Army Branches and Duty Stations

P

Precise101

Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2021
Messages
94
Hi -
I know there are some experts out there who can answer this. I am a novice regarding what happens after West Point. Does the major a cadet chooses affect the branch they end up in? I have looked at "branches" and I am thinking my DS will lean toward either engineering or finance. How do those branches serve? (What do they do and do specific majors go to those branches?)


And ... Does the branch a cadet chooses affect where they get stationed? Are there specific bases West Point graduates get stationed at or could it be any army base? (I've looked up Army bases and there are a lot of them!)
 
To address your last point first - once commissioned out of USMA, they are all in the same Army as officers from other commissioning sources and will serve at the same bases.

If you look at military base installation websites and the major tenant commands, you will soon figure out what core mission(s) that base supports, and by extension, what branches are usually involved in those missions.

Your cadet will eventually be able to educate you on where he is likely to serve and possible career paths.
 
  1. For most branches, the major does not matter. Some specialties do require certain majors or coursework, but most are open to all Cadets. For example Cyber is only open to majors in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Math, and a few others. There may be exceptions for extraordinarily skilled cadets in other disciplines, but not for the vast majority of Cadets.
  2. Finance - do not go to West Point expecting to become a Finance Officer. There are very few slots. At one time there were 7 - 8 slots, but recent classes have been 1 - 2.
  3. Engineers - There are usually about 120 - 140 Engineer slots. But a junior Engineer Officer out of West Point is not someone who designs bridges or builds dams. Army LT's and Captains lead soldiers who work with demolitions, install/breach obstacles such as concertina wire and tanks ditches, and do basic construction work with bulldozers and backhoes etc. While Engineer Branch likes engineering majors, it is not required. The core science courses and engineering sequence required of all Cadets is sufficient.
  4. Many of those who do get non-combat arms branches are required to serve a first tour in Infantry, Armor, Field Artillery, or Chemical. This is called "Branch Detail". Go in with the expectation that Infantry, Armor, and Field Artillery might be acceptable branches to serve in after graduation, or think very carefully about choosing West Point over other another commissioning source. That is based on numbers of 2LT positions available in non-combat arms branches and current Army philosophy, that they want a high percentage of USMA graduates in combat arms.
  5. Posts - A couple of months after Cadets get Branches most Branches participate in "Post Night". The Department of the Army provides an allocation of assignments and Cadets in each branch choose a unit/post by Class Rank. Number of allocations/locations vary each year depending on the needs of each branch. Aviation and Cyber are exceptions - because of the long training after graduation these assignments are determined during BOLC (branch specific training after West Point). Also, the Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force have bases, the Army has posts ;)
 
Good point on the “post” usage. Even though you do see “Army base” on various army.mil websites as a synonym of military installation, the use of “post” is indeed one of the enjoyable-and-unique-to-Army usages, it’s the Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force who often use “base” in installation titles.
 
I was hoping Capt MJ and JT123 would answer ... so thank you. That is a lot of information and I have a lot to learn. Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. .
 
Family and I lived in Ft. Belvoir housing six years. North post, south post, off post, on post, post, post, post.

We learned to speak army. Loved it there. Moved door to door from housing at Camp Lejeune to Belvoir 23

The unit was reserved for a navy family but it had been sitting empty for awhile. Housing office at Anacostia came close to giving it back to the army. Glad they didn’t.
 
jl123 said:
  1. For most branches, the major does not matter. Some specialties do require certain majors or coursework, but most are open to all Cadets. For example Cyber is only open to majors in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Math, and a few others. There may be exceptions for extraordinarily skilled cadets in other disciplines, but not for the vast majority of Cadets.
  2. Finance - do not go to West Point expecting to become a Finance Officer. There are very few slots. At one time there were 7 - 8 slots, but recent classes have been 1 - 2.
  3. Engineers - There are usually about 120 - 140 Engineer slots. But a junior Engineer Officer out of West Point is not someone who designs bridges or builds dams. Army LT's and Captains lead soldiers who work with demolitions, install/breach obstacles such as concertina wire and tanks ditches, and do basic construction work with bulldozers and backhoes etc. While Engineer Branch likes engineering majors, it is not required. The core science courses and engineering sequence required of all Cadets is sufficient.
  4. Many of those who do get non-combat arms branches are required to serve a first tour in Infantry, Armor, Field Artillery, or Chemical. This is called "Branch Detail". Go in with the expectation that Infantry, Armor, and Field Artillery might be acceptable branches to serve in after graduation, or think very carefully about choosing West Point over other another commissioning source. That is based on numbers of 2LT positions available in non-combat arms branches and current Army philosophy, that they want a high percentage of USMA graduates in combat arms.
  5. Posts - A couple of months after Cadets get Branches most Branches participate in "Post Night". The Department of the Army provides an allocation of assignments and Cadets in each branch choose a unit/post by Class Rank. Number of allocations/locations vary each year depending on the needs of each branch. Aviation and Cyber are exceptions - because of the long training after graduation these assignments are determined during BOLC (branch specific training after West Point). Also, the Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force have bases, the Army has posts ;)
Click to expand...
Excellent post!

