Future in Army or USMC

[2016 mom]

Hello all. I am brand new with the forum. My son is currentley a junior in high school, who has wanted to attend a Senior Military College or WP for quite some time. (Mainly Norwich University....Possibly N.Georgia).
However, he does not want to be a combat officer. Instead, he hopes to become part of Army Civil Affairs, or Army PSYOP. As he has not decided what ROTC branch to join, he is also interested in USMC, in Public Affairs. (I know that Marines are "riflemen first") This is becoming an increasingly popular idea.
My DS has thrived in Model UN, and international relations at his boarding school, so he loves that. He is also a newspaper editor at the school, so USMC Public Affairs interests him as well.
While we have visited both West Point and Norwich and N.Georgia, I still have a question. After graduation of college, how would he pick Public Affairs in USMC, or Civil Affairs/PSYOP in the Army to pursue a career with? I know that upon completion of Marine Option ROTC, you attend Basics School. How can Public Affairs be requested?
Thank you for your help!

 

[scoutpilot]

Hello all. I am brand new with the forum. My son is currentley a junior in high school, who has wanted to attend a Senior Military College or WP for quite some time. (Mainly Norwich University....Possibly N.Georgia).
However, he does not want to be a combat officer. Instead, he hopes to become part of Army Civil Affairs, or Army PSYOP. As he has not decided what ROTC branch to join, he is also interested in USMC, in Public Affairs. (I know that Marines are "riflemen first") This is becoming an increasingly popular idea.
My DS has thrived in Model UN, and international relations at his boarding school, so he loves that. He is also a newspaper editor at the school, so USMC Public Affairs interests him as well.
While we have visited both West Point and Norwich and N.Georgia, I still have a question. After graduation of college, how would he pick Public Affairs in USMC, or Civil Affairs/PSYOP in the Army to pursue a career with? I know that upon completion of Marine Option ROTC, you attend Basics School. How can Public Affairs be requested?
Thank you for your help!

He cannot branch directly into Civil Affairs or "PsyOp." By the by, there is no Psychological Operations branch now. It is now known as Military Information Support Operations, or MISO. CA and MISO both fall under the US Army Special Operations Command. He would branch into a conventional job (infantry, armor, etc.) and then as a 1LT or junior Captain he would contact the Special Operations Recruiters and begin the process to be assessed for either branch.

In short, they are not immediate options.

 

[2016 mom]

Thanks for the information! Does anyone happen to know anything about USMC Public Affairs?

 

[bruno]

2016:
Civil Affairs as a Branch of the Army only exists in the USAR- there is an Active Duty CA Brigade, but the vast majority of CA units are in the Army Reserve (My wife who just recently retired from the USAR after 30 years was a CA officer for her last 10) I don't think that you can initially branch into CA even in the Reserves- I've never seen a Lieutenant in any of those units which tend to be seriously top heavy - mostly LTC and Colonels with some majors and a stray Captain or two, but it is composed of senior personnel by design and I think rightly so as they have to deal with a lot of USG, NGO and host nation offiacials of varying grades and experience levels. CA right now is a high demand unit- my wife had about 30 months in Afghanistan and I don't know anyone in any of the Reserve units that she was in who didn't have at least two tours- not all of those tours are sitting in Bagram as fobbits- my wife for example commanded a PRT in Paktika for one of her tours. Having said that - I think it's a pretty interesting field though it is in part in such high demand because the State Department which should play a very large role in the reconstruction effort is woefully short of Foreign Service officers who will go out on PRTs.
I don't know much about the USMC but I suspect that like the Army- Public Affairs (the officers who are coordinating and dealing with the media) is a secondary specialty that becomes available after your primary branch qualification- so post company command.

 

[scoutpilot]

2016:
Civil Affairs as a Branch of the Army only exists in the USAR- there is an Active Duty CA Brigade, but the vast majority of CA units are in the Army Reserve (My wife who just recently retired from the USAR after 30 years was a CA officer for her last 10) I don't think that you can intitally branch into CA even in the Reserves- I've never seen a Lieutenant in any of those units which tend to be seriously top heavy - mostly LTC and Colonels with some majors and a stray Captain or two, but it is composed of senior personnel by design and I think rightly so as they have to deal with a lot of USG, NGO and host nation offiacials of varying grades and experience levels. CA right now is a high demand unit- my wife had about 30 months in Afghanistan and I don't know anyone in any of the Reserve units that she was in who didn't have at least two tours- not all of those tours are sitting in Bagram as fobbits- my wife for example commanded a PRT in Paktika for one of her tours. Having said that - I think it's a pretty interesting field though it is in part in such high demand because the State Department which should play a very large role in the reconstruction effort is woefully short of Foreign Service officers who will go out on PRTs.
I don't know much about the USMC but I suspect that like the Army- Public Affairs (the officers who are coordinating and dealing with the media) is a secondary specialty that becomes available after your primary branch qualification- so post company command.

The only thing I would add is that CA is an active branch these days. Our battalion CA guy was an infantryman before he got picked up. Most CA guys on the active side do their post-team time at an SF Bn or SF Group level.

More info for the OP: http://www.bragg.army.mil/sorb/CA.htm

 

[2016 mom]

Thanks all for your very informative responses. Having no military background, I really do not know much about the Army, or USMC for that matter. If you don't mind, I would like to slightly change the initial question. My DS is planning on majoring in Political Science or International Affairs. He would really love to be able to utilize the education that he receives at any college, West Point or Norwich/N.Georgia. in the Army. Are there any positions that would benefit from or use a political science major?

 

[wannabe2013]

You can select Public Affairs right out of TBS; however, it is very very competitive. This isn't necessarily because a lot of people want it. Its more because slots don't show up too often. I believe the "average" number of slots is 1 per class.

In order to get this slot, you'll have to be near the best in your class. That being said, in the Marine Corps if you're good in the Field and your Staff Platoon Commander wants you to be Infantry, you'll go Infantry.