Going in to the Service: Questions

[Kchen986]

Hey all,

I'm going to down to Military Entrance and Processing ("MEPs") on Friday, March 19th. I tried to go in back in December, but my bad eye-sight required a waiver from the unit commander, hence the long delay.

I'm most likely going to try and become a officer with the Army National Guard, they have the summer basic training and 1 weekend/month for 16 month Officer Candidate School ("OCS") program, which will allow me to finish up my law degree while working through OCS.

The question I have is this: I originally went in wanting to be in a more combat-intensive MOS (18X), but if I did that I ran the very real risk of not finishing up my law degree, and none of my family members supported that move (enlisting as an E4). On the other hand, my parents and siblings support me becoming an officer.

Now that I'm going to try to become an officer, is there a way to pin down a MOS which is more combat oriented? Or are officers told basically where to go? The reason I ask is because I would rather not sign up and repair vehicles all day.

More importantly, have other people on M4C gone through OCS? What is there to expect? Most important of all, what are some things you have learned that have helped you become a better officer?

Thanks all.

[falightfighter]

If you go in the ARNG, you can guarantee your branch by finding a unit with a vacancy- you should be signing up for this.

There is no shame in being an E4, and as an 18X you will make E6 very quickly. However, if you are letting your family dictate that decision for you, then you probably don't have the desire it will take to complete the SF training pipeline, so it is probably a good choice.

[Kchen986]

If you go in the ARNG, you can guarantee your branch by finding a unit with a vacancy- you should be signing up for this.

There is no shame in being an E4, and as an 18X you will make E6 very quickly. However, if you are letting your family dictate that decision for you, then you probably don't have the desire it will take to complete the SF training pipeline, so it is probably a good choice.

Yea, there's definitely no shame in doing 18X. The biggest concern was doing 18X, not finishing my law degree and getting injured (and becoming a burden on my relatives). With my law degree, it would probably be easier to be injured and still be economically viable. Since being an Officer doesn't preclude me from going the SF route, I'll most likely look in to it again in the future (if/when I'm Captain and Airborne qualified.)

[StrikeFace]

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[StrikeFace]

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