Do you have any input into your duty station?

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nysegop

5-Year Member
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In ROTC do you have any input into your duty station? Do you have a top choices list? How does it work?


Or does it work the other way around? You have unit top choices and you get stationed based on that?


Do they even consider your top choices or just completely ignore them?

Sorry, I am fairly new to the whole ROTC system.
 
nysegop said:
In ROTC do you have any input into your duty station? Do you have a top choices list? How does it work?


Or does it work the other way around? You have unit top choices and you get stationed based on that?


Do they even consider your top choices or just completely ignore them?

Sorry, I am fairly new to the whole ROTC system.
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All of your questions are valid and good ones to ask, so here's a tip.

Contact the ROTC battalion at the college where you would like to go, make an appointment, if the school is to far away find a closer one. Meet with the battalion, you may meet with the ROO (Recruiting Operations Officer) or the PMS (Professor of Military Science) or even a new 2nd Lt. They will sit down with you and answer all your questions. Make a list of the same questions your asking here, you will get much broader answers in person. After doing this, you will still have some questions on some details, this is great place to ask those.

To somewhat answer your question, your Duty Station is the last thing you as a cadet will be worrying about until you a senior. To try and explain the whole branching and duty station process would take several pages, this would be a great question to ask when to meet with a battalion.
 
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Everything is subject to the needs of the...(insert Army/AF/Navy/etc)

You put in a dreamsheet for what career fields you want. Some people get their top choice. Some people get one that wasnt even listed on their sheet.
 
nysegop said:
In ROTC do you have any input into your duty station? Do you have a top choices list? How does it work?


Or does it work the other way around? You have unit top choices and you get stationed based on that?


Do they even consider your top choices or just completely ignore them?

Sorry, I am fairly new to the whole ROTC system.
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There is one opportunity for high OML list cadets to put in an ADSO for a specific duty station (subject to the branch needing 2nd Lieutenants there) in your first assignment. The price you pay if you are high enough on the list is an addition 3 years of AD on top of what you already owe Uncle Sam. There is also an ADSO for specific branch as well with the same payback.

You will learn more about this during your Junior year.

IMHO, there aren't too many good reasons why you would want to choose your first duty station because if location is a problem, you are only putting off the inevitable. I could understand that if you have a close relative near a particular installation dying of cancer at the time you had the option, but the concept of trying to get military to fufill your dreams of living in Hawaii at someone else's expense just seems wrong to me.
 
Your first duty station can also depend a lot on what you branch, MI has more opportunities then other branches, so does Signal. Armor has fewer, Infantry has more depending on what type of infantry, go 82nd Airborne....your going to Ft. Bragg and so on. Aviation will depend a lot on which Airframe you get.

A cadet at my son's school branched Ordinance, he got Hawaii, no ADSO....lucky Bum.
 
It's all a dream sheet, like said before, unless you ADSO. People have different reasons for wanting different posts. Guys that want the 82nd pick Bragg, 10th Mountain hopefuls are looking towards Drum. Guys that branch armor and want cav usually want the 1st Cav in Texas. Or you have people that want to visit exotic places and pick Hawaii, Germany or Vicenza. None of this is guaranteed so don't get any hopes up.
 
-Bull- said:
It's all a dream sheet, like said before, unless you ADSO. People have different reasons for wanting different posts. Guys that want the 82nd pick Bragg, 10th Mountain hopefuls are looking towards Drum. Guys that branch armor and want cav usually want the 1st Cav in Texas. Or you have people that want to visit exotic places and pick Hawaii, Germany or Vicenza. None of this is guaranteed so don't get any hopes up.
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I would love to meet one of these mythical creatures called the "10th MTN hopefuls"
 
Not to be rude, but why do you care right now? Are you not going to go Army if they tell you that you will be sent to Ft. Rich or Camp Red Cloud?

The reality is nobody here even knows in 4 yrs if the station will still be there. Let's be honest the military is downsizing, which means re-organization.

There are so many forks in the road in front of you that this should not even be a blip on your radar. As nick4060 stated it will always come down to the needs of the branch. You can fill out that dream sheet of your top 3 choices, and think in your mind, anywhere, but Polk...guess what you get? Polk!

The one thing I would say as a spouse who went to OMG NO places, you will love every post if you have the right attitude. Never in my life as a Jersey girl did I want to go to Mt. Home, Idaho or Almogordo, NM, or even Goldsboro, NC, but we did and I loved every minute of it. I accepted this is where we are at, and embraced that area. Idaho we went camping on the Snake River. Almogordo we would go to Santa Cruz for snow tubing, Goldsboro, Emerald Isle for the beaches. Sites and places I would never have experienced in my life had it not been they sent us to OMG NO!

scoutpilot said:
I would love to meet one of these mythical creatures called the "10th MTN hopefuls"
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LMAO, I have to agree, Bullet jumped with the 82nd and Drum was an option, might as well be in Fairbanks AK regarding the winters.
 
Where are the Condos?

"See, I did join the army, but I joined a *different* army. I joined the one with the condos and the private rooms. "

Goldie Hawn in Private Benjamin
 
Pima said:
Never in my life as a Jersey girl did I want to go to ...Goldsboro, NC, ...

