Branch Night Class of 2020

Is there really a thing now called PADSO? If so, I guess they really are trying to get longer commitments from as many cadets as possible.
 
Is there really a thing now called PADSO? If so, I guess they really are trying to get longer commitments from as many cadets as possible.
Yes, it has been around for awhile. Basically auctioning off prime locations.

Apparently the military has learned the first rule of telemarketing and time-share sales - much easier to sell to someone who has bought before.
 
Are there any stats on the # of cadets that are using BRADSO and PADSO and are incurring the extra 3 years? They didn't have those in my day. I'm wondering how popular they actually are.
 
I haven't seen any stats on PADSO.

BRADSO stats were readily available for 2018 and before. No information was released for 2019. Under the previous system all cadets requiring BRADSO to get a branch got charged with the 3 years - The first 75% of the slots were allocated on OML. If a cadet chose BRASDSO but got selected on OML, no charge for BRADSO.

Under the new system 100% can use BRADSO to jump the OML, but only get charged if they end up in the bottom 25% - thus high ranking cadets using BRADSO knowing they won't get charged and won't get detailed.

Here is a chart for Class of 2018
 

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On that chart % BRADSO = the ones actually charged the 3 extra years? If so, that's a huge percentage. Also, who's the cadet needing to BRADSO into FA? LOL.
 
Yes, all aviators will go to Fort Rucker for training. This is also true for all branches. All Infantry will go to Fort Benning and all MPs will go to Fort Leonard Wood as examples.

Post night delivers their first assignment AFTER training. This is the location where they will spend 3 or so years.

Aviators don't get their initial assignment for where they're going after flight school until after they receive their go to war airframe. That happens at Rucker based on OML in flight school and needs of the Army. Post night for us at the Academy was a night drinking beer, getting an orientation to the UH-72 and WOs up with the detachment at Stewart while our peers were going through post night selection ceremonies.
 
Heard a little about fiancés posting. There is a formal process and I don't know very much about the details, but they do look at where each is on the post selection order for their branch(s) and try to use the selection for the lower ranking cadet for both. Obviously won't work in every case and I assume some adjusting in many cases to get both cadets posted together.

As always, needs of the Army takes precedence.
That's generally what I have heard. Rather than picking their post on Post Night, they supposedly are given an envelope. That suggests that the assignment could pretty much be anywhere and they'd probably never know if it was done in any type of selection order based upon the lower ranked cadet. However, the most important thing is that the Army stations them together, which is all that really matters.
 
On that chart % BRADSO = the ones actually charged the 3 extra years? If so, that's a huge percentage. Also, who's the cadet needing to BRADSO into FA? LOL.
% BRADSO = the ones actually charged the 3 extra years?: Yes, that is how I read it. 18% of 983 = 177 BRADSO's

who's the cadet needing to BRADSO into FA? LOL.: The one who really, really didn't want Infantry :)
 
No, posting happens later, except for Cyber. All Cyber officers go to Ft. Gordon, GA (for both BOLC and initial post) so there is no need to attend Post Night. At least, that was the case for the class of 2019.


That actually changed including the for Class of 19 officers once they got to CY BOLC. Their are all the traditional sites of Gordon, Meade, TX and HI and additionally this year the Army had significant cyber growth at several locations as we push cyber officers to tactical units. I know for certain (I was in the room) that those officers were briefed of that opportunity in BOLC.
 
Cyber originally had 27 slots this year. That was increased to 40 a few weeks before Branch Night. Growing fast.
 
Curious about PADSO since we don't have anything like that down in Annapolis (or in the Navy).

To me it seems like this is a way better deal for the Army that the cadet. I'm not sure how the Army is in terms of time away from home, but in my community in the Navy it's not unusual to spend 2/3 or more of a tour away from home, be it on deployment, work up, or TAD.

I spoke to an instructor pilot once who had spent 25 of his first 32 months on his sea tour away from his home base. Let's say that he had hypothetically taken PADSO(if such a thing existed for the Navy) for that duty station. That would mean he would have signed on to serve an additional 3 years for just 7 months of time in his preferred duty station!

To me it doesn't seem like giving the Army three more years of your life in exchange for what would amount to a few months in Hawaii or Italy would amount to a very worthwhile trade.

