US Army reserve to Navy reserve or Air Force reserve

[mineringmie]

I'm in the process of joining army ROTC as a cyber reserve officer. In case I don't like the army, after my term with the army reserve, could I switch to the navy reserve as a cyber reserve officer or the air force reserve as a cyber reserve officer? Could I do direct commissioning through these from my prior experience in the army reserve? The navy and air force are more technical than army and Marines. I would have joined the navy rotc or air force ROTC but they don't allow me to go reserve and did not let me choose my desired field. OCS/OTS I was told is very competitive and requires years of experience so a fresh computer science grad like me would not be qualified for it. If I end up liking the army I can stay instead. Thank you for helping.

 

[USNA_STEM_Prof]

Quite a bit to unpack here.

Yes -- inter service transfers, particularly within the RC, are fairly common in my experience. If you're wanting to do it while still in the Army, you'd need a conditional release (form DD-370 IIRC). If you finish your army time, you'd be joining the Navy Reserve, which can be a lengthy process.

OCS is competitive, but there also has never been a better time given current end strength numbers. Experience is prioritized for direct Reserve commissioning applications because the service presumably has less time to get you up to speed. Since OCS puts you in active duty, a comp sci grad with good grades is inherently a trainable individual, thus trying to commission into Cyber straight from college is more likely.

I hope this helps. In the end, there is a flexibility between AC/RC and the branches, but it is a decent amount of bureaucracy.

 

[mineringmie]

Quite a bit to unpack here.

Yes -- inter service transfers, particularly within the RC, are fairly common in my experience. If you're wanting to do it while still in the Army, you'd need a conditional release (form DD-370 IIRC). If you finish your army time, you'd be joining the Navy Reserve, which can be a lengthy process.

OCS is competitive, but there also has never been a better time given current end strength numbers. Experience is prioritized for direct Reserve commissioning applications because the service presumably has less time to get you up to speed. Since OCS puts you in active duty, a comp sci grad with good grades is inherently a trainable individual, thus trying to commission into Cyber straight from college is more likely.

I hope this helps. In the end, there is a flexibility between AC/RC and the branches, but it is a decent amount of bureaucracy.

Can I do direct commission to the navy reserve or air force reserve after my time in the army reserve?

 

[USNA_STEM_Prof]

Can I do direct commission to the navy reserve or air force reserve after my time in the army reserve?

You'd already be a commissioned officer, correct? So yes, you could change branches. It wouldn't be a direct commission though, it would be an inter-service transfer (which is a big priority right now for the Navy RC).

If I'm misunderstanding you and you'd be enlisted in the Army reserve, so long as you have your bachelors degree, you could apply for commission in either branch as well.

 

[mineringmie]

You'd already be a commissioned officer, correct? So yes, you could change branches. It wouldn't be a direct commission though, it would be an inter-service transfer (which is a big priority right now for the Navy RC).

If I'm misunderstanding you and you'd be enlisted in the Army reserve, so long as you have your bachelors degree, you could apply for commission in either branch as well.

Id be commissioning into the army reserve from ROTC, not enlisting

 

[USNA_STEM_Prof]

Id be commissioning into the army reserve from ROTC, not enlisting

Good stuff. Totally viable, you'd just need to be organized and persistent with the application when the time comes.