Becoming an Army Officer

J

JonDoe1315

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May 3, 2020
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I was wondering if I could have some advice on becoming an army officer. I'm not set on doing this yet because I don't know enough about it, but I have always wanted to serve in some way so I'm interested. I recently finished my Masters degree and graduated with honors as an undergrad. I'm not completely opposed to enlisting but I want there to be some benefit to it for me as a person with a degree because otherwise my years spent at university would have been for nothing. I'm wondering if becoming an officer would be a good way to start my career but don't know about:
-How long I would have to commit
-How much freedom I would have in choosing where to live
-How often I would expect to have to move around or not
-What opportunities or specializations are available after becoming an officer

Anything else that I didn't list which someone thinks is important would, of course be, appreciated as well.
 
-Commitment length depends on commissioning source.
-You get to put in preferences. There are no guarantees that you'll get to be where you want to be. The new marketplace that the Army is moving to use for assignments should give you more say in competing for duty stations if there's a position that you're qualified for available, but needs of the Army are always going to trump individual say.
-You can expect assignments to be anywhere from generally 1-5 years with 2-3 being the average. Your first assignment out of BOLC will probably be in the 2-4 range before you head to required schooling and then your next operational assignment. There are ways to stabilize in a location dependent on family circumstances but not the norm. There are also some tours that are built shorter than others. For instance unaccompanied to Korea is a one year tour currently while a stateside tour you can expect to be in place for the 2-4 years as a LT until you head to the mentioned required schooling.
-What are your interests? Probably a better way to look at it. Your branch selection will open up certain doors for specific opportunities within the military. There are also general opportunities that open up to all branches to compete (acquisitions, foreign area officer, etc.) that you can't branch directly into as a 2LT.

I'd suggest doing some google research to narrow down what you're interested in within the military and possible career paths to narrow down the current breadth of the conversation.
 
Casey said:
-Commitment length depends on commissioning source.
-You get to put in preferences. There are no guarantees that you'll get to be where you want to be. The new marketplace that the Army is moving to use for assignments should give you more say in competing for duty stations if there's a position that you're qualified for available, but needs of the Army are always going to trump individual say.
-You can expect assignments to be anywhere from generally 1-5 years with 2-3 being the average. Your first assignment out of BOLC will probably be in the 2-4 range before you head to required schooling and then your next operational assignment. There are ways to stabilize in a location dependent on family circumstances but not the norm. There are also some tours that are built shorter than others. For instance unaccompanied to Korea is a one year tour currently while a stateside tour you can expect to be in place for the 2-4 years as a LT until you head to the mentioned required schooling.
-What are your interests? Probably a better way to look at it. Your branch selection will open up certain doors for specific opportunities within the military. There are also general opportunities that open up to all branches to compete (acquisitions, foreign area officer, etc.) that you can't branch directly into as a 2LT.

I'd suggest doing some google research to narrow down what you're interested in within the military and possible career paths to narrow down the current breadth of the conversation.
Click to expand...

Great info, thanks I appreciate it.
I've been trying to read up about the army a little more and have some thoughts. So I have lived in Europe and am familiar with it and would be comfortable moving back there and I notice that the army has a big presence in Europe, especially in Germany from what I can tell. I know nothing is for sure, but say I wanted to be posted at a base in Germany, would that be pretty likely to make happen given the large presence? I am also interested in, and have some experience with, intelligence and would imagine there would be room for work like that in a place like Europe as opposed to somewhere like Iraq where the concern may be more oriented toward combat scenarios, but I'm just speculating.
Please let me know your thoughts and thanks again for the reply.
 
m.goarmy.com

Path for Army Officers

Stand among the fearless leaders of the Army. The ones with the expertise to confidently guide missions for our nation’s success.
m.goarmy.com m.goarmy.com

I think this is the same link as above - dive in and read all the links, pages, hamburger menus.

With an undergrad and a Master’s, you will probably want to talk with an officer recruiter as opposed to an enlisted recruiter. There should be a link for “find an Army Officer recruiter near me.”

You must be medically cleared to join the military. See link below for the qualification standard. Waivers are available for some conditions. Some are not waiverable.


The military is also an environment focused on physical fitness. There are graded physical fitness tests during the year. Be sure you explore all aspects of life in uniform.

Understand the needs of the Army rule everything.

I appreciate you are thinking about serving in uniform.
 
JonDoe1315 said:
Great info, thanks I appreciate it.
I've been trying to read up about the army a little more and have some thoughts. So I have lived in Europe and am familiar with it and would be comfortable moving back there and I notice that the army has a big presence in Europe, especially in Germany from what I can tell. I know nothing is for sure, but say I wanted to be posted at a base in Germany, would that be pretty likely to make happen given the large presence? I am also interested in, and have some experience with, intelligence and would imagine there would be room for work like that in a place like Europe as opposed to somewhere like Iraq where the concern may be more oriented toward combat scenarios, but I'm just speculating.
Please let me know your thoughts and thanks again for the reply.
Click to expand...

No worries, doing research is always a good thing, and its a cool job if you end up pursuing it.

