Does branch detailing add to my contract? Does it guarantee a spot in my future branch, or can I stay in my detailed branch?

2019-04-29T02:57:01-04:00

My wife and I have finally gotten on the same page: I’m joining the Army! Well, first the Utah National Guard, then SMP through ROTC, then aiming for an AD commission.

My recruiter (whom is a part of the ROTC Cadre) told me about doing a branch detail, since I want to eventually end up in MI, and that’s rather difficult for a fresh junior officer to land. My questions are: Does branch detailing add to my contract? Does it guarantee a spot in MI? If I’m committed to switching to MI after three years but discover I have a love of Combat Arms, can I choose to stay rather than head over to MI? I’m leaning Armor for a few reasons, but would also like to hear input on which branch would be the best for an MI officer career.

Response by MAJ Javier Rivera made Apr 29 at 2019 6:18 AM

2019-04-29T06:18:35-04:00

In theory yes. But the reality is everything is based on Army needs at the moment. Let’s break this down:

1. A recruiter who is ROTC cadre. Recruiting and ROTC works separately since they are 2 different programs. You might want to check on it.

2. When it comes to Regular Army (active duty) commissions thru ROTC is about ranking. College GPA, Advanced Camp evaluations, etc...

3. In the beginning of your 4th and last year you’ll be required to fill a wish list of what branch you want, then Army will decide. That works for both single branch and detailed.

4. There are instance when an officer decides to stay on his/her detailed branch but at the end of the day the Army has the last world. It’s all about the specific circumstances at that particular time.

Good luck on your endeavors!!!!!

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 29 at 2019 6:20 AM

2019-04-29T06:20:15-04:00

I’m not certain if the Branch Detail is in effect anyone. If so it does not add any time to a contract nor can you stay in the detailed branch.
I’d look at cyber, UAVs, or logistics as well.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Apr 29 at 2019 12:15 PM

2019-04-29T12:15:45-04:00

I believe that you will serve in two branches if you are branch detailed. It is a good program for combat arms officers to go t another branch because the combat arms is pyramid shaped for officers.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 29 at 2019 12:16 PM

2019-04-29T12:16:41-04:00

Yes, Branch detailing does incur an ADSO if you check yes to BD and the Army Accessions gives it to you.

No, it is not easy to stay in your detailed branch (combat arms) if you are on tap to join another branch. Your co Trail branch has a say, it’s possible they would be overstrength CPT(projected) and let you stay-but very unlikely. It’s a 4187 from you in your unit to the branches to get it done!

Checking BD can help you get a branch that’s hard to get(like MI, Signal, Med Corps) but it is no guarantee. It is really in case of a tie or your in the DA branching model washing machine itbis more likely that you would get your branch choice if you were in the middle of the pack. If you do well, Max camp, APFT and GPA and your Cadre write you up well you can get whatever branch you want from the start.

If you are going Guard-BD does not apply.

Hope that helps!

Response by 1LT Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 29 at 2019 12:48 PM

2019-04-29T12:48:42-04:00

Let me preface this information by saying that it was accurate in 2015-2016 when I was branching through ROTC.

Throughout your entire ROTC career you will be evaluated and ranked against your peers. This will be used to help determine who gets positions in your BN ROTC, who gets selected to attend schools and most importantly it will be compared against all of the other ROTC graduates in the nation to help determine what your branch assignment will be. The categories of performance that are tracked in descending order of importance are as follows; Academic GPA, PT score, LDAC evaluation and assessments, and PMS (Professor of Military Studies, basically the guy that runs your ROTC) rating. The higher you rank in these categories the more competitive that you become for any branch that you want to join. As far as competiveness of branches it changes from year to year based on the needs of the Army however, back when I was branching Combat Arms, particularly Armor, Aviation and Infantry were top requests as was Military Intelligence and Medical Services.

Upon reaching the end of your third year of ROTC education your PMS will sit you down and you will establish your wish list for branches and posts. You will rank all of your choices from 1st to 16th. Pay particular attention to your top three choices as it is a huge priority for most ROTC programs and HRC as a whole to say that 90%+ of ROTC graduates branch into one of their top three choices. When you go through this process there will also be several additional options that are made available to you; ADSO (for post), ADSO (for branch), and Branch Detail. These options will increase your odds at getting the branch that you want and I will define each later on and what they mean. The system takes your ranking against all other ROTC graduates in the country and compares your performance scores, your choice of branches, and the needs of the Army and then it does a whole bunch of magical math and spits out assignments to starry eyed young cadets.

