Quote:
Originally Posted by Mustard
The path was described as "go to basic, commission as officer, get into aviation".
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Are you at least an OFFICER?
If so count your blessings.
Didn't you have a unit and Branch you were going to go into as an officer. Where did you think you were going to end up? I thought every NG and USAR officer KNOWS what unit they are going into and they are placed in a slot on the Unit Manning Report.
Now, I understand you might not know what I'm talking about, but still, there must have been a unit that was working with your recruiter to get you to OCS. What kind of unit was that? Was it at least an Aviation unit?
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That all said I'll presume you are a 2LT now and have not gone to BOLC yet. If you did go to BOLC then that's that, that's your branch until you make CPT.
So if you are a 2LT in a unit they have you sitting in a slot, what branch is that slot? I think you have a hard road ahead trying to get into another branch that is outside of your unit. They will be annoyed enough you want to move from your slot before BOLC, but if at least the branch slot you want to go to belongs to your higher commander at least you won't fall off his roster.
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Now, what I have observed (in the reserves anyway) is there is no preferred Branch or MOS. The OPTEMPO of you unit is what's going to drive your insanity. There is also a danger of being placed into a position of visibility that carries a lot of operational planning, mission execution and no support to get it done correctly. You'll spend all your time hoping the house of cards doesn't collapse on your watch.
I'm spending my career focus trying to avoid getting crushed while at the same time navigating into positions that are cake, but on paper look good and follow career progression and promotion. However, that carries risk as well because command teams change. The army pulls individuals for mobilizations and you can still find yourself down range completely out of your depth and no where to run.
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So if you find yourself in a boring position, but still able to knock out your professional military education required for promotion, able to pass ACFT, and get regular meets the mark evaluations count your blessings.
The only places that are easy to transfer into are usually the ones desperate for company level leadership and have a high OPTEMPO. There you will get chewed up and spit out until the next starry eyed LT rolls out of OCS/BOLC.