LMAO, I have to agree, Bullet jumped with the 82nd and Drum was an option, might as well be in Fairbanks AK regarding the winters.
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LOL. Ouch, re: Goldsboro. And ouch again from myself and on behalf of Clarksonarmy on Drum. We both lived (or have lived) about an hours drive NORTH of Drum! :biggrin:

You're certainly correct that posting should be the last thing on the OP's mind. And that fun can be found anywhere. I certainly enjoyed the cross country skiing and snowshoeing around the Drum region. The woods are so quiet in the winter. :smile:
 
EDelahanty,

Didn't we just go through this last week, where we both thought the same thing about Private Benjamin, but if I recall last week it was AFROTC!

Growing trend? I hope not because once contracted there will be a BIG wake up call!

I wouldn't concern myself about choosing duty stations, but understanding how frequently you will move. In the 20 1/2 yrs that Bullet was ADAF, we moved 11 times, some were for 6 months, none passed the 3 yr marker. If you look at the fact that we arrived at our last base at his 18 yr marker. We actually moved 11 times in 18 yrs.
 
kinnem,

You live in Cary which all Goldsboro residents go to (Crabtree mall) for shopping. However, you have to admit, when you watch WRAL and see Oliver Garden, you can find one within 10 miles...we have to drive to Greenville, 25 miles away. Goldsboro only has Lowe's, no Home Depot. Goldsboro has no Macy's. Goldsboro movie theater does not allow you to buy tickets on line!

For a Jersey girl, Goldsboro feels like a town my Mother lived in as a teenager. Mom is 75! Heck Goldsboro doesn't even have a Best Buy! Got an IHOP only 2 yrs ago. Sam's, Target and Wal-Mart are the big stores! Pier One went under in Goldsboro!

Drum is great. My folks had a 2nd home outside Manchester, VT. Your post illustrated what I was stating, it is about embracing the area and what is positive.

Bullet opted Bragg over Drum for 2 reasons.
1. My father was battling Adult Myleonic Leukemia. Bragg was 7 hrs away from home, so was Drum, but winters are harsh at Drum. Snow was an issue. Ironically, before reporting to Bragg because of his training at Benning and Hurlburt, he died, thus it was moot.
2. Bullet decided if he was stepping out of the jet, he wanted to still be the 1st in action. He felt Bragg was a better chance.
~~ Irony. Haiti uprising, Bragg was going to jump in. The situation was resolved diplomatically, 82nd returned to post and Drum took over.

One thing I would say to every cadet, don't go somewhere because it is "ideal" from a lifestyle perspective. Go because it is good for your career.

When you take assignment always think about it from "How will this help for my next assignment". I am sure many of you can get Hawaii or Germany or wherever you want, but if that job can't parlay you into a promotion or a better assignment after that, than call it a day.

Bullet jumping with the 82nd placed risks for him from a flier's perspective. One bad jump, 1 pin in his body and his flying career it could have been all over.

He took a lot of criticism for his decision. His perspective was in the long run it would help his career. He became AF ALO of the yr. That award helped him get O4. That helped him get PME where he went to Leavenworth for CGSC, not Maxwell AFB for ACSC. Attending sister school, got him a DP for O5 after being in the "shop" for 30 days compared to others that had 12 months.

Everything you do will be a foundation for your next phase. As a HS student you took APs or Honors Physics, not because you love Physics, but because you knew it would give you an edge for scholarships and admissions. The same is true for the AD world. Successful officers will think about how the next assignment will impact the assignment after that.

If all it is to you is great posts, enjoying life after work, get your resume ready because you lost sight of what the mission is for the military. I have seen many of those officers, and yes, they enjoyed life because they worked the system to get the "dream" station; yet, they were the ones that were shocked when they were passed over for promotion and given 180 days to start their new life!
 
Pima said:
Not to be rude, but why do you care right now? Are you not going to go Army if they tell you that you will be sent to Ft. Rich or Camp Red Cloud?

The reality is nobody here even knows in 4 yrs if the station will still be there. Let's be honest the military is downsizing, which means re-organization.
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This comes across as slamming the kid for asking. He obviously doesn't have any idea how the system works but he is trying to learn. He cares right now because he wants to know what he is getting into.
I am not sure if this kid is for real or not but I can guarantee you there is a kid reading this that is for real and has the same kind of question and he cares now because he is trying to decide if he really wants to go into the army, AF, etc.

Sorry but you touched a nerve with the tone I perceived.
 
Packer,
My apologies to the OP, lurkers and every poster if I offended any one that was nor my intention.

Forums like this can not read intonation from a poster. My position was, and is, service before self. Nothing more, and nothing less.
 
nysegop said:
In ROTC do you have any input into your duty station? Do you have a top choices list? How does it work?


Or does it work the other way around? You have unit top choices and you get stationed based on that?


Do they even consider your top choices or just completely ignore them?

Sorry, I am fairly new to the whole ROTC system.
Click to expand...

This question is easy to answer if you finish at the top or the bottom but difficult to answer if you finish in the middle. If you are the top Cadet in the nation and you request Aviation in Hawaii, then that is what you get. If you finish as the bottom Cadet in the nation, you will most likely be a chemical officer at Fort Polk. Everybody else in the middle places their bets and takes their chances. 75% of all Army ROTC Cadets receive what Cadet Command determines to be Cadet Satisfaction. This means that you receive 1 of your top 3 choices for branch and 1 of your top 3 choices for post. If you are part of the 25% that do not receive Cadet Satisfaction, then you probably spent more hours in the bar or playing video games than you did at the library.
 
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