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The purpose of this article is to address one of the biggest Rally Point questions among Army ROTC Cadets: I am a <Blank> with a major in <Blank>, 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. Second, it is hard to bound that question and people default to personal or vicarious experience as it applies to them….not you. Generally, it is easier to provide targeted feedback of some sort of choice, as an example, “I am trying to decide between Armor and Aviation” which is pretty definitive or “I am trying to decide between logistics branches” which stubs it to three hard choices and one ‘sometimes Y’ choice with Medical Service Corps. The responses will be a mile wide and a mile deep. Some will provide you eye-wateringly brilliant insight from 1982. Others will try and map out an entire career of things like they did it, or wish they had done it. Proceed at your own risk. The goal of this article is to provide you with a framework to help you make a decision; it is yours and yours alone to make. It is really important for you to understand what you can influence, what you can’t influence, and things that really are irrelevant to the whole branching process. The attached photo represents the situation as I understand it.
Disclaimer: This article was written in Summer 2018 with the best known information at that time. Accessions change with needs of the Total Army. Most of the concepts are pretty consistent with my own accessions process in 1993 all the way through to what is used now. Part of the reason this article is written the way it is written is due to my discovery and surprise to the regimentation of the contemporary Order of Merit List (OML) vice the OML I experienced which seemed opaque and subjective.
STUFF TO WORRY ABOUT
Know the process: It is critical you understand the formal process and the tools the Army will use to make that ultimate decision. Wait? Jay did you just say ‘the Army” will use. Yes. The Army makes this decision of which you provide input, via Branch and Assignment Preferences and indirectly by your performance in the commissioning program. Speaking from the ROTC perspective, a cadet returns from Advanced Camp and will complete the list their branch and assignment preferences. This is structured where you ultimately produce a 1-n list of preferences which must include some combination of combat, maneuver support, and sustainment branches in certain places. This has varied over time and your commissioning source cadre are the best source of feedback on this. I looked at USACC Circular 601-19-1 that has 2018 guidance, you end up on an OML and there is a USACC branching process then a DA model they follow to pick you based on their number of lieutenants they are authorized that year. There is also the component decision based on what you had already committed to or not (such as a Guaranteed Reserve Forces Duty contract or a letter of acceptance from a ARNG unit) . Reserve components work this differently as they have a more finite set of slots and geography to consider. What you need to take from this is be the best, authentic ‘you’ you can be. It has to be ‘you’, because if you are faking a version of you, they’ll figure it out at your first unit.
Considerations: You can influence the Order of Merit List (OML) factors in Circular 601-19-1 Appendix D ROTC Order of Merit Model (APFT etc), Appendix E Cadet Evaluation, Appendix G Grade Point Average, DA Photo Fat Check (this is on you), and ultimately your interests and your perception of branches (what is good and what is bad). Considerations you need to be aware of but can’t control: Needs of the Army. Other considerations that are a little fuzzy: Life After the Army, You wanting to deploy, Cool Guy Schools, and Right of the Boom decisions. Some of these considerations are obvious. I will hit on a few that are not. FIGURE D-1 in USACC Circular 601-19-1 is a snapshot of the OML variables.
Academic Major and your Interests: There is not a 1:1 alignment with Army Branches….even Finance. Corporate Finance is about acquiring capital to fund projects and ventures. The Army gets an appropriation. Finance officers are more accounting than finance. MP Officers and Criminal Justice, is probably a close fit. Your two best bets:
1. BASELINE YOUR UNDERSTANDING: Read DA PAM 600-3 and the corresponding branch specifics (https://www.milsuite.mil/book/groups/smartbook-DA-PAM-600-3 which were recently pulled out of the DA PAM 600-3 and placed behind a CAC-enabled wall) and identify branches that align with your major and/or interests. Majors sometimes don’t matter at all. I saw English majors as Ordnance Officers or Economics majors as Engineer Officers. I was a Civil Engineering Major on an Army ROTC Science and Engineering Scholarship with my number one choice of Engineer Branch and was branched Ordnance. We were successful on our own merits, but you just can’t tell.
2. RESEARCH: Do some cursory research on the branch, on your own. Develop some good questions.
3.TALK TO OTHER CARBON UNITS: Talk to officers in that branch. Rally Point and even AKO has made that easier than it ever has been. Not everything is a webpage.
4.TAB: There is also the CAC-accessed Talent Assessment Battery (TAB) to help you explore branches with respect to you. If nothing else, call that branch manager at HRC and see if they recommend someone as a good example to talk to (they are way too busy to do it personally, but you never know). Your branch may also vary across the Army, this distinction used to be Heavy (i.e. 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment) vs Light (i.e.3rd BCT 101st Airborne Division). An Armor Officer in a light RSTA Squadron applies his/her skills and attributes differently than a Tank Platoon Leader in a Combined Arms Battalion. Individual experience may vary…An Ordnance officer in an Ammo Company uses different skills and knowledge than one in a Field Maintenance Company. An Infantry Officer in an Airborne unit works differently than in a mechanized unit.