Weighing into this equation as well are the things we talked about earlier ADSO and Branch Detail. ADSO works by adding an extra service requirement to your contract of two years and in return it allows you a better chance to pick up a branch if you were not the most completive profile and didn't get picked up on the first round picks. Branch detail works similarly to this, it also incurs an additional service requirement of three years and will make you more competitive for picking up the branch/branches you want. However, the way that branch detail works is that the Army has a need for a larger capacity of certain branches at the LT level that then levels out at CPT such as combat arms and their are certain fields that do not have many slots available at the LT level but blossoms outwards at CPT such as MI. For instance if you decide to branch detail, you will choose which branch you would like to select say IN(Infantry) with an MI(Military Intelligence) branch detail, it will make you more competitive for getting your chosen branch. So when you set up your set of preferences it would look something like MI, IN(branch detail MI), and AR(branch detail MI). Be aware that any branch that you volunteer for taking a branch detail in can also just be given to you pure if the needs of the Army works out that way and you have a competitive enough profile.

What this will look like when you finally get in if you do get selected for branch detail is as follows. Your control branch will be MI, so they will track your progress and search for career opportunities for you and your Branch manger will be an MI officer. You will attend IBOLC(Infantry Basic Officer Learning Course), followed by Ranger and then report to your unit. You will then be with your unit until you hit O2(P) which is to say that you are a 1LT who has been selected for promotion to CPT. At this point you would as a normal infantry officer contact your branch manager and request an MCCC(Maneuver Captains Career Course) date. However, as a MI officer branch detailed to IN you would instead contact branch and get a CCC(Captains Career Course) date for MICCC(Military Intelligence Career Course). At this point, if you decide that you want to stay in your detailed branch you can talk to your branch manger and put in an application to remain in branch, and it used to be that you could talk to an officer in the same year group who was trying to get out of branch that was pure IN and swap slots so to speak.

If you don't get selected for Branch Detail and instead get pure IN or AR don't worry. Do your job be the best that you can be and when you hit O2(P) there is another option called VTIP(Vertical Transfer Incentive Program?) which allows you to based on the need of the Army attempt to re-class from one branch to another. Commonly it works in the same direction as Branch Detail in that Combat Arms is usually letting people out of branch and Soft MOS's like LG(Logistics), SC(Signal Corps), and MI are letting people in.

As for branches that work well with an MI career any combat arms particularly focusing on either IN or AR will pair well as it gives you a chance to see how BLUEFOR thinks and operates before moving to MI and running the REDFOR estimates.

TLDR; Yes Branch Detail adds to your contract if it gets picked up, no it doesn't guarantee you MI it does however give you better odds of getting it, yes you can choose to stay in your assigned branch and it may be approved based on needs of the Army, Armor or Infantry would be ideal choices to pair with an MI career because it gives you a good understanding of how our forces think and operate to better template how the enemy will respond to us.

Response by LTC Jason Mackay made Apr 29 at 2019 12:56 PM

2019-04-29T12:56:02-04:00

You can’t stay in the detail branch. The trail is paved with the tears of detailed officers forced to their actual branch.

Response by CPT Brad Wilson made Apr 29 at 2019 1:53 PM

2019-04-29T13:53:27-04:00

I would suggest that since you are planning on joining the Utah Army National Guard And since they have an MI Brigade that you SMP with them Then you will have MI experience and can decide if that is what you want to do. That also should help you branch MI and not have to detail They also have lots of real world experience in MI through several deployments. Some members of that unit participated in the capture and interrogation of Saddam Hussein

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 29 at 2019 4:53 PM

2019-04-29T16:53:15-04:00

Once you get towards the end of your detail...you can submit a 4187 requesting to stay in your branch. To get approved - usually requires GO endorsement. I tried to stay Armor back in my younger days...it did not get approved. I do know of some folks that did get approved though. All based on needs of the Army at the time.

Response by LCDR Glenn Adwell made May 5 at 2019 11:22 PM

2019-05-05T23:22:49-04:00

No offense, but how old are you? FRom your photo, you look a little long in the tooth to be starting an ROTC program. Are you sure you will meet the age requirements?