that there is more potential to promote. With that being said there would be 4 infantry MAJs in the battalions and more being BDE staff.
I went IN for the ability to pick up a command quicker. It really depends on how far you want to go. It may seem odd to plan out your career when you are not even in OCS yet but that one choice will drastically affect you. You will see officers down the road change their branch due to the lack of promotion. By then it is too late.
If you don't plan on going past CPT you really could pick whatever you want. Just know if you go something unique like CHEM or MP you will really be limiting your potential to promote.
SGT(P) (Join to see) First, I am AMA grad from their AOCS program. I am in the North Carolina ARNG. I have been out of OCS for a bit over two years now. I was in the same boat you were in at one time. I was prior enlisted for ten year before I went so I think I had a good idea what I was doing. From then I even learned more. So here it is.
First, you want to look at your career progression potential. It may sound cool to be a intelligence officer but you have to map out your career path. If you plan on making up to LTC you are going to have a very rough time. Even being a Logistics officer, of which you would attain only at CPT, in your state would be a career killer.
In your state you seem to have two major units. You have a BCT and a Fire Brigade, maybe the AV BDE. Those are going to be your units that you would be primarily spending your time in your state. So if you were pick intel you would be looking some intel PL slots and only one Company Command per Brigade as there is only one MI company in a Brigade. Then you would be looking at a CPT slot in Battalion staff. The MAJ slot as a MI officer would be in BDE staff or maybe State Staff. If you were looking at Logistics you would find more slots as the Support battalions would all be Logistics officers up to the Battalion level with their battalion staff also. Beyond the battalion level you would be limited to where you could promote too.
Now you could go the path that I went. I went Infantry. Due to the BCT that we have in my state. You also have a Fires Brigade so FA would also be applicable here. If you choose IN as your branch you would have two battalions of PL slots. On top of that you would have Ten companies in which you command command, being HHC, A, B, C, and D companies in either of the Infantry battalions. In addition to that you would have all the staff slots in battalion. As you could see there would be more Infantry Captains then MI or LOG. That only means that there is more potential to promote. With that being said there would be 4 infantry MAJs in the battalions and more being BDE staff.
I went IN for the ability to pick up a command quicker. It really depends on how far you want to go. It may seem odd to plan out your career when you are not even in OCS yet but that one choice will drastically affect you. You will see officers down the road change their branch due to the lack of promotion. By then it is too late.
If you don't plan on going past CPT you really could pick whatever you want. Just know if you go something unique like CHEM or MP you will really be limiting your potential to promote.
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CW2 (Join to see)
Spc Fagan to mirror off of what LT Rosa said, look at career progression and if you are willing to move to other states. Since I am signal I really only know the signal branch but I am certain there are other branches that could have similar issues, getting to Major is do able but after that it would be nearly impossible. ---BOWIE TEAM!
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LTC (Join to see)
SGT(P) (Join to see) The advice given so far has been good, but there are two other things to consider, in this post I will discuss what they call "Branch Detail" in the Active Component, where you serve a couple of years as a combat arms officer then branch transfer. In the ARNG, it isn't planned as it is for one accessing into the AC, but there are lots of officers who start in one branch and transfer later. You can start as infantry and then move to MI or logistics. CPT (Join to see)'s assessment was pretty reasonable regarding promotion opportunities.
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LTC (Join to see)
SGT(P) (Join to see), the other thing you need to consider is how your military training will benefit your civilian opportunities. I see you work at Nestle, a food and beverage company. The higher you move in your company, the more you will need to learn about moving food and beverages. Some schools will give you undergraduate and graduate credit for your OBC and OAC in logistics. Both transportation and quartermaster deal with liquid logistics such as moving petroleum and water which would help you work with your civilian counterparts who work the business end (I assume as a microbiologist you're in a lab somewhere, my apologies if I was wrong).
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LTC (Join to see)
Of course, military training and experience will enhance your ability to progress in a civilian corporation, because you can't succeed as an officer without good NCOs and understanding logistics. Starting out in one branch doesn't mean you will stay in that branch throughout your career, and don't even get me started talking about functional areas, which you won't have to worry about until you're looking for O-3 positions.
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If you plan to remain in Arkansas (or the neighboring states), I would strongly consider FA or IN. After that it would be LG and MI. The reason for this is that in Arkansas you have the 142nd Fires BDE in NWA and then you have other FA units attached to the 39th IBCT. This will give you the best opportunities for diversification of assignments and promotion due to the sheer number of positions available. Since you live in Rogers, this also may limit your commute which can be nice after a really long weekend. Infantry is going to offer you most of the same as well. The other two branches are not going to have as many positions, particularly as you promote which could limit your promotability and command options.
If I were you, I would reach out to the OSM for the state to double check the manning of each branch. You may find that one of the branches is way overstrength and that it will limit your career as well.
Oklahoma has a similar structure to their forces, but if you were planning to go north to Missouri, I would tell you to look at IN or EN there.
Oh....and.............. GO HOGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If I were you, I would reach out to the OSM for the state to double check the manning of each branch. You may find that one of the branches is way overstrength and that it will limit your career as well.
Oklahoma has a similar structure to their forces, but if you were planning to go north to Missouri, I would tell you to look at IN or EN there.
Oh....and.............. GO HOGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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CPT (Join to see)
If you are wanting to go AD, commissioning through the Guard is going to make that almost impossible. The draw down is really killing options. Look at the Call to Active Duty program and you will see how restrictive it is. It's darn near impossible.
An option you would have is to get a conditional release from the Guard as you sit right now and apply to OCS through and Army Recruiter. That is your only real shot at this point, unless you can manage two more years in graduate school and complete ROTC. If you commission in the Guard, start looking for AGR because AD will be a no-go at least for a while. Trust me on this one. I tried the same thing from the Reserves. If I had got a releases and applied to OCS, I would have been able to go AD. As a LT, there is nothing except AGR. Thankfully, I was picked up for AGR and now would never want AD due to the fact that I love being AGR. I plan to spend my career as an AGR.
An option you would have is to get a conditional release from the Guard as you sit right now and apply to OCS through and Army Recruiter. That is your only real shot at this point, unless you can manage two more years in graduate school and complete ROTC. If you commission in the Guard, start looking for AGR because AD will be a no-go at least for a while. Trust me on this one. I tried the same thing from the Reserves. If I had got a releases and applied to OCS, I would have been able to go AD. As a LT, there is nothing except AGR. Thankfully, I was picked up for AGR and now would never want AD due to the fact that I love being AGR. I plan to spend my career as an AGR.
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SPC (Join to see)
How do I make it happen ? Is it gets any requirement for time in service or time in grade if I can wanna apply for AGR? What about reserve officer ? Can they go to ACT too?
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SPC Fagan,
As an Armor guy I'm obviously bias about Armor but I think the best advice on this came from a Colonel at my University who addressed this exact topic. The Best branch to commission is the one you get.
As an Armor guy I'm obviously bias about Armor but I think the best advice on this came from a Colonel at my University who addressed this exact topic. The Best branch to commission is the one you get.
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