5. MAKE A LIST: Make a list in the beginning and use it through out your decision making. Would recommend making a tool in MS Excel that lists all the branches in Column B, make Column A your priority for the branch. Column C should be positive things that attract you to that branch. Column D should be negative things about that branch. If you see the same negative things pop in each branch or most of the branches, drop it. That is a personal bias and doesn’t really apply to the branch itself. Use the sorting function so it turns over your choices as you learn more. On a separate piece of paper write your personal/professional goals, hand written. Don’t go all Stephen King and write a novel. Consider these as you prioritize branches. Get yourself oriented on your top three to five choices, particularly if you elect to branch detail.
Needs of the Army: This is the single largest determinant, in case you had not gleaned that already. Where possible, they will try and align an officer with the branch they desire. In my day it was described in terms like this: “90% of those accessed were branched within one of their top 10 choices”. That was out of 16 choices folks. This was considered successful. From reviewing the current process, it appears the USACC model and the DA branch model are less capricious. But like in any merit based system, there are those on top, and those that are not. Someone, somewhere will get their feelings hurt.
ON THE LINE
These aspects of the decision rest on the line between ‘stuff to worry about’ and ‘red herrings’ you need not become bogged down in.
Life After the Army: In some ways the Army is like Highlander, there can only be one. So the last man standing from his year group is the Chief of Staff of the Army. Everyone else will eventually be chaptered out. It’s up to you whether it is a good chapter or a bad chapter. So that means that you will need to consider what you will do after the Army, whether that is your Active Duty Service Obligation (ADSO) or retirement. Understand this, you still need to “Army” for about 6-8 years and that is why I determined this consideration fuzzy. It is a balance and it should not define you. Aligning a branch to a specific career or job is nebulous as well. This is best taken care of once you identify a field and what the industry requirements are. This is almost an over the horizon decision (addressed later).
Deployment: Choosing a branch because you are more likely to deploy is Hooah, but trying to game that is hard. Obviously the Army needs you to play away games. Consider my career, we weren’t at war for about a decade on the heels of Desert Storm. Korea and Bosnia were considered tip of the spear. Then 9/11 hit and it was on. Expect that if there is a combat mission, there’ll be plenty for everyone.
Cool Guy Schools: Attending pre-commissioning schools like Ranger, Airborne, Sapper, etc will not lock you into a branch, but could be a deal sweetener if that aligns like Sapper and Engineer Branch and you pick Engineer Branch. With otherwise good personal stats, your likelihood of getting Engineer branch is higher. It is a small factor but shows your commitment to the profession. In the near term it will positively impact your OML standing.
Right of the Boom Decisions: Several career decisions lay ahead of you - AFTER you are commissioned and which branch you are isn’t as important. The largest two that get you another bite at the apple are functional area designation (FAD) and non-accessions branches. FAD can open a whole new world to an officer. The Faustian bargain is that the majority of FADs take you out of a command track at BN and BDE levels. The spectrum is too wide to discuss meaningfully here. Look at DA PAM 600-3 and talk to an officer in the FAD/Branch for those too. The Army has also adjusted when they look at you for FAD and you get an opportunity earlier. Others include: specialized education, training, and certification that carry a utilization tour; Fully Funded Legal Education Program (FLEP); Medical School/ Physician’s Assistant (PA) Program; personally pursued education and life decisions; and the red herring of Branch Transfers.
Branch Transfers: While technically possible, they are not probable. There is a window after accessions. USACC has a process. The next window is three years into Active Duty. There are a very limited number of opportunities for the Army to facilitate branch transfers for accessions. Three years in, the losing branch must want to release you and the gaining branch has to accept you.
RED HERRINGS AND OTHER DISTRACTORS
Beware of the Red Herrings. Don’t get over invested in things that you can’t control or that don’t matter in this process. Red Herrings include: gaming the dream sheet, enlisted MOS, college attended, specific unit/duty station, promotion potential, ‘this branch doesn’t deploy’, and over the horizon decisions.
Gaming the Dream Sheet: Your branch preference sheet is your last enduring thumb print you leave on the process before the Sorting Hat decides to send you to Hufflepuff. Reverse psychology doesn’t work. If you want Aviation, put it first. If you put it last, then I hope you like one of the 15 branches in front of it. The only strategy is to list your most desired to least desired. Some would say that you could use a branch choice to fill a spot to NOT choose another branch. This is a slippery slope. You essentially waste a vote in doing so, especially if you are not qualified for that branch (like Aviation if you failed a flight physical). It may end up being a self-fulfilling prophecy in getting a branch you did not want. Don’t leave it to chance.
Prior enlisted branch: With the exception of reserve component commissions, this doesn’t matter. If you were enlisted in a unit, in a certain branch and did SMP and then got a letter of acceptance from that unit, then sure, you would end up that branch. Active Duty doesn’t work that way. Stud Medic? Congratulations, you’re now MI. You were a medic too? Congratulations welcome to OD Maintenance. You were an MI Interrogator? Congratulations, you are now ADA. All of those are actual examples. I have also seen the Mechanic that becomes an OD officer. It’s not a lock either way.
College Attended: Simply put, doesn’t matter. Purdue or Wilson Pickett State Teacher’s College, you are all Lieutenants.
