Infantryman or Cavalry Scout? What say you?

[mk3mitch]

Hey all your service members, first off, thanks for serving! Secondly. I have been considering joining the Army and would most likely choose 11x or 19D. What are the main differences between the two? Advantages, disadvantages? Thanks in advance.

[CavTrooper]

Hey all your service members, first off, thanks for serving! Secondly. I have been considering joining the Army and would most likely choose 11x or 19D. What are the main differences between the two? Advantages, disadvantages? Thanks in advance.

An Infantymans job is to find, close with and destroy the enemy, a Scouts job is to do recconnissence.

Scouts are considered a "jack of all trades" by nature of thier mission while infantrymen are thought of as "bullet catchers".

Both are good jobs, just depends on what kind of person you are. Do you want to go charging headfirst into a firefight, bayonet mounted and guns blazing, or do you wanna sit back in cut, sneakin, peakin, painting a picture of the battlefield for the commander and dropping steel rain on the enemy from 20K away?

Both are fun.

[Fspeed]

I've read that these days they are doing pretty much the same things.

[NiteQwill]

In today's war, they are the same.

[Captain Crunch]

CAV ... you get to wear boots & hats when others cant

[PatriotnMore]

Why walk when you can ride?

[wesel123]

Hooahh to you brother. I'd say 13B (but I'm a little biased)

Cav all the way brother. Get a little better and more specialized training (ala better weapons training, better survivability training, list list goes on).

[Stockton]

I love recon but today we do alot of the same.

[11Z50]

I was both 11B (Infantry) and 19D(Cav Scout). Both are way cool jobs if you like the great outdoors, because you'll be spending a lot of time in the boonies. Infantry does recon, and Cav Scouts do some Infantry stuff, especially if you are in a mech (Bradley) or tank battalion. If you are in one of the straight Cav units, you might be working out of a HMMWV. I'd say either MOS is good if you want to find yourself in combat. IMHO, the only real difference is the Infantry guys get a Combat Infantry Badge, while the others get a Combat Action Badge.

[CavTrooper]

Yes, we do alot of the same but the Scouts are specially trained and equipped to perform a certain recon role that no one else is. IMO, the reason you dont see scouts performing the traditional role is because its not as flashy as kicking in doors and firefights with the enemy, what kind of boring story would it be to report on Scouts doing thier job?

"We sat in a hole with Scouts from XXXCav on OP for 72 hours.

We saw people walking around and doing stuff.

The Scouts talked on the radio.

Sh*t blew up.

That is all"

Scouts doing thier job is not very exciting, but when you know and understand the bigger picture of what we do, it gets real interesting real fast.

[11Z50]

Yes, we do alot of the same but the Scouts are specially trained and equipped to perform a certain recon role that no one else is. IMO, the reason you dont see scouts performing the traditional role is because its not as flashy as kicking in doors and firefights with the enemy, what kind of boring story would it be to report on Scouts doing thier job?

"We sat in a hole with Scouts from XXXCav on OP for 72 hours.

We saw people walking around and doing stuff.

The Scouts talked on the radio.

Sh*t blew up.

That is all"

Scouts doing thier job is not very exciting, but when you know and understand the bigger picture of what we do, it gets real interesting real fast.

Or..... The Cav Scouts screened the flanks of the Mech/Tank task force as it moved to contact with the enemy.

Or..... The Cav Scouts conducted a route reconnaissance of the MSR.

Or..... The Cav Scouts guarded the Brigade Command Post and TOC

[CavTrooper]

Or..... The Cav Scouts screened the flanks of the Mech/Tank task force as it moved to contact with the enemy.

Or..... The Cav Scouts conducted a route reconnaissance of the MSR.

Or..... The Cav Scouts guarded the Brigade Command Post and TOC

Yeah, try and explain a screen line to someone and they get real bored real quick.

"So what did you do?"

"We sat on a screen line"

"Whats a screen line?"

"Well, you sit in one place for hours on end watching for the enemy."

"What happens if you see em?"

"We report it to higher"

"You dont kill em?"

"Nope, we let the arty, tanks, infantry and aviation guys handle that."

"Wow... sounds boring"

"Yep"

[11Z50]

Yeah, try and explain a screen line to someone and they get real bored real quick.

"So what did you do?"

"We sat on a screen line"

"Whats a screen line?"

"Well, you sit in one place for hours on end watching for the enemy."

"What happens if you see em?"

"We report it to higher"

"You dont kill em?"

"Nope, we let the arty, tanks, infantry and aviation guys handle that."

"Wow... sounds boring"

"Yep"

While certainly I agree the job can be boring, there are certainly moments when the Cav Scout gets a real good pucker factor going. When you do make contact, it is usually very fierce since the enemy wants to kill you before you can report contact. Recon units on both sides are priority targets, and the counter-recon battle is usually very intense. They know you are out there, and we know they are out there. A key part of any operation is locating and killing the enemy's recon elements. It's like blinding your adversary before you kick his azz.

[CavTrooper]

While certainly I agree the job can be boring, there are certainly moments when the Cav Scout gets a real good pucker factor going. When you do make contact, it is usually very fierce since the enemy wants to kill you before you can report contact. Recon units on both sides are priority targets, and the counter-recon battle is usually very intense. They know you are out there, and we know they are out there. A key part of any operation is locating and killing the enemy's recon elements. It's like blinding your adversary before you kick his azz.

Exactly right, those are the times that make the job real interesting.

[MRX9989]

Stay in long enough and you'll likely hold both series of MOS.