Posted on Nov 2, 2020
Harun Kiani
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Greetings,
I'm a senior in college looking to join the Army through OCS. My recruiter tells me I can do an option where I enlist directly and after I get assigned to a unit, then I can go to Army OCS by going to some office on base ?? I don't see anything about this path online, so is he just full of sh!t? I already took the ASVAB and have a score in the 98th percentile.
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MAJ C Co E Liaison Officer To I Cdid
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Your recruiter is trying to screw you. Stop talking to a recruiter for enlisted personnel and talk to a recruiter for officers. They aren’t the same thing. If you’re in the 98th percentile, that’s like a gold star for your recruiter. Worst case scenario, talk to somebody at your ROTC program or the nearest one to your location and get advice.
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MAJ C Co E Liaison Officer To I Cdid
MAJ (Join to see)
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Harun Kiani
Harun Kiani
>1 y
MAJ (Join to see) - Used this once, unfortunately they connected me to the recruiter I am talking to now. I'll have to reach out to other centers near me, which shouldn't be a problem because there are lots of them in my city.
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SGT Mos T
SGT (Join to see)
>1 y
Wish I had you to tell me this when I told my recruiter I wanted to be a pilot. “Become a 15t crewchief it’s the first step” and here I am still trying to escape the enlisted life
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SSG Medically Separated
SSG (Join to see)
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CPT Craig McIntosh this 100%.

This guy is spewing bad info.
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CPT Staff Officer
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If you enlist here's what has to happen:
1) Basic Training - 2 months
2) AIT - 4-6 months depending on MOS (could be a year if you get a very technical MOS like UAV pilot or EOD).
3) Then once you go to your unit after Basic/AIT you sweet talk your squad leader to get permission to talk to the platoon SGT so you can get permission to talk to the 1st SGT to get permission to talk to the Company Commander. With the commander’s blessing you can start a packet which will now be constantly interrupted with your working day and being in the Army. You’re now at risk of your entire enlisted chain of command feeling threatened by your ambitions (only one of which is needed to roadblock the entire process).
3a) You’re probably looking at an entire year after the 6 months you put in training to get in a position to be able to convince your Chain of Command to start the OCS packet.
4) Oh, yea, by now, the company commander and or 1st SGT might have left the unit and you have to start the permissions all over again for a packet you haven’t even completed yet. I personally had to go through four different company commanders before my packet was finally submitted and accepted, and the Commander that the packet was approved under was not the commander that finally released me from the unit once I was selected.
5) Depending on your “timing” you could be up against the wall with trying to complete the packet, or essentially wait an entire year.
6) Once the packet is finally completed you are looking at an entire year before the results are published.
7) Once the OCS selection has been completed, well, now you have to wait for your OCS school to start, and then after that you go to BOLC so that’s another 6 months.
Where are we at now? 0.5 years (TRADOC), 1.0 years earning trust of COC, 1.0 years for selection process (assuming best case timing), then 0.5 years of OCS and BOLC. Yep, 3 years at best with an enlistment scenario. By now you are just about done with your initial enlistment.
Also, you are under the microscope as a soldier submitting a packet. The Army knows everything about you. As a civilian, some of your less desirable attributes can be kept under the rug. Petty things like barracks inspection could derail the process through your Chain of Command. Also, all your letters of references will now need to be your company commander at minimum and then his boss (Battalion CO) or better.
As a civilian you get to work on your packet on your own time, and don’t need permission from anyone. You choose your letters of references and no one is going to have given you a counseling statement on crispness of the folds on your bed sheets.
At worst, if you submit a packet as a civilian and you are not selected you might lose 1.5 year of spinning your wheels. At that point you can reevaluate if you want to take the enlistment path at which will be a take it or leave it option.
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One of the best things I did in my life is enlist at 38 (my only option) with a Master’s degree and 20 years in the civilian sector, then eat crow for 4 years cutting my way through the Commissioning Process. It sucks, and you have to be willing to eat shit and say, “yum, may I have seconds”.
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CPT Staff Officer
CPT (Join to see)
>1 y
CPT (Join to see) - To be fair, my process went as well as it could have gone. As a reservist I had the advantage of personal time during the civilian work week. I could also interact with the Accessions Office at will during that time.

DON'T give up your civilian process advantage if you don't have to.
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CPT Cadre
CPT (Join to see)
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CPT (Join to see) ahh, you were a Reservist the whole time, now it makes more sense
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2LT Battalion Communications (S6)
2LT (Join to see)
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Sir, I believe that is one of the reasons more officers are coming from ROTC program.
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CPT Staff Officer
CPT (Join to see)
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2LT (Join to see) - ROTC is also the easiest path. Baby steps compared to an academy, and they aren't trying to cram it all into OCS.
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LTC Jason Mackay
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Some office? Uhm no. You have to do an OCS Packet and gain command endorsements. There is a centralized board. You may or may not get selected.

If you have 24 months left, go do ROTC.

If you are graduating nowish, you can apply for OCS as a civilian. Similar board process. You got to basic to OCS. If you bolo then you are enlisted or maybe separated.
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Harun Kiani
Harun Kiani
>1 y
Yea he told me once I get out of basic training and sent to my unit, I can go to an office on base where I apply to OCS and have a guaranteed slot. I knew it sounded bogus, but needed some actual confirmation. Thank you. I'll be looking for an honest recruiter now in order to start my OCS packet.
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SFC Retention Operations Nco
SFC (Join to see)
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Harun Kiani the office he's talking about is the education office. You don't need to go to the education office though to apply for OCS, you do it on your own.
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CPT Management Analyst
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ROTC is an good option.
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