Specific Unit and or Duty Station: If I pick Finance, then I will get 230th FMSU at Ft Carson. Don’t bet on it. Certainly some branches will be where there are units with those slots. 230th is indeed one of a few FMSUs, but there are other Sustainment Brigades you could be assigned to as well as all the other FI LT slots out there. As a Lieutenant, you can’t game it beyond a range of possibilities. I tried this approach and it worked, sort of. Assuming I would be branched EN, I wanted to be on the west coast. Well they closed Ft Ord. The Army being quick on the draw assigned me to Fort Irwin, CA. West Coast, check. Active Duty, Check. Ordnance was in your top six. Army’s Position: man we gave you everything you wanted, what are you complaining about? Be prepared for whatever comes up on the wheel. Grow where you are planted. Remember that your initial duty station is just that. If you don’t like it you get another shot every two to three years. Short overseas tours are a year.
Promotion Potential: You can certainly look at the year on year promotion rates. Understand that there are MANY variables driving it besides just branch. DO NOT pick a branch because you think you are more likely to become a General Officer. Scenario: I’ll pick Infantry, most of the CSAs were Infantry. Well so were many officers in their respective year groups, vastly more than the lone CSA. What if you are not a good infantry officer? Then what? Pick the branch you think you will do well in and that you might get satisfaction from. You will have to spend nearly twenty years “getting somewhere” in that branch. That is a lot of time holding your breath for something you will not likely get (sorry, dream killer). You must do the best you can, where you are planted and derive personal satisfaction from that. If you are destined for greatness, it will happen. DA PAM 600-3 defines a successful commissioned career as Lieutenant Colonel.
This Branch Doesn’t Deploy: Don’t bet on it. If there is a combat mission, there will be plenty to go around. The mission is to fight and win the nation’s wars. We don’t play home games.
Over the Horizon Decisions: Many will over-advise based on over the horizon opportunities. There are many, many, way down the road decisions that should NOT cloud your branch choice. Sister service ILE, sister service schools, exchange assignments, ILE, individual duty assignments, broadening assignments, assignments that no longer exist, assignments that might be etc. 100% of them are way too far off to legitimately worry about. Some, such as sister service schools will be outside your grasp regardless of what you do. Get commissioned, get branched, and become the best company grade officer you can be and the opportunities will be available to you. Obviously, if you want to command an Engineer Battalion, you need to branch Engineer. That’s just common sense. It doesn’t mean you WILL command an Engineer Battalion, lots of intervening events will determine that regardless of the gaming and mental maneuvering.
Determining your branch preferences should not be a daunting task. The points in this article should steer you toward what matters and away from what doesn’t. At the end of it all, you will be commissioned a second lieutenant. Be secure in your 1-n prioritization of branches, as you will have to live with your Plan B….C….D maybe even Plan G. Further, as you progress in your career, company command will be similar for most branches. Life as a Company and Field Grade staff officer will mean similar experiences and functions performed by all. USR is USR. MDMP is MDMP. Writing orders is writing orders. Being a project officer is being a project officer. What you are branched and the assignments you get all ride on how you perform in them….and that is the single largest determinant you can influence with a solid approach and a good attitude.
Jason Mackay is a retired Lieutenant Colonel with 22 years on active duty as an Ordnance and Logistics Corps Officer. He has served at a wide variety of levels of command and staff. LTC Mackay’s career includes the command of a Headquarters and Headquarters Company in Korea, 95th Maintenance Company (TMDE), and the US Army Garrison at Picatinny Arsenal. His deployments include Iraq in 2003 and Afghanistan in 2008-2009 and 2011. Special acknowledgements go to LTC Kevin B., CPT Gabe Snell, SFC (P) Palmer Utley and SGT (Join to see) for providing contemporary Army ROTC perspective, suggestions, and peer review to this article.
Disclaimer: This article was written in Summer 2018 with the best known information at that time. Accessions change with needs of the Total Army. Most of the concepts are pretty consistent with my own accessions process in 1993 all the way through to what is used now. Part of the reason this article is written the way it is written is due to my discovery and surprise to the regimentation of the contemporary Order of Merit List (OML) vice the OML I experienced which seemed opaque and subjective.
STUFF TO WORRY ABOUT
Know the process: It is critical you understand the formal process and the tools the Army will use to make that ultimate decision. Wait? Jay did you just say ‘the Army” will use. Yes. The Army makes this decision of which you provide input, via Branch and Assignment Preferences and indirectly by your performance in the commissioning program. Speaking from the ROTC perspective, a cadet returns from Advanced Camp and will complete the list their branch and assignment preferences. This is structured where you ultimately produce a 1-n list of preferences which must include some combination of combat, maneuver support, and sustainment branches in certain places. This has varied over time and your commissioning source cadre are the best source of feedback on this. I looked at USACC Circular 601-19-1 that has 2018 guidance, you end up on an OML and there is a USACC branching process then a DA model they follow to pick you based on their number of lieutenants they are authorized that year. There is also the component decision based on what you had already committed to or not (such as a Guaranteed Reserve Forces Duty contract or a letter of acceptance from a ARNG unit) . Reserve components work this differently as they have a more finite set of slots and geography to consider. What you need to take from this is be the best, authentic ‘you’ you can be. It has to be ‘you’, because if you are faking a version of you, they’ll figure it out at your first unit.
Considerations: You can influence the Order of Merit List (OML) factors in Circular 601-19-1 Appendix D ROTC Order of Merit Model (APFT etc), Appendix E Cadet Evaluation, Appendix G Grade Point Average, DA Photo Fat Check (this is on you), and ultimately your interests and your perception of branches (what is good and what is bad). Considerations you need to be aware of but can’t control: Needs of the Army. Other considerations that are a little fuzzy: Life After the Army, You wanting to deploy, Cool Guy Schools, and Right of the Boom decisions. Some of these considerations are obvious. I will hit on a few that are not. FIGURE D-1 in USACC Circular 601-19-1 is a snapshot of the OML variables.