Duty location really depends on what's available at the time. You can put in your preference, and with the new marketplace, you have the ability to sell yourself to a unit to get them to match you to their preferences to increase the odds of you going there, but needs of the Army will always trump personal preference if there's a disconnect. Some people spend their entire careers chasing their dream assignment in Germany or Hawaii while others get to go back to the same location. Luck and timing is huge. You might not necessarily be at home station for a good part of the year, depending on what part of the training cycle your unit is in though so it can be a moot point. We send our units on rotations and deployments all over the place from their home station that can eat up a good portion of their year, depending on the job.

In terms of your scenario of Europe versus Iraq, intel works everywhere and with all sorts of units which can be a good and bad thing. We don't send folks that are going to go kick down doors without doing the homework to make sure we're kicking the right door down and that they know, to the best of our ability, what they're walking into when they get there. You would see quite a variety in the kinds of assignments and duty locations for intel. They're one of the branches that can get sent to pretty much any location that we have troops.
 
Casey said:
No worries, doing research is always a good thing, and its a cool job if you end up pursuing it.

Duty location really depends on what's available at the time. You can put in your preference, and with the new marketplace, you have the ability to sell yourself to a unit to get them to match you to their preferences to increase the odds of you going there, but needs of the Army will always trump personal preference if there's a disconnect. Some people spend their entire careers chasing their dream assignment in Germany or Hawaii while others get to go back to the same location. Luck and timing is huge. You might not necessarily be at home station for a good part of the year, depending on what part of the training cycle your unit is in though so it can be a moot point. We send our units on rotations and deployments all over the place from their home station that can eat up a good portion of their year, depending on the job.

In terms of your scenario of Europe versus Iraq, intel works everywhere and with all sorts of units which can be a good and bad thing. We don't send folks that are going to go kick down doors without doing the homework to make sure we're kicking the right door down and that they know, to the best of our ability, what they're walking into when they get there. You would see quite a variety in the kinds of assignments and duty locations for intel. They're one of the branches that can get sent to pretty much any location that we have troops.
Click to expand...
Thanks again, all good stuff to know as I consider this, appreciate it
 
Capt MJ said:
m.goarmy.com

Path for Army Officers

Stand among the fearless leaders of the Army. The ones with the expertise to confidently guide missions for our nation’s success.
m.goarmy.com m.goarmy.com

I think this is the same link as above - dive in and read all the links, pages, hamburger menus.

With an undergrad and a Master’s, you will probably want to talk with an officer recruiter as opposed to an enlisted recruiter. There should be a link for “find an Army Officer recruiter near me.”

You must be medically cleared to join the military. See link below for the qualification standard. Waivers are available for some conditions. Some are not waiverable.


The military is also an environment focused on physical fitness. There are graded physical fitness tests during the year. Be sure you explore all aspects of life in uniform.

Understand the needs of the Army rule everything.

I appreciate you are thinking about serving in uniform.
Click to expand...
Thank you, I appreciate your advice very much
 
Follow up question I'd appreciate some info on if someone can... Was wondering what accommodation is like for new officers? Is it apartments, houses or does it just depend? Do you have a roommate? Do you always live on base?
Any important details someone could share would be great
 
My DS is a new 2LT and finishing up at BOLC. In his case it is a PCS (Permanent change of station) so he is allowed to live in an apartment off base. He is given a reasonable housing allowance toward his apartment. He can choose to live with roommates and save the difference. In his case,, after four years of roommates, he preferred his own space. His apartment is very nice and has a lot of amenities. After a week of field duty, crawling in the mud, it is nice to come home to your own comfortable home.

If it were a TDY (some BOLC assignments are), then he would be likely living in a hotel on base. I will leave that up to others who have experience with it.
 
DS, in the Corps, was stationed in Twenty Nine Palms, CA for 6 months for his MOS schooling. He shared a house off base with a couple other guys. He then went to Okinawa for most of the next three years on active duty. He lived in Bachelor Officer Quarters on base. It was basically a small one bedroom apartment. He had everything he needed there. He did have officer friends, both single and married, who lived off base. BTW, anyplace in Okinawa is pretty much just off a beach.

DS had a buddy in his NROTC unit who I keep in touch with via FB. He posted a picture once of a large, glass front house on Topsail (NC) beach. The pic was him and several other Officers who were on the steps going upstairs and you could see the beach in the glass windows. They were right on the beach. It was just after Memorial Day weekend so I congratulated him on finding a nice rental for the long weekend. He replied "No, we all live here on the beach". Nice place, ideal location, and no doubt those guys were banking a lot of money.

DS is now stationed in Pendleton and lives in Oceanside CA two blocks from the beach. There are two morals to this story.
1. You can pretty much set up your living arrangements the way you want them as an officer.
2. Join the Corps and live near the beach. :D
 
Last edited:
JonDoe1315 said:
Follow up question I'd appreciate some info on if someone can... Was wondering what accommodation is like for new officers? Is it apartments, houses or does it just depend? Do you have a roommate? Do you always live on base?
Any important details someone could share would be great
Click to expand...
Generally, you are given BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) pay that covers the average cost of housing where you are based. This money is tax-free as it is considered an "allowance" rather than pay. What you do with it is up to you. I've known LTs in Washington state who rented a boat. You can have a roommate if you want to save money or live on your own.
Some locations you may have to live on base or chose to live on base. Korea, for example, you normally live on base though I've known some officers who got permission to live off base. If you live on base you are "paid" BAH but then it is all taken away to pay for the housing. Utilities and maintenance are included if you live on base.
 
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