Do intelligence officers ever see combat?

Chockstock said:
The discussions ran its course but I meant to ask about ARMY intelligence, not AF. So let me reiterate - do ARMY intelligence officers see the kind of combat an infantry officer might see?
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Ahh...

I called my "army counterpart" today and asked him (he's pure infantry) and he said they will ONLY if they "head out" with an infantry unit for a field deployment, otherwise no.

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
The real question....

Do intel officers ever have fun?

The answer is....NO. :wink:
 
LineInTheSand said:
The real question....

Do intel officers ever have fun?

The answer is....NO. :wink:
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One of my closest Navy friends was a senior intelligence officer, always did the "secret squirrel" stuff in the buildings with no windows and could never talk about what she did, where she went and who she worked with. Post-retirement, she could have walked into any DOD contractor and commanded major compensation with her array of clearances, command experience and mostly confidential resume, or chosen to continue as senior Federal civil service. An opportunity to become the Director of Alumni Placement at her nationally known university fell into her lap, and she leapt at it. She is enjoying looking out the window and working in an entirely different field. Though she loved the important work she did in the Navy, she was ready to step away after 30 years. This anecdote would probably better fit in some of the other threads about "Life After," but it does demonstrate she did eventually have some "fun." Everyone defines their own fun.
 
Remember, though, that just because your job description doesn't include combat doesn't mean you won't see it.

As the folks aboard USS LIBERTY. :frown:
 
As a former Intel officer, MOST of what Intel officers do is analyze reports. They definitely can tell you what they do . . . analyze reports and brief senior officers. They can't tell you the substance of their work.

Yes, there are some jobs that are super-classified. But not most. At least in the USN.

As for combat . . . can't speak for the Army. In the USN, you deploy on carriers . . . that's combat. Other than that, most tours are shore-based, so not much combat. I would think that for the USA and USMC, things might be different but don't know.
 
^^^^^

Glad you came on here to question this, tpg.

Please be careful, everyone. I think tpg is among the few here who has the actual experience to let you know just how "fun" being involved in ground combat can be.

Must have been a barrel of laughs for you, my friend.

I'd worry less about if Intel officers get to do "cool" missions (if you consider being shot at "cool"), and more concerned about what Intel officers contribute to the mission to ensure everyone survives except the enemy.

Just because you're not sitting in a fox hole doesn't mean you are contributing something important. I ALWAYS respected my intel counterparts for what they did and the professional manner in how they did it. Couldn't have gotten my job done without them. Same with the crew chiefs, the Air Traffic Controllers, the guys (and gals) on the tankers, heck, even the kid on the ramp carrying an M-4 protecting my plane. ALL contributed.

You want to worry about what you are going to say to your grandkids in 40 years when they ask, "What did you do in the war? Was it something cool?" Simple answer: "Nobody did anything "cool". We just did our jobs. And doing that made sure the world stayed safe."
 
Although this maybe isn't the MOST on-topic, I'm just wondering what the average day of an Army intel officer would look like? Both when deployed and when stateside.
 
A good friend of mine recently graduated from West Point and branched military intelligence in the army. But he's detailed for infantry for the first few years and right now, he's attending ranger school. From what I understand, he will be a platoon leader with the 82nd airborne division and get some infantry experience under his belt before going back to his military intelligence officer duties. I don't know how common that sort of arrangement is, but it seems like he will be doing a lot more than just reading intelligence reports for the first few years of his army career.
 
dk_eaglescout said:
A good friend of mine recently graduated from West Point and branched military intelligence in the army. But he's detailed for infantry for the first few years and right now, he's attending ranger school. From what I understand, he will be a platoon leader with the 82nd airborne division and get some infantry experience under his belt before going back to his military intelligence officer duties. I don't know how common that sort of arrangement is, but it seems like he will be doing a lot more than just reading intelligence reports for the first few years of his army career.
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Him branch detailing Infantry has nothing to do with him as an Intel Officer. He is an Infantry Officer for now and after his 2-3 year detail, he will become an Intel Officer.
 
-Bull- said:
Him branch detailing Infantry has nothing to do with him as an Intel Officer. He is an Infantry Officer for now and after his 2-3 year detail, he will become an Intel Officer.
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Actually, it has everything to do with him being an intel officer.
 
I am one of those intel officers that branch detailed infantry

Combat is a relative term

Did the peace time infantry things - Ranger School, EIB, Airborne, Air Assault, NTC rotations, several gunneries, overseas training exercise, and etc

Did the peace time MI things - training, exercises, squadron S2, and etc

After I left active duty, joined NG, and with NG went to Iraq and worked administrative position even though I deployed in a BDE S2 position.

Your choice of branch should be based on your interest and strengths, not probablity of seeing "combat." We are supposed leave Iraq by 2011. For all we know we could just delcare victory and leave Afghanistian. So the class of 2015 might never see combat.
 
I'm going to go ahead and disagree with you, Bull. The entire purpose of sending intelligence officers to the infantry is for one reason, and one reason alone. So that they can understand the ground scheme of maneuver. Period. IMO, the Marines do a better job on focusing towards that SOM, because of the infantry-centric mentality. Whereas, the Army is still dealing with branch-centric mentality issues that limits the infantrymen's perspective from getting to wear it needs to be. Without that knowledge they can not effectively understand how the battalion fits into finding and killing the enemy. They need to know the life of an infantrymen, and how fast a dismounted patrol and effectively patrol a given area. Implicitly. This is not something that can be achieved to the same effect by simply having them read a book. They need the experience.

Thats a big reason why the USMC sends their Ground Intel officers (0203s) to IOC and then to infantry battalions (though not always, my roommate got sent to a Combat Engineer Battalion). Big difference between Army and Marine intel is that the Army doesn't track their Intel Os the same way. Marines are tracked from the start, and then merge into MAGTF Intel Officers at the transition from company to field grade. And 0203s don't just go to the 2 Shop, they also aren't only Scout Sniper Platoon Commanders, it is not uncommon for them to command rifle platoons. On rare occasion, they might even get command of a rifle company (possibly, as a 1stLt).
 
I must've misworded my first post severely because I'm in agreement with both of you. I understand and agree that the time spent detailed as an Infantry Officer benefits greatly towards their career as an Intel Officer. The point I was stating was that the combat seen during the time spent detailed as an Infantry Officer has nothing to do with the fact that they originally branched Intel.

My point originally stemmed from this portion from dk_eaglescout,
I don't know how common that sort of arrangement is, but it seems like he will be doing a lot more than just reading intelligence reports for the first few years of his army career.
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Do all army officers that branch MI after college in the Army have to serve a few years as an 11A or can they serve as a different combat arms officer (armor, ADA, engineers, artillery...)?
 
USMA2016 said:
Do all army officers that branch MI after college in the Army have to serve a few years as an 11A or can they serve as a different combat arms officer (armor, ADA, engineers, artillery...)?
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Things change, but for me it was optional after I branched MI to go into the branch detailed program. I picked Infantry.
 
I am not sure if this has been mentioned because I have not looked through the entire thread, but an intel officer who was a USAFA grad was killed in combat a few years ago. So yes, they do go outside the wire.
 
Rage_14 said:
I am not sure if this has been mentioned because I have not looked through the entire thread, but an intel officer who was a USAFA grad was killed in combat a few years ago. So yes, they do go outside the wire.
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True, but that's not really the question at hand. In any case, that young LT was killed in a convoy enroute to a conference. While tragic, that wasn't the type of action the question was inquiring about.
 
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