Academic Major and your Interests: There is not a 1:1 alignment with Army Branches….even Finance. Corporate Finance is about acquiring capital to fund projects and ventures. The Army gets an appropriation. Finance officers are more accounting than finance. MP Officers and Criminal Justice, is probably a close fit. Your two best bets:
1. BASELINE YOUR UNDERSTANDING: Read DA PAM 600-3 and the corresponding branch specifics (https://www.milsuite.mil/book/groups/smartbook-DA-PAM-600-3 which were recently pulled out of the DA PAM 600-3 and placed behind a CAC-enabled wall) and identify branches that align with your major and/or interests. Majors sometimes don’t matter at all. I saw English majors as Ordnance Officers or Economics majors as Engineer Officers. I was a Civil Engineering Major on an Army ROTC Science and Engineering Scholarship with my number one choice of Engineer Branch and was branched Ordnance. We were successful on our own merits, but you just can’t tell.
2. RESEARCH: Do some cursory research on the branch, on your own. Develop some good questions.
3.TALK TO OTHER CARBON UNITS: Talk to officers in that branch. Rally Point and even AKO has made that easier than it ever has been. Not everything is a webpage.
4.TAB: There is also the CAC-accessed Talent Assessment Battery (TAB) to help you explore branches with respect to you. If nothing else, call that branch manager at HRC and see if they recommend someone as a good example to talk to (they are way too busy to do it personally, but you never know). Your branch may also vary across the Army, this distinction used to be Heavy (i.e. 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment) vs Light (i.e.3rd BCT 101st Airborne Division). An Armor Officer in a light RSTA Squadron applies his/her skills and attributes differently than a Tank Platoon Leader in a Combined Arms Battalion. Individual experience may vary…An Ordnance officer in an Ammo Company uses different skills and knowledge than one in a Field Maintenance Company. An Infantry Officer in an Airborne unit works differently than in a mechanized unit.
5. MAKE A LIST: Make a list in the beginning and use it through out your decision making. Would recommend making a tool in MS Excel that lists all the branches in Column B, make Column A your priority for the branch. Column C should be positive things that attract you to that branch. Column D should be negative things about that branch. If you see the same negative things pop in each branch or most of the branches, drop it. That is a personal bias and doesn’t really apply to the branch itself. Use the sorting function so it turns over your choices as you learn more. On a separate piece of paper write your personal/professional goals, hand written. Don’t go all Stephen King and write a novel. Consider these as you prioritize branches. Get yourself oriented on your top three to five choices, particularly if you elect to branch detail.
Needs of the Army: This is the single largest determinant, in case you had not gleaned that already. Where possible, they will try and align an officer with the branch they desire. In my day it was described in terms like this: “90% of those accessed were branched within one of their top 10 choices”. That was out of 16 choices folks. This was considered successful. From reviewing the current process, it appears the USACC model and the DA branch model are less capricious. But like in any merit based system, there are those on top, and those that are not. Someone, somewhere will get their feelings hurt.
ON THE LINE
These aspects of the decision rest on the line between ‘stuff to worry about’ and ‘red herrings’ you need not become bogged down in.
Life After the Army: In some ways the Army is like Highlander, there can only be one. So the last man standing from his year group is the Chief of Staff of the Army. Everyone else will eventually be chaptered out. It’s up to you whether it is a good chapter or a bad chapter. So that means that you will need to consider what you will do after the Army, whether that is your Active Duty Service Obligation (ADSO) or retirement. Understand this, you still need to “Army” for about 6-8 years and that is why I determined this consideration fuzzy. It is a balance and it should not define you. Aligning a branch to a specific career or job is nebulous as well. This is best taken care of once you identify a field and what the industry requirements are. This is almost an over the horizon decision (addressed later).
Deployment: Choosing a branch because you are more likely to deploy is Hooah, but trying to game that is hard. Obviously the Army needs you to play away games. Consider my career, we weren’t at war for about a decade on the heels of Desert Storm. Korea and Bosnia were considered tip of the spear. Then 9/11 hit and it was on. Expect that if there is a combat mission, there’ll be plenty for everyone.
Cool Guy Schools: Attending pre-commissioning schools like Ranger, Airborne, Sapper, etc will not lock you into a branch, but could be a deal sweetener if that aligns like Sapper and Engineer Branch and you pick Engineer Branch. With otherwise good personal stats, your likelihood of getting Engineer branch is higher. It is a small factor but shows your commitment to the profession. In the near term it will positively impact your OML standing.
Right of the Boom Decisions: Several career decisions lay ahead of you - AFTER you are commissioned and which branch you are isn’t as important. The largest two that get you another bite at the apple are functional area designation (FAD) and non-accessions branches. FAD can open a whole new world to an officer. The Faustian bargain is that the majority of FADs take you out of a command track at BN and BDE levels. The spectrum is too wide to discuss meaningfully here. Look at DA PAM 600-3 and talk to an officer in the FAD/Branch for those too. The Army has also adjusted when they look at you for FAD and you get an opportunity earlier. Others include: specialized education, training, and certification that carry a utilization tour; Fully Funded Legal Education Program (FLEP); Medical School/ Physician’s Assistant (PA) Program; personally pursued education and life decisions; and the red herring of Branch Transfers.
