Military career Q: What would you do?
Some oportunities have come up for me to have a good chance at working for the 5th special forces group for my first permanent duty station as an arabic linguist - in for campbell, KY. My other option is to let the dice roll and go where they tell me - Fort Gordon in a room with no windows listening all day is a strong possibility or a big army unit where I think I'd do a lot of riding around in a convoy, checkpoint stuff, motorpool, etc. Main thing is- would you go for the SF unit? My goal is to go to officer candidate school in about 2 years from now - So theoretically I would only be there for 1.5 years or so. Just wanted to see what other people think while I try to make this decision.
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That sounds so very bad....just because I am far enough along that I think of these choices as ones my kids would be making and not myself and I would not like to see my child in those positions. If you know where you plan on being in a few years....take the path that leads there and don't branch off too far from your plans. I cannot give you any help because right now I must be in super heavy mother-mode and cannot think along normal lines. 0 -
Helo crew chief. 0 -
If the convoy's will be in IRAQ, take the dark room with alot of listening. The risk/reward ratio of a linguist is far far better.
Good Luck whatever choice you make.0 -
The 5th. is full of good people; you would enjoy working with them. 0 -
Take the high profile SF assignment.
The miltary is rapidly moving toward heavy concentrations of snake eaters, so if you are going to stick around for awhile, that will be your best career path.
Doug0 -
take that list of possibilities you have and find out more about what the ppl do and what life is like for them. make sure you figure out which one you like to do. then, time put in and salary paid out be damned as long as you get there. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by Doug Wilson
Take the high profile SF assignment.
The miltary is rapidly moving toward heavy concentrations of snake eaters, so if you are going to stick around for awhile, that will be your best career path.
Doug
+1 SF assignments will be the career path of the future for a long time0 -
If it was my choice I'd go with the 5th at Campbell but it's your choice to make. 0 -
+1 0 -
What are you doing now?? Have you even been to Basic Training or are you in AIT? If you are not even at your first duty assignment, how will you get a slot with 5th group??
Shoot me an email. I think you have your choices "oversimplified" because nothing is as easy as what you have described here.0 -
taking tuff jobs reflects well on your resume. the more diverse you are, the more opportunity will come.
and too, keep your 'service to country' the focus.
this isnt a corp job. where does your country need your talent?0 -
I had a kid working for me that spoke Arabic and grew up in Beirut...joined the US military after moving over here.
He was picked and sent to Gitmo to be a translater...the CIA offered him 6 figures to walk out of uniform and work for them.
He chose not to....So I bet they are still hiring.0 -
No strain - no gain.[8D] 0 -
Take the less dangerous route![:0] 0 -
Fort Campbell is a good place. I was a drill sgt there. Good hunting and fishing around the area, plus your close to Tennessee and can go to Nashville for the Grand old Opery.[;)] 0 -
Always take the path of rapid promotion, that SF job will also help you get a slot in at OCS when your ready. If you go the other route you will just be another face in the company. Just remember, your army career is alot like writing a resume, always make your self look better than everybody else while striving for the best of the team. 0 -
What is your rank and your MOS? Psy Ops branch is taking officers and enlisted. 0 -
We had and Cpt and SFC come to DLI (defense language institute) to generate interest in the program and to get names of people, they will assist in increasing their chances of being sent there. I guess they get people who don't want to be their commonly and are looking for some motivated soldiers.
