Posted on Aug 30, 2018
PO3 Gunner's Mate
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What is the best Army Officer branch for post service opportunity? Going through the OCS application process right now and just curious what everyone experiences are with job opportunities after service based on in service skill development. I’d love to hear any and all experiences!
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Responses: 5
MAJ Operations Research/Systems Analysis (Orsa)
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I was MI, and used to think that MI was the best branch for this until I started to have friends who got out and I basically figured out that I was in trouble. I completely agree that you need to structure your military career with the understanding that 99 percent of everyone who enters the military eventually ends up with a civilian career even if you retire. If you retire at 20 chances are you still have 20 plus years of work time left. With that, I have served with numerous branches and I think that logistics and engineers are both the best for this. Others before me talked about the logistics jobs, but I was the S2 of an Engineer battalion and was impressed of some of these things Engineers get. Many got the opportunity to get certifications in Civil Engineering, which is worth a lot on the outside. ACOE also has lots of certification and education programs depending on your posting and they count towards university credit. I had friends who just needed to take one or two classes after their company commands to get their masters in some engineering discipline. So you’d get out of the military with a graduate STEM degree which is always a good idea.
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PO3 Gunner's Mate
PO3 (Join to see)
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Thank you sir! In your opinion why isn’t MI good for a career after?
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MAJ Operations Research/Systems Analysis (Orsa)
MAJ (Join to see)
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The analytical skills that we teach are all qualitative and somewhat subjective and are restricted to the military problem set. The private sector wants analysts who have a robust basckground in data science, quantitative decision science, and multi criteria decision analysis. Most of the time, MI practitioners (with the exception of maybe the linguists) get out and become contractors. I’m not a fan of contracting, at least for me, because I like to know exactly what I will make and budget for it. Contracts are negotiated annually and you have no idea what you will make when that contract is renegotiated. When I was in Afghanistan, for example, our contractors had their contract cut by 40 percent and all of the employees were given a choice to take a massive pay cut, or quit. I couldn’t do that. You could also go DOD or DOA civilian, and that’s what I always recommend to MI guys looking to get out but those jobs are sometimes very hard to get. Bottom line, if you want to stay gov when you get out, MI is “ok” for that. If you intend to take your high speed analytical skills to the private sector, MI does not provide the analytical skill set employers are looking for.
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MAJ Operations Research/Systems Analysis (Orsa)
MAJ (Join to see)
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Meanwhile I have a friend who got out as a Captain and an Engineer officer and she immediately got a job as a mechanical engineer at NASA.
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SFC Kevin Childers
SFC Kevin Childers
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MAJ (Join to see) - I'd have to say there are opportunities for most military branch skills, but based on what I observed during a couple of rifts, the logistics guys seemed to fair the best.
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CPT Personnel Officer
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PO3 Josh Cushing,
This is a question that basically falls under the personal opinion category as I don't believe there is any statistical data out there to support any single claim. However, we can certainly use logic here and develop some legitimate choices. As 2LT Mortenson stated, logistics is certainly a good option for post military opportunities, but if I may be technical here, the term logistics is not a branch you can go into initially. The choices that will allow that eventually is Transportation (TC), Quartermaster (QM), or Ordnance (OD). Once you complete the Captains Career Course (CCC) you will get the designator of 90A hence Logistics. Truthfully, as a person in a support AOC i can tell you there are positives for outside employment on both sides of the house. If you go combat arms and stay in long enough to be a Company Commander then that alone will open a lot of doors for you. Reason being is most of the civilian companies that higher JMOs fresh out of the military are looking for LEADERS and you can't argue with that on a resume (*note just because you are a commander doesn't make you a leader and or a good leader just explaining a basic concept). Further, in a support AOC like AG, QM, TC, or Medical Service (MS) you will be able (or should be able) to demonstrate and transfer the hard skills that employers are looking for i.e. HR or supply chain management etc... If i had to choose though I’d probably say the Signal Corps or Intel is likely the most lucrative AOC to shoot for. Ultimately it doesn't matter because you can put your top choices in any order you want, but final choice and placement is up to the military.
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SGM Bill Frazer
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If you are doing this to earn cash after serving, do us a favor and quit!.
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PO3 Gunner's Mate
PO3 (Join to see)
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SGM,
That’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m simply asking after my service what is going to set me up best for a civilian career. Nothing wrong with simply planning ahead.
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