Branch Transfers: While technically possible, they are not probable. There is a window after accessions. USACC has a process. The next window is three years into Active Duty. There are a very limited number of opportunities for the Army to facilitate branch transfers for accessions. Three years in, the losing branch must want to release you and the gaining branch has to accept you.
RED HERRINGS AND OTHER DISTRACTORS
Beware of the Red Herrings. Don’t get over invested in things that you can’t control or that don’t matter in this process. Red Herrings include: gaming the dream sheet, enlisted MOS, college attended, specific unit/duty station, promotion potential, ‘this branch doesn’t deploy’, and over the horizon decisions.
Gaming the Dream Sheet: Your branch preference sheet is your last enduring thumb print you leave on the process before the Sorting Hat decides to send you to Hufflepuff. Reverse psychology doesn’t work. If you want Aviation, put it first. If you put it last, then I hope you like one of the 15 branches in front of it. The only strategy is to list your most desired to least desired. Some would say that you could use a branch choice to fill a spot to NOT choose another branch. This is a slippery slope. You essentially waste a vote in doing so, especially if you are not qualified for that branch (like Aviation if you failed a flight physical). It may end up being a self-fulfilling prophecy in getting a branch you did not want. Don’t leave it to chance.
Prior enlisted branch: With the exception of reserve component commissions, this doesn’t matter. If you were enlisted in a unit, in a certain branch and did SMP and then got a letter of acceptance from that unit, then sure, you would end up that branch. Active Duty doesn’t work that way. Stud Medic? Congratulations, you’re now MI. You were a medic too? Congratulations welcome to OD Maintenance. You were an MI Interrogator? Congratulations, you are now ADA. All of those are actual examples. I have also seen the Mechanic that becomes an OD officer. It’s not a lock either way.
College Attended: Simply put, doesn’t matter. Purdue or Wilson Pickett State Teacher’s College, you are all Lieutenants.
Specific Unit and or Duty Station: If I pick Finance, then I will get 230th FMSU at Ft Carson. Don’t bet on it. Certainly some branches will be where there are units with those slots. 230th is indeed one of a few FMSUs, but there are other Sustainment Brigades you could be assigned to as well as all the other FI LT slots out there. As a Lieutenant, you can’t game it beyond a range of possibilities. I tried this approach and it worked, sort of. Assuming I would be branched EN, I wanted to be on the west coast. Well they closed Ft Ord. The Army being quick on the draw assigned me to Fort Irwin, CA. West Coast, check. Active Duty, Check. Ordnance was in your top six. Army’s Position: man we gave you everything you wanted, what are you complaining about? Be prepared for whatever comes up on the wheel. Grow where you are planted. Remember that your initial duty station is just that. If you don’t like it you get another shot every two to three years. Short overseas tours are a year.
Promotion Potential: You can certainly look at the year on year promotion rates. Understand that there are MANY variables driving it besides just branch. DO NOT pick a branch because you think you are more likely to become a General Officer. Scenario: I’ll pick Infantry, most of the CSAs were Infantry. Well so were many officers in their respective year groups, vastly more than the lone CSA. What if you are not a good infantry officer? Then what? Pick the branch you think you will do well in and that you might get satisfaction from. You will have to spend nearly twenty years “getting somewhere” in that branch. That is a lot of time holding your breath for something you will not likely get (sorry, dream killer). You must do the best you can, where you are planted and derive personal satisfaction from that. If you are destined for greatness, it will happen. DA PAM 600-3 defines a successful commissioned career as Lieutenant Colonel.
This Branch Doesn’t Deploy: Don’t bet on it. If there is a combat mission, there will be plenty to go around. The mission is to fight and win the nation’s wars. We don’t play home games.
Over the Horizon Decisions: Many will over-advise based on over the horizon opportunities. There are many, many, way down the road decisions that should NOT cloud your branch choice. Sister service ILE, sister service schools, exchange assignments, ILE, individual duty assignments, broadening assignments, assignments that no longer exist, assignments that might be etc. 100% of them are way too far off to legitimately worry about. Some, such as sister service schools will be outside your grasp regardless of what you do. Get commissioned, get branched, and become the best company grade officer you can be and the opportunities will be available to you. Obviously, if you want to command an Engineer Battalion, you need to branch Engineer. That’s just common sense. It doesn’t mean you WILL command an Engineer Battalion, lots of intervening events will determine that regardless of the gaming and mental maneuvering.
Determining your branch preferences should not be a daunting task. The points in this article should steer you toward what matters and away from what doesn’t. At the end of it all, you will be commissioned a second lieutenant. Be secure in your 1-n prioritization of branches, as you will have to live with your Plan B….C….D maybe even Plan G. Further, as you progress in your career, company command will be similar for most branches. Life as a Company and Field Grade staff officer will mean similar experiences and functions performed by all. USR is USR. MDMP is MDMP. Writing orders is writing orders. Being a project officer is being a project officer. What you are branched and the assignments you get all ride on how you perform in them….and that is the single largest determinant you can influence with a solid approach and a good attitude.
