Posted on Feb 20, 2019
CW2 It Department Head
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Good morning all,

I'm just starting to work with an AMEDD recruiter and trying to get a bead on how competitive my packet is going to look for DCO in the reserves.

Age: 49
Prior Service: 5 years Active Army (PSYOP) / 14 years Navy Reserve (ET)
Degrees: BS Political Science, MS Data Analytics, PhD Analytics & Decision Sciences (working on my dissertation, anticipated graduation June 2020).
Experience: 20 years IT (10 years as a data engineer, 4 years as a Data Scientist).

I'm initially looking at the medical side of the house since my dissertation topic is a qualitative study identifying predictive factors for 30 day rehospitalization risk leveraging AI analysis of Electronic Health Records (natural language processing of provider notes, etc.). The focus of my doctorate has been bringing machine learning technologies into health care provision and clinical research.

Does the reserve offer direct commission into 70D, or is 70B the gateway? On a separate vein, is the new Cyber branch open currently in the reserves, or is it only active duty for now?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
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Responses: 4
LTC James McElreath
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Edited 5 y ago
Bill,
It appears to me that you are more than qualified, but if I am not mistaken that your age could be a disqualifer, unless they give you cred for serving. If the boards still take in the factor of time served in military and subtract it from age requirement. That may not be a problem these days who knows.
My degree is not medical but I was on AD for 8 yrs which may be the reason I was selected a 70B AOC. I believe it is a crap shoot which branch they give you, but being Guard or Reserve it is apparently different. The fact you are in the USAR they have to give you a branch compatible for that units needs. But like me, I got it without med degree. I am sure when it comes to guard and reserved there are many things unknown.
There is also a need for Cyber Warfare Officers 17A's.
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SPC Military Family
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On the same boat but lesser Experience.would love to connect with you.
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MAJ Battalion Executive Officer
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They do offer DAP to 70D in the USAR but by exception only. In the Army Reserve, attending the AOC School and holding a position for 1-2 years would qualify you to hold that AOC. Whereas in the Active Army you have to wait until your 6-8th year of commissioned service to designate with an AOC. Your age and limited service will hurt you. The cut off for commission in the AMEDD is before your 42nd Birthday. You would not be eligible to meet the 20 years of service which would qualify you for retirement. Sadly, the AMEDD is currently undergoing a restructuring and we are redesignating numerous positions to combat arms jobs. This combined with your advanced age makes it very unlikely to will be selected by a board. Now that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply, you never know what could happen? Good luck.
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