AFROTC and Assignments
- Thread starter ganderegg
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2010
- Messages
- 15,994
Yes, this is true. It's a function of the training pipeline. Academy grads typically go first to the next training schools, whichever one it is. AFROTC cadets are scheduled next throughout the remainder of the year. They can only handle so many individuals at one time hence the delayed reporting dates. They also have to have one years newly commissioned officers wrapped up before the next years class commissions.... hence the year limit. The same thing is true for NROTC Marine Options as well. I can't speak to the other services.
Moosestache
5-Year Member
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2012
- Messages
- 148
Speaking about asignments, is October the usual time for non rated to find out there assignments? I thought I saw that somewhere, but couldn't find it again. Starting to get excited to find out what my son will be doing next year!
It does not count toward their active duty service commitment (4 years), but it does count towards their inactive reserve commitment (another 4 years).
Most newly commissioned officers just find temp jobs after graduating. That's what I did. Some start their graduate degrees. Some move back in with their parents. And some go overseas and travel or study abroad.
You're essentially a civilian during this time, as you have no military commitments and receive no pay/benefits. Your only obligations are to stay out of trouble and wait until your detachment gives you EAD orders. That is when your military career truly starts. I know it kind of takes the fun out of commissioning, but it is what it is. The Air Force is drawing down heavily on personnel through the next few years, and there's no need to bring new Lts on very fast.
Pima
10-Year Member
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2007
- Messages
- 13,900
To add to Nick's post.
As an AFROTC grad, you will most likely have TWO different time frames regarding pay/rank.
I.E.
Commission May 12th 2014
That is considered your longetivity date.
2 yrs from commissioning you will get O1, 2 yrs pay.
~~~~Unlike AFA grads you will not be promoted to O2 May 12th.
Now as and AFROTC grad if you report Sept 14th. Your Date of Rank(DOR) will be divided by those 2 dates, and the date would be July 14th for promotion.
~~~~ This is when you will get the pay jump of O2, 2 yrs.
~~ Bullet commissioned May 26th, reported March 10th. His DOR was Oct 1st.
Now here is the interesting fact. When it comes to retirement it is commission date, not DOR.
~~~ Bullet commissioned in 87 as an AFROTC cadet, ADAF 88. Retired Aug 08. His retirement pay is 21 yrs., not 20. That time between commissioning and entering counted.
FYI, It means 2.5% more every month in retirement pay when he really only did 20 yrs.
As an AFROTC grad, you will most likely have TWO different time frames regarding pay/rank.
I.E.
Commission May 12th 2014
That is considered your longetivity date.
2 yrs from commissioning you will get O1, 2 yrs pay.
~~~~Unlike AFA grads you will not be promoted to O2 May 12th.
Now as and AFROTC grad if you report Sept 14th. Your Date of Rank(DOR) will be divided by those 2 dates, and the date would be July 14th for promotion.
~~~~ This is when you will get the pay jump of O2, 2 yrs.
~~ Bullet commissioned May 26th, reported March 10th. His DOR was Oct 1st.
Now here is the interesting fact. When it comes to retirement it is commission date, not DOR.
~~~ Bullet commissioned in 87 as an AFROTC cadet, ADAF 88. Retired Aug 08. His retirement pay is 21 yrs., not 20. That time between commissioning and entering counted.
FYI, It means 2.5% more every month in retirement pay when he really only did 20 yrs.
With AFROTC graduates there is the option of taking a delayed commission long enough to get a master's degree or a professional degree. The student has to find their own financing. The Air Force does not pay for it. After they gets their advanced degree, they is commissioned. If an ROTC graduate exercised this option, would they be assigned right after getting their advanced degree?
Pima
10-Year Member
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2007
- Messages
- 13,900
As far as I know regarding that option there are several important steps that must occur for ED.
1. Must prove that they are applying for Grad school as a SR. in college. GMAT scores, college apps, etc.
2. Will meet a board at Maxwell. Just like the AFSC board. They decide to say yea or nay.
Things change every yr., but I know when our DS was a sr., some of his friends applied for ED. At that time you could not tell them you were taking the ED option, they told you that you could take the option.
Additionally, many that were going non-rated decided it was not in their best interest, especially financially.
1. If they did have to wait a yr. and could afford to pay for grad school, they looked into the Education center at any AF base for their Masters programs. Traditionally they all have at least 2 of the same colleges; ERAU and UMD offered on each base.
These colleges understand the AF life, and offer many classes on line. Credits earned for a Masters are valid for about 5-7 yrs., can't recall.
They can than do classes in seminar on base once ADAF, with no loss of credits.
2. If you do ED out of pocket, and want to walk out the door it is no faster than if you do the above method and take TA once ADAF. TA runs concurrent with your original commitment. TA pays 75% of the cost.
Meanwhile by doing some of it on line with their colleges, you still go AD at the same time, you start making money sooner, and unless your DS will be going to UP, Harvard, Yale, any future employer is going to see the Masters as filling a square. His AF career will matter more.
I.E. Use Nick4060 as an example. He went Intel. His TS clearance and 4 yrs in Intel will matter more than where he got his Masters from because a TS clearance costs defense contracting companies, tens of thousands of dollars to get, AND he will have the same exact experience as your DS, but paid thousands of dollars less. He also can leave sooner.
Finally, for the AF they do ED with a follow on date for their AFSC. He could also see himself waiting months before he gets his career school assignment. I.E. He graduates Grad school in June, too late for the June class, so now he has to wait until Sept.
OBTW, has he looked into AFIT? AFIT is at Wright Pat, it is the AF's grad school. It is a 1 yr program with a follow on. I can't recall the poster here, but their child graduated in May as non-rated commission, and is currently at AFIT. ED is not necessarily out of pocket.