Jason Mackay is a retired Lieutenant Colonel with 22 years on active duty as an Ordnance and Logistics Corps Officer. He has served at a wide variety of levels of command and staff. LTC Mackay’s career includes the command of a Headquarters and Headquarters Company in Korea, 95th Maintenance Company (TMDE), and the US Army Garrison at Picatinny Arsenal. His deployments include Iraq in 2003 and Afghanistan in 2008-2009 and 2011. Special acknowledgements go to LTC Kevin B., CPT Gabe Snell, SFC (P) Palmer Utley and SGT (Join to see) for providing contemporary Army ROTC perspective, suggestions, and peer review to this article.
Branch
Army ROTC
ROTC
Cadet
Decisions
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 38
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Excellent share Colonel, Sir; extremely relevant information. Thanks.
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Great article As a former cadet who played football I can relate to this on many levels. I was 6'5" 260lbs and blind as a bat at 18 yet thought somehow I was going to be a fighter pilot via waivers. The moral of the story - not everyone has the skill set to be the quarterback nor does a team (the military) only need quarterbacks - team (military) needs fat ass linemen as well in order to move the ball down the field. Find your role and train and play your position/role well. Makes the game/career more enjoyable as well if you embrace your role.
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thank you for posting this article. These cadets are about to be leaders in the Army and cannot do simple research. I see all these cadets asking questions that can be answered through research. as a leader, I feel like you cannot always rely on others to answer your questions. You have to remember these cadets will make decisions for a whole platoon. I think more officers should try to shape them by telling them do their research first. I would ask my cadre members which branch I would excel at best and I gave them my top two options. I was stuck between wanting to do MI and MP. they are both completely different branches. the research and guidance from officers helped me to choose my top branch. I do not see a problem with asking questions, but I do think sometimes a leader should try to do research first.
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1LT (Join to see)
LTC Jason Mackay yes sir! I am only a cadet and I am annoyed by the amount of cadets ask the most simplest questions. I am agreeing with you that I think cadets need to start doing their own research. I am commissioning in a few weeks and I have not asked one question on this blog post.
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I know that the army tries to put officers in units that match their education. Obviously this doesn't always happen, but they try to as it's typical a more logical way of using the talent available. Engineers tend to have a lot of physical science majors. One of my LTs was a geologist. Another was a mechanical engineer.
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LTC Jason Mackay
Then again, they don't. The Army paid to make me a Civil Engineer and branched me elsewhere. As I said in the article, it's not a 1:1 alignment.
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Excellent article! A lot of work went into it and time and research...Thank you. I can only answer for myself as far as choosing an Army Branch. When I went in, I first wanted to score as high as I could on my ASVAB so I could choose any MOS I "hoped" to get. I wanted to get something that of course the Army needed but I also wanted to do something that my heart and mind wanted....and that I would be good at. I was a police officer and took a leave of absence for Desert Storm but I just didn't want to be an MP. I always wanted to be a Doctor so I choose to be a surgical tech. (field), and then became a combat medic and during my years in I picked up 5 other MOS's. Yes, I wanted to see action and gave all of myself to the Army as they paid into my training a lot! I can take all of that training into my civilian life as well. This is what I tell people what to consider before joining. I want to make sure that they're joining for all the right reasons and that their morel is up and they're happy with their MOS because they're going to have to be doing it for a bit. Unhappy Soldier's are not good for the Unit.
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I’ll make it easy for some. If you have a CE,ME, EE degree you will be branched Engineer. The Army has never kept enough degreed Engineers in the system. The good news us unlike infantry you won’t have to get a secondary specialty. There’s more than enough broadening positions in Engineers.
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COL John McClellan
Engineer branch was about 50% "hard" degrees in engineering-related fields when I commissioned in 1986; by 2009 when I was at FLW, that number was down to only 1/3 and was getting the attention of the Engineer Commandant - 2 or 3 in a row made getting more degree'ed engineers a priority with TRADOC > Cadet Command!
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MAJ Gregory Moon
On going issue. I came in in 82 there was no choice not a problem for me, I retired out of an Engineer Facility Detachment this year. We really needed hard degrees and construction background and we never were able to find enough even on deployments.
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LTC Jason Mackay
COL John McClellan - MAJ Gregory Moon Army ROTC Science and Engineering Scholarship- Check. Civil Engineering Degree- Check. Branched: Ordnance. First choice Engineer Branch...Whoops. A way to fix that is to make Industrial Engineering a track for Logistics Corps Officers, particularly Ordnance Officers. Test them for the FE, document the experience in a NCEES friendly manner, route them to periodic strategic level logistics assignments that aren't death sentences and prepare them for the PE exam.
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MAJ Gregory Moon
HRC strikes again. In the reserves I ran into another officer that was a EE working for PG&E and he was in Movement Control Team. There were EFDs in California that he could have been with or even the prime power guys.
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There's a lot of good stuff in here, but what I always found most useful as a PMS when I spoke to accessions Seniors, and later when I started giving a similar briefing to MS Is and IIs, was a few of the slides available from Cadet Command on the Accessions Process, and, the recent stats. So: How big/small are the branches and how many will be selected? For the competitive branches - the average GPA of selectees in the past few years, and the average OML score; where is the "cut line" likely to be for active duty v. reserve forces > there use to be a chart on that as well. And then for certain branches, where your major might matter - Engineers, Signal, so forth - what kind of selection guidance was given to the accessions board on these. 3 or 4 simple charts that showed most college students -- look, you know where you are in this school and nationally in terms of OML and GPA; and you can see what your chances of success are at different branches.
