Posted on Jan 2, 2014
Should the Army transition to a better selection process for Officers and the branch that they are assigned?
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In my opinion, the Army should place an Officer in a branch based on their qualifications and/or experience. For example, an Officer that wants to go MI, who has the experience as Prior Enlisted as an Analyst, gets a Branch Detail for MI/IN. The Officer is now disgruntle about it because he feels he will serve the Army better doing what he loves, not what the Army wants. If the Officer would have gotten the branch of Pure MI and not branched detailed, he/she would be a more productive individual. What do you all think?
*****I don't care to hear about OML, do better at Commissioning Source, etc.*****
OCS
United States Military Academy (USMA West Point)
Officers
Branch
Posted 11 y ago
Responses: 2
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Request a branch transfer, otherwise accept the task you were asked to do and do it with pride and commitment. If you feel that the Military was unfair in its assignment and you don't want to do the task in question, leave the service, please, for the good of everyone you might ever lead.
Disgruntled LTs suck the life out of a PLT or staff section fast.
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2LT (Join to see)
Rgr That Chief! I do agree that I disgruntle LT makes a horrible leader. But my question wants to address of options that the Army can do to prevent this.
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There have actually been a few academic articles written by students at the Army War College on how the current system is a bit outdated and unfair (this is specific to ROTC commissionees).
At the end of the day, it is the needs of the Army that comes first. We will all serve in roles that we love, and some that we hate. As a Quartermaster, I know that there are some jobs that I look forward to (like the one I have now) and others that just aren't as appealing to me, but it's all in the branch.
I think the difficult issue is that with a majority of new officers coming in with no prior service, it would be difficult to place weight as to what would count as experience of qualifications. Does having majored in criminal justice mean that you would be a better MP? Does prior service as a supply specialist means that you will have the most accountable Property Book officer? Maybe not.
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2LT (Join to see)
2LT Cho,
Thank you for some insight. My commissioning source was OCS, so I have no information on the ROTC program. Granted, not everyone will have a perfect match with what the Army needs. I did remember taking a battery of tests while at OCS to see what branches best fit the individual. I think that the Army would have a more productive force if they align the officer to the adequate branch. For example, I wanted Signal and got it, but with a detail in Infantry. I was fine with it being a prior enlisted 11B. One of my peers got AG/IN and was destroyed. Great SM but we all knew that physically he would not be able withstand the stressors of being an Infantry Officer.
The bottom line is that the Army is potentially loosing a great soldier because of a mis alignment in branches.
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