In recent years, the Army has made an effort to align the desires and talents of Cadets with the desires and needs of the respective Branches. One thing that hasn't changed is importance of the Order of Merit List (OML) which ranks cadets based on several criteria, the most important of which is GPA. That and the bold face type being the case, one should chose a major that he/she will find interesting and challenging rather than trying to curate a path to a certain Branch.

I'm not sure what if any part OML plays in determining First Duty Station.

Best of luck to your DS!
 
cb7893 said:
I'm not sure what if any part OML plays in determining First Duty Station.
Click to expand...
Once Branch is determined, OML is the only criteria for Cadets in branches that participate on Post Night, with one exception - Cadets that are engaged to other Cadets. There is a whole process on that exception and I'm not very familiar with it, but I believe the OML of the engaged Cadets does play a role.

On Post Night branches meet in different rooms and each cadet is called up by OML to make a selection. A lot of anxiety for those waiting as units/posts come off the board.
 
Only a few additions.
I think the new branching process has made major selection more of a factor than in the past when branch selection was purely class rank. Part of why this was done was to encourage Cadets to chose more difficult majors without worrying as much about their GPA for branching. In the past, you might have someone who majored in aeronautical engineering get a 2.5 and not be able to branch aviation but someone majoring in history with a 3.0 would. Engineering branch as well would find themselves with a shortage of senior O-3s and O-4s with a background in certain degrees. We will see how the process plays out as it matures.
Reference finance.
As pointed out few Cadets branch finance. However, once you become a senior O-3 (successful company command) you will select a functional area. These can vary from acquisition, to FAO (Foreign Affairs Officer) and many other areas to include comptroller. Basically, once you’re in your functional area that’s what you will do for the rest of your career. I knew pilots who were picked up for FAO, went to language school and then spent the rest of their career as a foreign area specialist. I have a good friend (also a pilot) who was selected for comptroller and was sent to Syracuse to get his masters. He spent the rest of his career doing budgets. For medical side comptrollers I think the Army sends you to George Washington University.
Now if you have visions of working in finance on Wall Street your best bet is to pick up lacrosse. ;)
 
When I branched, there was only one finance slot, and if I remember correctly, that finance slot had to branch detail infantry. So basically be an infantry officer for 4 years before actually doing finance things. Also, I'm pretty sure West Point is trying to move away from having people branch finance, adjutant general, etc.

I don't think anyone mentioned this, but your branch can influence which posts are available to you or the post can influence what kind of work you will do.
For example:
- Aviators will be stationed at Hunter Army Airfield (next to Savannah, GA) and not Fort Stewart (a little farther away from Savannah)
- Fort Hood and Fort Bliss are heavy units so that's where you can go if you want to be in a tank
- The availability of certain posts will vary from year to year. One year, you might have a lot of Fort Carson slots for a certain branch, but the next year, you might not
 
toomuchtimeonmyhands said:
When I branched, there was only one finance slot, and if I remember correctly, that finance slot had to branch detail infantry. So basically be an infantry officer for 4 years before actually doing finance things. Also, I'm pretty sure West Point is trying to move away from having people branch finance, adjutant general, etc.

I don't think anyone mentioned this, but your branch can influence which posts are available to you or the post can influence what kind of work you will do.
For example:
- Aviators will be stationed at Hunter Army Airfield (next to Savannah, GA) and not Fort Stewart (a little farther away from Savannah)
- Fort Hood and Fort Bliss are heavy units so that's where you can go if you want to be in a tank
- The availability of certain posts will vary from year to year. One year, you might have a lot of Fort Carson slots for a certain branch, but the next year, you might not
Click to expand...
avaiators go to ft rucker in alabama for bolc and training. then they get assigned by airframe to their post.
 
DDmom said:
avaiators go to ft rucker in alabama for bolc and training. then they get assigned by airframe to their post.
Click to expand...
Yes, I am aware of that. I apologize if my example was confusing. The example was more for describing follow on duty stations once aviators are done with their training at Ft Rucker. The example was also to illustrate how not everyone will exactly be stationed at Ft Stewart. Since Hunter AAF is where the whirly birds are
 
Thank you - this is all very confusing. Someone recently told me that majors don't matter and my DS should choose an easy major to keep his GPA high. However, I was thinking he should major in what he was going to major at when he was looking for colleges which was either engineering or finance. If he majors in something "easy" and I don't know what easy really means but for example maybe sociology wouldn't that mean that if he leaves the army after 5 years it will be with a degree in sociology? And if he stays his expertise will be in sociology?
 
No course load at any academy is easy. I would echo the advice above to chose a major that your DS is passionate about. Even if sociology is “easy,” I’m sure your DS would still rather be doing coursework that he cares about at 3am on a Thursday morning rather than sociology.
 
Precise101 said:
Thank you - this is all very confusing. Someone recently told me that majors don't matter and my DS should choose an easy major to keep his GPA high. However, I was thinking he should major in what he was going to major at when he was looking for colleges which was either engineering or finance. If he majors in something "easy" and I don't know what easy really means but for example maybe sociology wouldn't that mean that if he leaves the army after 5 years it will be with a degree in sociology? And if he stays his expertise will be in sociology?
Click to expand...
This was true a few years ago but changed with the new method of branch selection. Class rank IS, however, the primary factor for base selection, except for a few branches such as Aviation.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top