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LTC Jason Mackay
COL John McClellan is that briefing available by way of a link? I think it would add to the discussion. The stats will vary year to year, just like accessions targets.
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COL John McClellan
LTC Jason Mackay - Not to me now, I'm out of the Army 4+ years and out of Cadet Command for 10+; but it was available to the Brigade Commander's and PMS's when I was a PMS in 2006-2008 timeframe. I'm sure there is something similar now, but it's Cadet Command FOUO I suspect.
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LTC Jason Mackay
COL John McClellan - some mentioned this in passing during my research but could not articulate fully what all was in it. I think if PMSs are briefing this, then good on them. It is best delivered by them. This article grew out of seemingly endless Cadets seeking advice posts over the last 12-24 months
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Do you want to go combat arms, logistics, aviation? There are multiple branches but a lot of them can fit into a similar category. Once you find what you want to do, you can get more specific depending on what types of missions you would want to be accomplishing.
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Great article! I would like to collaborate with you on a few items not addressed in the initial offering. I recently served as a PMS and in an HBCU setting and gleaned some insights that may amplify the points and also add to the overall article. Let me know and if not requ st to use some of your material and cite this for an article I am working on :)
Thanks!
Thanks!
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LTC Jason Mackay
LTC (Join to see) would be happy to share or help. Please do draft a sequel or branch article to this one. I wrote this hoping to spur discussion and allow others to get publication credit. This was not designed to be the final word. Some areas that I thought of but had to cut it off where I did: choosing the right Army component for you (AD, Res, ARNG), the Aviation junket, how do sister services decide career fields for officers, there may be things I just don't know to know. I a man certainly not all knowing.
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STEM degrees are the only degrees seen as worth getting to some people. Unless it’s one of those, I would just go with what interests you. For me it’s combat arms.
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LTC Jason Mackay
SGT (Join to see) what is your take on a STEM degree that advantages one to one branch or another? How is that different than doing what interests a person? In theory you pursue a degree that interests you.
STEM certainly has the lime light as the field is growing and has actual demand in the economy.
STEM certainly has the lime light as the field is growing and has actual demand in the economy.
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SGT (Join to see)
A science degree would definitely assist someone in the medical corps and a mathematics degree could make someone better at logistics. How I feel a person looking to find the certain branch that they want is to think if they want the branch because of the accolades of the field (viewed by peers as having a “good” job), or do they want to be effective in the immediate vicinity, which is being in the army. LTC Jason Mackay
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LTC Jason Mackay
SGT (Join to see) - industrial engineering would be a good match for logistics corps or a logistics degree. At no time in 22 years did I have to do more than multiply, divide, add, and subtract as Ordnance or Logistics. I did one statics calculation for a project I was given as a LT. My undergrad, Civil Engineering, came in handy working allied trades issues and when I was a Garrison Commander working milcon projects with USACE.
At no time would I have used differential equations, integrals, discrete structures etc that a Math degree would have entailed. one of the key differences between civilian and military logistics is that civilian logistics depends on low variability from stable networks, local optimization, and global optimization. Military logistics the network is not the same one minute to the next (deployed)....never mind optimization, local or otherwise. It favors effctiveness over efficiency and hueristic solutions. Means and modes in the military are much sexier than in commercial supply chains.
At no time would I have used differential equations, integrals, discrete structures etc that a Math degree would have entailed. one of the key differences between civilian and military logistics is that civilian logistics depends on low variability from stable networks, local optimization, and global optimization. Military logistics the network is not the same one minute to the next (deployed)....never mind optimization, local or otherwise. It favors effctiveness over efficiency and hueristic solutions. Means and modes in the military are much sexier than in commercial supply chains.
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Spend a lot of time at West Point, does the same decision process work at Academy?
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LTC Jason Mackay
Ken Kraetzer no. Short answer. Their class rank is a large determining factor. I'll leave it to a USMA grad to explain.
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LTC Jason Mackay
Army West Point Class of 2018 Post Night
Hear what some of our Firstie athletes had to say about receiving their post assignments on post night Wednesday.
Ken Kraetzer this is part of it, predicated on class rank. https://youtu.be/EXFUd3T-Q8U
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I still cannot figure out why anyone would want to branch something other than the Nurse Corps.
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Great article.
I can remember doing my top 10 list.
My list, along with my thoughts, were as follows:
1) Signal Corp - go figure as an EE
2) Quarter Master - screw it, if I couldn't get signal I wanted to work with the logistical side
3) Armor - if I have to choose a combat arms branch in my top 3 I would rather walk then ride and artillery is not combat arms anyway they are support
4-10) Can't remember and doesn't matter
I was a 4yr ROTC scholarship student studying Electrical Engineering and scored in the top 10% at my ROTC Advanced Camp. Back then it was a 3,4,5 and I came out with a 4. I was a sure thing for active duty and all things pointed to me getting one of my top picks. Back then 4yr scholarship students were typically assessed to AD at about 75% rate.
WRONG!!!
The year I was assessed was on the back side of the Desert Shield/Storm military downturn and the 75% changed to about 10%. Not only was I NOT assessed to AD, I was sent to the National Guard as an Armor officer...YUCK!