I am obligated to work for one year after my AIT as a linguist, then I will be able to apply to OCS. So for that time I would like to be in the best unit possible. I wonder if I would get stuck there for a very long time though because of the constant deployments and the team relying on you.0 -
Rapid promotion is not always best. I've seen people who look good on paper get promoted WAY too fast. They didn't have the experience base (or the maturity in some cases) to hold that next higher duty position and their NCOER reflected it which hurt them for future promotions. I should be more competitive for the E-7 selection that happens in January. Do what you enjoy--not what brings the fastest promotions. People who enjoy what they do are more likely to excell in that particular area. Promotions don't just "come". Folks who get promoted are the ones that find out what it takes to make it to that next level and execute. 0 -
ive been in the army for a small amount of time, and I did the ROTC route. But by being in BOLC(basic officers leaders course, in english job training for all LT's dont matter your source) I have learned some things. Your decision depends on a lot of things, how many years you have in, family, how many you left, and how long you want to stay. By doing SF and possibly going to OCS your locking your self in for a career. SF will look good on a resume, and the harder jobs you get, the better off you look for promotion. But first you have to jump through all the hoops to get into SF, and in honesty those things are hard to make. If your looking to do arabic, your probably looking into 1-2 years of training. They can tell you you can do this and that. They are not going to send you to SF, then turn around and automatically release you to OCS. They are going to keep you for a few years after training. Like I said that takes some time, because to learn arabic alone it takes like a year. Also with SF you will probably spend 75% of the year away, which matters when you have a family. Another thing to watch out for when going to OCS, if your active duty, sometimes they lock people people in to Reserve, we got a guy here who it happened too. Also branch, you really dont have a choice through OCS. All the guys at my school or QMOBC didnt get what they wanted. What happens is ROTC, west point get divied out branch then it rolls down to OCS. You may want IN or AR, and wind up AG. Also with OCS your going to spend 14 weeks there and 7 weeks at BOLC 2 which is at sill or benning, then another 12-15 weeks at OBC, so thats another year of training. After that they will have you untill your CPT. So your probably looking at another 5-8 years in the Army if you were to go that route. Then staying in your current job is probably safer and would be more stable. You have to look at your progression and what you want to do. If your at like 13 years in service, and you do all that your going to be at 20 by the time thats all done, and spent half of your time in training and you will have 20 in as a 2ND LT. Lets say your still at 13 years now, and go OCS right now you could possibly retire at 20 as a major. Which is way more of a retirement then a 01. It all depends, if your earlier in your career and really want to do it, the go for it, but if your later in your career I would really look at the pros and cons. But if you go through with it, I think your timeline will be a little longer then what your thinking. Even if it did go as planned your looking at being an LT in about 4 years, but i really think you would be looking more at about 6. How many years do you have???? AGAIN +1 FOR ROGUE ROB, its not going to be as easy as what you think. 0 -
I was thinking and had a few more things. Number 1 the military cant guarentee things that are not on the contract. So for them to say you will get SF then get OCS right after is not true. And technically you can do this, then do that, and well give you this, which isnt true most of the time. Both of my grandfathers were in the service, and I hold this thought today. Never sign a lot of contracts, and dont sign more years away then your willing to give. All im saying is be careful, ive heard a lot of stories like this that turn out sour. 0 -
I'll be done with arabic in december and I have four years left on my contract - one year in. But it seems like they would want to keep me in the SF field for a while - and would make it difficult for me to get out and go to OCS. I am a specialist now - I wouldn't go SF for promotions. So for me to go to OCS ASAP SF would probably not be the best option? 0 -
Your early in your career, and Im not going to say dont do it. Just look at the options. They arent going to give you everything they say untill you get it in contract. SF you can get in but then you have to pass. Your looking at clearances, and getting into those and passing is a lot of luck involved. Like I said your not going to do SF for a year then head off to OCS in most cases. SF training, I dont know how long it last, but its probably up to a year. Then they will probably throw in airborne, air assault, etc. When you go t SF, you kind of do their basic training then they send you off to do a specialty, whether its commo, medical, etc. So lets say training last year, they are going to keep you around for at least 2-3 years. Your not looking at OCS till 3-4 years down the road. I dont know what you want to do with your career. Right now they are letting a lot of people into OCS, a couple years from now they might shut the door on it. They use to have 2 OCS CO, now they have 5, so you can see the fluxiation. Officer training as whole will take you about a year, so on conservative level your looking at probably being an LT in 5 years give or take, best canse scenaro 3 give or take. Then they are going to keep you untill your CPT, which is 3 years. So i mean you would have another 6-8 years in. I dont run the show, and you know how army goes. But thats what I know. Everything isnt going to run smooth and inline like you would hope. Your young enough still where you could do it, but if your goal is to be an officer you would defintely have to wait if you went SF. Right now getting into OCS is easier then what it has been. You can always get SF when your officer, which you would probably have to wait until your an 02 or 03. 0
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