1. Must prove that they are applying for Grad school as a SR. in college. GMAT scores, college apps, etc.
2. Will meet a board at Maxwell. Just like the AFSC board. They decide to say yea or nay.
Things change every yr., but I know when our DS was a sr., some of his friends applied for ED. At that time you could not tell them you were taking the ED option, they told you that you could take the option.
Additionally, many that were going non-rated decided it was not in their best interest, especially financially.
1. If they did have to wait a yr. and could afford to pay for grad school, they looked into the Education center at any AF base for their Masters programs. Traditionally they all have at least 2 of the same colleges; ERAU and UMD offered on each base.
These colleges understand the AF life, and offer many classes on line. Credits earned for a Masters are valid for about 5-7 yrs., can't recall.
They can than do classes in seminar on base once ADAF, with no loss of credits.
2. If you do ED out of pocket, and want to walk out the door it is no faster than if you do the above method and take TA once ADAF. TA runs concurrent with your original commitment. TA pays 75% of the cost.
Meanwhile by doing some of it on line with their colleges, you still go AD at the same time, you start making money sooner, and unless your DS will be going to UP, Harvard, Yale, any future employer is going to see the Masters as filling a square. His AF career will matter more.
I.E. Use Nick4060 as an example. He went Intel. His TS clearance and 4 yrs in Intel will matter more than where he got his Masters from because a TS clearance costs defense contracting companies, tens of thousands of dollars to get, AND he will have the same exact experience as your DS, but paid thousands of dollars less. He also can leave sooner.
Finally, for the AF they do ED with a follow on date for their AFSC. He could also see himself waiting months before he gets his career school assignment. I.E. He graduates Grad school in June, too late for the June class, so now he has to wait until Sept.
OBTW, has he looked into AFIT? AFIT is at Wright Pat, it is the AF's grad school. It is a 1 yr program with a follow on. I can't recall the poster here, but their child graduated in May as non-rated commission, and is currently at AFIT. ED is not necessarily out of pocket.
Last edited:
Pima is spot on. AFIT is a great program, but very competitive since those officers are on active duty while getting their advanced degrees. The only Lts I know personally who went straight into AFIT were engineers or physicists with outstanding undergrad GPAs and high commander's rankings.
ED is a less competitive option since the individual commissions and then sits in the inactive reserve (no pay/benefits) while getting that degree. The OP seems to think this option means getting a delayed commission. It does not. It is delayed entry onto active duty specifically for the purpose of getting an advanced degree. This option is likely to be much more available to new grads these days, since the AF is already delaying most peoples EAD, regardless of whether they're getting masters degrees.
Pima
10-Year Member
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2007
- Messages
- 13,900
Nick,
I am sure you are right, getting ED because of the current budget constraints and slow down for AFSC pipelines it would be easier to get one.
However, like I said earlier, one option to think about if the Master's program is a true program (2 yrs), to start it on line with colleges like ERAU or UMD.
The main reason is they can do this, hold a PT job, keep their same RNLTD so they can actually start making money sooner.
Masters these days are really common, thus, unless you are getting it from an amazing college, I am not sure financially it is at all worth going in debt for tens of thousands more. Your military leadership will be the reason they want you because you will have more management experience than the other candidate that is coming straight out of grad school.
Additionally, the way DOR works is the avg date between when you commission and when you report for AD. If they delay it by 18-24 months they will not make rank for an additional yr.
Use my DS as an example. His O2 DOR will be Aug, not his commissioning date of May since he reported 4 months after commissioning. This becomes a bigger factor when you are up for O4+ promotion boards because the line number will be much higher than anyone else in your yr. group.
If they are going to leave at 4, it can also really cause an issue, since as you stated it does not delay their commission. Very rarely if anyone gets to leave at their 4 marker unless they really time it well.
1. Many of AFSC schools will require additional commitment time, and that starts after you graduate from the school.
This runs concurrent, but it will already push back your 4 yr date.
2. You can only 7 day opt out of PCS if you have less than 1 yr left. If you have more, than you become a non-vol., and many times the AF will send you to the place they have the hardest time filling the slot....can you say Korea?
It is hard to interview for a job in GA when you are in Korea.
I am sure you are right, getting ED because of the current budget constraints and slow down for AFSC pipelines it would be easier to get one.
However, like I said earlier, one option to think about if the Master's program is a true program (2 yrs), to start it on line with colleges like ERAU or UMD.
The main reason is they can do this, hold a PT job, keep their same RNLTD so they can actually start making money sooner.
Masters these days are really common, thus, unless you are getting it from an amazing college, I am not sure financially it is at all worth going in debt for tens of thousands more. Your military leadership will be the reason they want you because you will have more management experience than the other candidate that is coming straight out of grad school.
Additionally, the way DOR works is the avg date between when you commission and when you report for AD. If they delay it by 18-24 months they will not make rank for an additional yr.
Use my DS as an example. His O2 DOR will be Aug, not his commissioning date of May since he reported 4 months after commissioning. This becomes a bigger factor when you are up for O4+ promotion boards because the line number will be much higher than anyone else in your yr. group.
If they are going to leave at 4, it can also really cause an issue, since as you stated it does not delay their commission. Very rarely if anyone gets to leave at their 4 marker unless they really time it well.
1. Many of AFSC schools will require additional commitment time, and that starts after you graduate from the school.
This runs concurrent, but it will already push back your 4 yr date.
2. You can only 7 day opt out of PCS if you have less than 1 yr left. If you have more, than you become a non-vol., and many times the AF will send you to the place they have the hardest time filling the slot....can you say Korea?
It is hard to interview for a job in GA when you are in Korea.