Fast forward till now and I will have to say that I am sooooo thankful the Army sent me to Armor. I miss every day I spent on tanks. I also never had to deal with the issues of having mixed male/female units until waaayyy late in my career and boy what a headache that was.
No matter what an individual gets assessed, make the best of it. While at first it may not be anything that you want, it may be exactly what you need. Also, artillery is still support. Unless you can look them in the eyes and shoot them in the face, your support. I love all my military brothers and sisters though.
I can remember doing my top 10 list.
My list, along with my thoughts, were as follows:
1) Signal Corp - go figure as an EE
2) Quarter Master - screw it, if I couldn't get signal I wanted to work with the logistical side
3) Armor - if I have to choose a combat arms branch in my top 3 I would rather walk then ride and artillery is not combat arms anyway they are support
4-10) Can't remember and doesn't matter
I was a 4yr ROTC scholarship student studying Electrical Engineering and scored in the top 10% at my ROTC Advanced Camp. Back then it was a 3,4,5 and I came out with a 4. I was a sure thing for active duty and all things pointed to me getting one of my top picks. Back then 4yr scholarship students were typically assessed to AD at about 75% rate.
WRONG!!!
The year I was assessed was on the back side of the Desert Shield/Storm military downturn and the 75% changed to about 10%. Not only was I NOT assessed to AD, I was sent to the National Guard as an Armor officer...YUCK!
Fast forward till now and I will have to say that I am sooooo thankful the Army sent me to Armor. I miss every day I spent on tanks. I also never had to deal with the issues of having mixed male/female units until waaayyy late in my career and boy what a headache that was.
No matter what an individual gets assessed, make the best of it. While at first it may not be anything that you want, it may be exactly what you need. Also, artillery is still support. Unless you can look them in the eyes and shoot them in the face, your support. I love all my military brothers and sisters though.
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How the Branching Process Works for OCS - Coffee and Camouflage - Medium
Unlike enlisted recruits who sign a contract guaranteeing them a specific military occupational specialty (MOS) if they pass Basic Combat…
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Pvt Michael Todd
3 choices actually if it lands on it's edge. Just being funny in no way disrespectful of your article.
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This is a great article LTC Jason Mackay. It should be part of all enlistment paraphernalia. New recruits have tons of questions, especially like "What MOS should I go into?". This article could give them a better sense of how things work and help them make a good decision.
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LTC Jason Mackay
SPC Jerry Jones while I appreciate the praise, the decision on which MOS is much different in scale and scope than selecting an Army accessions branch. Approximately 212 MOSs, the role of the ASVAB, what is available, personnel preferences, etc.
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LTC Jason Mackay
CPT Gurinder (Gene) Rana it is my understanding the dream sheet is automated now. The principles remain the same
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CPT Gurinder (Gene) Rana
LTC Jason Mackay; we never got what we chose in those Dream Sheets anyways - Dream Sheets were merely for statistical purposes, I believe.
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LTC Jason Mackay
CPT Gurinder (Gene) Rana - they are used. Just because you didn't t get your number 1 it doesn't make the whole process void. I got a choice in my top 6. It was better than luck of the draw.
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LTC Mackay - outstanding article. I wish I had this guidance when I was a cadet. Lucky for me, things worked for me better than I expected in my 30 year career in the Reserves.
Your point about "Gaming the Dream Sheet" was spot on. My year group (1986) was the beginning of the force cutbacks from the Reagan administration. Though I was looking for a AD commission, there were only seven slots budgeted for Finance. I still went for Finance as my top choice, which I got, however it was a reserve commission. Initially, I was disappointed, but looking back, things turned out better from a civilian career perspective, and as a Reservist.
In contrast, many of my peers tried the reverse psychology logic as you pointed out because they desperate getting an AD commission. Many got what they asked for, both an AD commission and their top choice. but didn't last more than their three-year AD commitment because the branch wasn't a good fit for them, and their attempts to branch transfer went fruitless.
Again, your article is 'spot-on', and a valuable tool for officer candidates to choose their Branch wisely....
Your point about "Gaming the Dream Sheet" was spot on. My year group (1986) was the beginning of the force cutbacks from the Reagan administration. Though I was looking for a AD commission, there were only seven slots budgeted for Finance. I still went for Finance as my top choice, which I got, however it was a reserve commission. Initially, I was disappointed, but looking back, things turned out better from a civilian career perspective, and as a Reservist.
In contrast, many of my peers tried the reverse psychology logic as you pointed out because they desperate getting an AD commission. Many got what they asked for, both an AD commission and their top choice. but didn't last more than their three-year AD commitment because the branch wasn't a good fit for them, and their attempts to branch transfer went fruitless.
Again, your article is 'spot-on', and a valuable tool for officer candidates to choose their Branch wisely....
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LTC Jason Mackay
COL (Join to see) the gaming when accessed in 1992/3 was to avoid a situation where you would Branch Chemical unless that's what you wanted. Any STEM major was at risk if you had CM in the top 10. Absolute certainty in the top 6. It was taken to extreme with avoiding it on your sheet at all. Great pains were taken to avoid it.
Left overs from the wake of ODS.
Left overs from the wake of ODS.
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COL (Join to see)
LTC Jason Mackay - I remember the "Chemical" dilemma during the mid-nineties. As you said, it was right after Desert-Shield/Desert Storm. Chemical Branch was the almost sure ticket to an RA commission, but many candidates avoided it like the plague.
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