Army ROTC Armor/Infantry Branch Competitiveness

How much of a chance do Army ROTC graduates have of becoming an Infantry or Armor Officer?

  • Pretty High Chance (a dozen)

    Votes: 1 11.1%

  • A Good Chance (a couple)

    Votes: 6 66.7%

  • A Poor Chance (1-2 of each unit)

    Votes: 2 22.2%

  • A Very Poor Chance ( <1 of each unit)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Just Give Up or Go To West Point

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    9
SkyTargeter

SkyTargeter

New Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2017
Messages
3
I'm currently considering Army ROTC and I'm wondering how competitive it is to get into the Armor or Infantry branches as a Line Officer after gaining a commission from ROTC.

Is it doable to become an Infantry/Armor officer through ROTC, or is West Point the main way?

Thanks for any answers you can give! :)
 
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Whoever told you only USAF Academy grads become pilots is incorrect. Nearly 1/5th of all new lieutenants commissioning through AFROTC go to pilot training, myself included.
 
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Thats awesome! I was a cadet for 7 years. Also, I'm not sure of the specifics for Army ROTC, but I know that everyone from my school's Army ROTC unit who wanted armor or infantry got it, and even a few who didn't want infantry got branch detailed to it.
 
The past few years about 16% of ROTC cadets ended up in either infantry or armor. Of course, there are a lot of cadets who do not want either of those branches so 16% is misleading. Bottom line, the better your score on the OML the better your chances of getting the branch you desire.
 
Thunderbolt462 said:
Whoever told you only USAF Academy grads become pilots is incorrect. Nearly 1/5th of all new lieutenants commissioning through AFROTC go to pilot training, myself included.
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Was the original question edited, because I dont any any comment about pilots
 
SkyTargeter said:
Is it doable to become an Infantry/Armor officer through ROTC, or is West Point the main way?
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Absolutely, ROTC branches nearly the same numbers for Infantry and Armor, the percentage may seem smaller because ROTC commissions nearly 3 times the number of Active Duty LT's then West Point each year. As it was stated above, not everyone wants Infantry or Armor, so do well and your chances are as good as the Academy.

This will all depend on how you place on the national OML. The OML will consist of many things including your GPA through your Junior year, APFT score, Summer training (CLC) scores, PMS evals, ranking in the Battalion, EC's, and other factors. Over your time in ROTC the Cadre and cadets will get you up to speed regarding the OML and branching. There is always an ADSO that can help in getting the branch you want, they will explain this to you later. The sure fire way to get the branch you want is to finish in the top 10% on the Active Duty OML, do this and you are guaranteed your first choice.

Always remember to keep an open mind about the different branches, what you want now may change once you're closer to listing your branches. During Summer Training you will be briefed on the different branches and what they do. It's not uncommon to come back from Summer Training wanting something different.

So for now the best thing you can do is concentrate on doing the best you can in both school and ROTC to put yourself in a position to have choices when it comes to branching.
 
Humey said:
Thunderbolt462 said:
Whoever told you only USAF Academy grads become pilots is incorrect. Nearly 1/5th of all new lieutenants commissioning through AFROTC go to pilot training, myself included.
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Was the original question edited, because I dont any any comment about pilots
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In the original post, OP stated they were considering Army ROTC since they had been told it was not realistic to expect to become a pilot unless they attended the Air Force Academy. I advised them that was not accurate, and they changed their post to no longer reflect that idea.
 
To the OP, remember that you can become a pilot through AROTC as well, you would most likely be a helicopter pilot but fixed wing is also possible.
 
Jcleppe said:
To the OP, remember that you can become a pilot through AROTC as well, you would most likely be a helicopter pilot but fixed wing is also possible.
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Smaller and faster (and less expensive) version of the V-22 Osprey, the newly developed V-280 Valor displays the future of Army Aviation:
 
Are you in CAP btw (noticed your uniform). What unit are you from (I am from Harrisburg International Composite, Pennsylvania). PM me
 
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