So do many cadets take PADSO, or is this just happening for a small percentage of the class each year?
 
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That actually changed including the for Class of 19 officers once they got to CY BOLC.


My main point ... is that Post Night at USMA does not apply to Cyber cadets as they all go to Ft. Gordon for BOLC and what happens next is determined at Ft. Gordon, not West Point.

My response was to the OP's question about when posting occurs; for Cyber, posts are not determined on Branch Night at West Point. This seems to be a dead horse at this point.
 
The army base can make a big difference in the type of unit you are put into it (airborne vs air assault vs heavy, etc....). It isn't just about location.
 
Curious about PADSO since we don't have anything like that down in Annapolis (or in the Navy).

To me it seems like this is a way better deal for the Army that the cadet. I'm not sure how the Army is in terms of time away from home, but in my community in the Navy it's not unusual to spend 2/3 or more of a tour away from home, be it on deployment, work up, or TAD.

I spoke to an instructor pilot once who had spent 25 of his first 32 months on his sea tour away from his home base. Let's say that he had hypothetically taken PADSO(if such a thing existed for the Navy) for that duty station. That would mean he would have signed on to serve an additional 3 years for just 7 months of time in his preferred duty station!

To me it doesn't seem like giving the Army three more years of your life in exchange for what would amount to a few months in Hawaii or Italy would amount to a very worthwhile trade.

So do many cadets take PADSO, or is this just happening for a small percentage of the class each year?


It was generally viewed this way by most cadets when I was there. Investment given to the Army wasn't great unless there was some overriding reason that the person just absolutely had to get that particular location (future spouse, family) that would make the calculus come out a bit better. Only a few folks exercised it, and more power to them I guess.
 
The big winner with PADSO is the last cadet to choose and a PADSO post is the only one left on the board - no charge if it's the only choice.
 
@jl123 I feel like I’m missing something on the bar graph that you posted. Am I understanding this correctly?
Let’s take MI, Military Intelligence. Does the graph mean the following:
Of the 63 who ended up MI, their OML rankings ranged from number 1 (with 1 being highest ranked) to number 706? And of the cadets who chose to BRADSO to ensure they got that branch, no one was ranked worse than 357?
 
In the event a cadet chooses to BRADSO to increase chances of branch selection, under what circumstances will the 3 years not be “charged?”
 
@jl123 I feel like I’m missing something on the bar graph that you posted. Am I understanding this correctly?
Let’s take MI, Military Intelligence. Does the graph mean the following:
Of the 63 who ended up MI, their OML rankings ranged from number 1 (with 1 being highest ranked) to number 706? And of the cadets who chose to BRADSO to ensure they got that branch, no one was ranked worse than 357?
In the graph for MI, the cadets who got the branch based on OML were ranked 1 to less than 357. Thee final cadet could be ranked 356 or 156. No way to tell from the graph.

The cadets getting MI via BRADSO were ranked from 357 - 706. So the worst ranked to get MI overall was 706.
 
In the event a cadet chooses to BRADSO to increase chances of branch selection, under what circumstances will the 3 years not be “charged?”
When selection for the branch is completed, all cadets in the branch are ranked by OML. They get charged for the extra 3 years if they elected BRADSO and fall in the bottom 25% of the branch.

A hypothetical may clear up any confusion:
  • Branch X has 100 slots
  • All cadets ranking on the OML ranking from 1 - 200 choose Branch X as their first choice and all 200 are in the Most Preferred bucket
  • Cadets 101 - 200 elect BRADSO
  • Cadets 1 - 100 do not elect BRADSO
Who gets Branch X:
  • Oldest System - strict OML: Cadets 1 - 100 get Branch X
  • Older System - 75% OML first, then 25% BRADSO: Cadets 1 - 75 and 101 -125 get Branch X. Cadets 101 - 125 get charged and serve 3 extra years
  • New System - unlimited BRADSO, bottom 25% get charged: Cadets 101 - 200 get Branch X. Cadets 176 - 200 get charged. Cadets 101 - 175 get Branch X via BRADSO, but do not have to serve 3 extra years.
 
I'm not really understanding the new system because, in your example, cadets 1-75 would most definitely choose BRADSO just to protect themselves from not getting their branch, but they know for certain that they won't get charged. I kind of like the "older system" described above.
 
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