Hi, I'm interested in USMMA and would like to know more about it as a commissioning source to the army. I've read a lot of information about commissioning into the marine corps and the navy but there seems to be a general lack of information regarding the army. Would one have to attend OCS? Are there opportunities to attend different schools over the summer, such as airborne or air assault? Are there any army personnel that would assist in training at the academy? And I also heard rumor that if commissioned into the army the army will make KP grads branch transpo, is there any sort of validity in that rumor? If I wanted to branch Infantry or Armor what would the chances of that slot be offered to me? Thank you very much, I really appreciate this
Commission
- Thread starter Tiger2016
- Start date
beyond
10-Year Member
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2010
- Messages
- 577
No. I have classmates that have already graduated IBLOC and are waiting for ranger school.
Depends, budget cuts kept people from going for a year or two, but I have plenty of classmates that went to airborne or (and) air assault. Sea year comes first though, so you might not get anything. See my comments at the end of this post.
See my answer above, the classmates I know that went army went Infantry, Quartermaster or Military Police. I don't know of anyone who went transportation corps, but I wasn't that in touch with the people who went Army.
Now, time for one of Beyonds rants on active duty commissioning. It's called the MERCHANT MARINE academy for a reason. It isn't a Military school, it's a Maritime school. The focus for four years will be getting you ready for that first night you walk to the bridge or control room (....too bad steam isn't really a thing anymore) and say to the off going engineer or mate "I got it."
The process for an AD slot is competitive and nothing is guaranteed. There are folks who wanted to go active duty and weren't offered a slot. Admissions pitches it like everyone will get an active duty billet, it just isn't true, you very well could be stuck on a grain ship to Cameroon. I'm feeling really mellow now as I'm vacation, so I won't fly off the handle about all of this, but if you get nothing else:
KP isn't the place for aspiring Army officers. You're in luck though, there is a Federal Academy for Army officers, it is called The United States Military Academy at WEST POINT.
WEST POINT WEST POINT WEST POINT, if you want to go active duty army go to WEST POINT.
This is absolutely correct, I've been here almost 6 months at this point. The summer training we receive is a complete joke in comparison to what would be the equivalent at West Point. I've already had a classmate that was dead set on AD army or marine corps (don't remember) leave because he realized that this is a maritime academy first and a military side show, if it's even a side show.
beyond
10-Year Member
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2010
- Messages
- 577
Remember the mission; put out professional mariners. The equivalent of summer training at KP is sea year, and it does a better job preparing you to you put your license in the rack than any of the instruction at the state schools or than what the other academies provide to their future officers.
Absolutely. . . KP can be criticized about its applicability in today's maritime industry, but the training, and especially sea year prepares one for a sea going career better than any other program, in my opinion. . . now if there were only more jobs available. I also think that berths on ocean going tugs and ATBs would also be beneficial, not sure if that happens, though. I spent most of my sailing time after graduation on those kinds of vessels.
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2009
- Messages
- 1,457
Give the kid a break. He probably just wants to go to a school that can actually beat its football rival more than once in a 15 year span.