Post ROTC Branch

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Northerner

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I am curious...before their senior year in college, the soon-to-be 4th year ROTC Cadets must sit down with their PMS and review their OMS, then select their top 3 career paths/branch that they would like. What are the top 5-6 most popular branches/career paths that are chosen?
 
Aviation, Infantry, Armor MI are popular. Each year in the 26 branches the Army has different needs. Some branches require hundreds and some only dozens. It depends on the needs of the Army when you graduate. Get a good major, work hard on the GPA, Work out running, sit ups and push ups every day. Be an active part of your ROTC not an observer. Get in the top 10% and you will get your choice. Good luck
 
AV
IN
MI
AR
MS
EN

This is the order I recall from our LDAC accessions brief. The last three might be swapped around a bit but that is pretty much the top 6
 
A little career preview if you are looking at MI:

419090_10150596343089864_779329863_9388461_1629953745_n.jpg


:biggrin:
 
I'm not trying to be serious and slamming MI here- it was just an amusing photo :wink:.
I do suspect though that there are a fair number of MI Lieutenant wannabees who think they will be the next 007 and discover that reality isn't quite the same thing.
 
bruno said:
I'm not trying to be serious and slamming MI here- it was just an amusing photo :wink:.
I do suspect though that there are a fair number of MI Lieutenant wannabees who think they will be the next 007 and discover that reality isn't quite the same thing.
Click to expand...

An MI officer in a line battalion (S2, A/S2, BIC) is very busy when deployed. and extremely under utilized at all other times.

BN S2s obviously manage the analysis of information for the Battalion Commander. They can also coordinate the Battalion's detainee operations (unit dependent).

Still, the Battalion Commander/S3 actually makes the decisions for the Battalion and the Company Commander for their companies. While hopefully they incorporated the analysis provided by the S2, it is no guarantee.

The collection of information is done by line units, generally not Battalion Intelligence cells. Infantry, Armor, Scouts, who interact in the AO.

Now, there are intel collections efforts at higher levels, but I do not know the numbers of MI officers required for these.
 
bruno said:
I'm not trying to be serious and slamming MI here- it was just an amusing photo :wink:.
I do suspect though that there are a fair number of MI Lieutenant wannabees who think they will be the next 007 and discover that reality isn't quite the same thing.
Click to expand...

We still give a hard time to our buddy who was just dying to be MI and acted, after branching, that he was going to be part of some secret brain trust. He used to try to lecture us during briefings about what was "really going on" out there. Everybody generally clowned him because all he knew about Iraq was what his email inbox told him. That's the reality of MI.

So, kids, if you're thinking you'll be doing some wild stuff like interrogating prisoners and cracking the secrets of enemy operations...yeah, not so much. Bone up on powerpoint and get a good set cushion for all the meetings you'll attend. Unless you're one of the select few involved in TS/SCI stuff at division or higher, you're a side element. As GoArmyBeatNavy said...the maneuver elements do the collection. The S2 shop is an information clearinghouse.
 
I think about 70% of cadets who branch into MI are lent to MFE (combat arms) branches for their first 3 years. there is something about a "modular Army" I haven't had the time to understand yet, but MFE and support are not so separated these days.
 
dunninla said:
I think about 70% of cadets who branch into MI are lent to MFE (combat arms) branches for their first 3 years. there is something about a "modular Army" I haven't had the time to understand yet, but MFE and support are not so separated these days.
Click to expand...

Ya I would say that number sounds correct. Out of all the MI slots I saw in my batt about 75%ish were branch detailed to armor or infantry. A lot of them aren't very stoked about Ranger school though :shake:
 
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