Which branch in the Army is the best combat arms branch to commission into?

Engineer then SAPPER, but that's because I worked with them all the time, if you want to bl0ow stuff up and get blown up go Combat Engineer and get a SAPPER tab. Remember first to breach the way..

Infantry or bust. Anything else makes you a POG, and that's a very POG thing to do.

It all depends on how you feel about signing for equipment and how much you hate walking. Obviously tankers ruck the least followed by air defense, artillery, engineers, infantry for obvious reasons does the most. Don't take this to mean that you won't be rucking in as a tanker, you absolutely will. As far as equipment you'll be responsible for as a PL, they go in ascending order from infantry to tanker with the exception of engineers, who generally have a bunch of equipment some of which is considered to be significant brigade assets (Volcanoes, MICLIC). Then there's the type of work. Obviously an officer isn't going to really do the vehicle maintenance, but the amount of maintenance required for equipment and the equipment you will have will dictate how much of your units time you'll have for training and the type of training that you will get. Non-mechanized infantry and engineers do less vehicle maintenance than armorn artillery and ada, but that's assuming that you don't get assigned to a mechanized unit. If you do, it will be comparable. Lastly, you should consider the ease of advancement. Fields that are smaller usually have issues with advancing.

A word to the wise, I Lieutenant Colonel that I knew did not make it to Colonel because he had only armor and no other functional area like civil affairs. I knew another armor officer who made full-bird Colonel but he had SSC out of the way. I would suggest you get into some other functional area like civil Affairs as a backup because armor is pretty picky the higher rank you go.

I would consider either 11A or 19A as they share a lot similarities. After you finish your first duty station and complete you company XO time you will go to MCCC.

MCCC is for both Infantry and Armor branch Officers. You will also be able to attend the same schools which is highly encouraged to attend.
ARC, RSLC, Ranger, Air Assault, Path Finder, and Airborne.

Additional schools you can go to Infantry: MLC Mortar Leaders Course and Armor: CLC Cavalry Leaders Course.

Rucking least to most.
- all others
- grunts

I am preferential to armor since it was ignored for so long. But now that we know that the President Obama peace dividend is in the toilet, we need to rearm our forces and armor is relevant. It's really sad when you have the Idaho Army National Guard that was once an enhanced Brigade but 116th cab Brigade which I went to to Iraq, is now a mechanized infantry Brigade. That is so messed up. We need to emphasize Armour again so I would say for the good of the cause, go armor!

Your preference..remember your injury/etc. Be the best in your decision..bless you.

Engineers lead the way!

You'll ruck a lot as an engineer, it's expected. Blowing stuff up is the reward though. As an officer you'll definitely want to attend Sapper school. There's a lot of other demo classes you can attend too. Being a 12B is considered a combat job too so you'll be allowed to attend several other tab schools