Army Military Intel. Officers on here?

[RandomHero01]

Hey all,

I know this is the wrong place for this, but there doesn't seem to be a .mil section and I don't have the "priviledges" to post in the general discussion section.

I'm curious if there are any Military Intelligence Officers on here or anyone that can give me some idea of what a new Lt. would be doing in MI?

I'm in the fire service right now, but looking to make a career change and MI looks interesting.

Thanks in advance,

RH01

P.S.
Sorry, moderators, feel free to move this around.

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

There is at least one senior NCO here, im not going to post his name cause maybe he dosent want to talk. My brother is an MI officer, he is at Fort Wachua now and he loves it so far. It seams like a great choice if you can get in.

I see your in Grants Pass is that Grants Pass Oregon? My wife has an Aunt there

[RandomHero01]

Yeah, I work in Grants Pass, Oregon, but live in Eugene, Oregon. Kinda part of why I want to make the switch. That and I'd like to use my bachelor's for something other than a paperweight holder.

Thanks for the response. How long has your brother been in?

RH01

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

Yeah, I work in Grants Pass, Oregon, but live in Eugene, Oregon. Kinda part of why I want to make the switch. That and I'd like to use my bachelor's for something other than a paperweight holder.

Thanks for the response. How long has your brother been in?

RH01

Not long less than a year. I think he is done with OBC this month. If you want to do this you better get hot on it! Its hard to get in right now, I helped a kid at school get into the national guard and it took us 8 months and I had to call in favors. He also had to take a PT test before he went to basic that blew my mind.

[Eurodriver]

Lieutenant in intelligence? Assuming you're at the battalion level...

You'll be supervising NCOs that laminate maps, gather intel via SIPR communications, ensuring the safeguard of all classified, Secret, Top Secret material in the unit and briefing the Battalion CO weekly on the number of IED attacks in your next deployment AO and any CONUS terror activity.

Basically, its pretty freaking boring.

And this is the way wrong forum for this.

[Army Chief]

Thread has been moved to GD, but consider this fair warning, OP: you deliberately circumvented forum policy to post a General Discussion topic in a technical (AR) discussion area. Further episodes of this nature will result in removal of your post, and issuance of an infraction. Please understand that we do not selectively enforce site standards according to the perceived legitimacy of the subject matter being presented, and until such time as you meet the requirements for posting in the General Discussion area, we expect you to confine your participation to those discussions which are supported in the unrestricted areas of the site.

To get this somewhat back on topic, your likely commissioning source would be OCS (http://www.goarmy.com/ocs.html), but the Army ROTC web site (http://www.goarmy.com/rotc.html) is still a good source of 101-level officer information. I wouldn't waste a lot of effort researching a particular branch (i.e. MI/35) at this point, as it is unlikely that you would be given "choice of branch" coming out of OCS. Army needs tend to drive the train when assigning new officers from non-traditional/non-institutional commissioning sources.

You might also wish to talk to your local Army National Guard, as they have ways of working around this and getting you branch of choice, albeit as an ARNG officer in a part-time status.

http://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/officer-careers-and-specialties.html

AC

[Armati]

That and I'd like to use my bachelor's for something other than a paperweight holder.



You could join one of the "Occupy" protests. They also have degrees that don't seem to result in employment.

[Cobra66]

I spent 2 year as a Battalion Intelligence Officer (S-2), but I was never a school house trained Intel Officer. Honestly, I don't know what an MI Lieutenant does as I have only scene maybe only one or two (I guess that is why I had to wear that hat for a while), but they will usually be working for the S-2 or G-2 section (staff Intel Officer).

Forget any James Bond crap, the Intel Officer's job basically comes down to 3 things:

1) Physical and Sensitive Items Security - conducting unit security inspections and making sure grounds and equipment are being properly secured and protected. Making sure all sensitive and classified data is being stored and handled correctly.
2) Security Clearances - keeping track of who needs security clearances and insuring the paperwork is being processed.
3) Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (IPB) - basically a method of painting a "picture" for the staff of the battlefield environment as well as a "picture" of the enemy, his capabilities, his order of battle, what he will do, and where he will be. You will be expected to be the "expert" on your threat and role play them during the development of battle plans. In the field you will spend about half your time in the Tactical Operations Center and about half your time working with your scouts (recon section).

You will likely get tasked with other assignments as well as the BN staff usually does not understand the role of the Intel Officer/Section and thus like go give them micky mouse jobs.

Keep in mind that my experience is that of a Armor Officer who played the part of an Intel Officer due to the lack of real Intel Officers being available and because my name sounded Krasnovian. A real MI guy might tell you a whole other story.

Also, Chief is correct, unless you go to a Guard unit and they sponsor your OCS, you may very well NOT end up in the branch you thought you would. MI is traditionally a difficult branch to get out of ROTC/OCS as it is TOP heavy (not a lot of jobs for company grade officers) and open to females as well. All my friends who branched MI were "branch detailed" to other branches (basically played Armor, Engineer, Ordinance until they came up on Major before going to MI).

[variablebinary]

Generally your life will be paper work, paper work, paper work, power point, and more paperwork.

If you are PL over a LLVI platoon, you'll get to do all the high speed stuff, and work with all the cool kids in the NSA, ONI, Counter drug, Rangers, and other agencies that have no public name.

If you have a language, you'll get to do mission ops in the SCIF, which gives you something to do even when you aren't deployed. If you don't have a language, beg to go to DLI, but odds are you wont get to go.

Mostly though...paper work, paper work, paper work.

Some advice, if you get MI, especially a SIGINT company, learn to love MI. Get good at it. Let your NCO's do their job, and then learn the job from them. A capable, well honed MI officer/enlisted will get to do things that are incredibly fun, highly classified, and highly dangerous.

Beyond that, I've got nothing else to say on the matter.

[RogerinTPA]

Paper work and briefings up the azz as a 35D in the 2 shop. Your bosses will dump on you to do the BN/BDE intel briefings and maybe, just maybe you will luck out and get a Sec or PLT to lead after the fact.

[CarlosDJackal]

Paper work and briefings up the azz as a 35D in the 2 shop. Your bosses will dump on you to do the BN/BDE intel briefings and maybe, just maybe you will luck out and get a Sec or PLT to lead after the fact.

Not to mention "special assignments" (Range OIC, Convoy OIC, 'Piss Boy', etc.). :D

[Watrdawg]

I was MI and what you will be doing all depends upon where you are stationed and who you are assigned to. Also depends upon whether you are in a Strategic or Tactical assignment. Like Variablebinary said thee are a bunch possibilities. If you get the chance to go to DLI(Defense Language Instititue) definitely go. I was there for 10 months back in 86. It wasn't easy and you had the pressure of maintaining a a fairly high grade level. SIGINT was fun and I got to work it both from a tactical and strategic angle.