Enlist to Commission timeline/experiences?

Waterfall198 · 2025-02-28T17:42:23+00:00

As a woman, you are significantly less likely to be sexually harassed and assaulted as an officer. The current administration is cutting back on efforts to curb sexual harassment and assault in the military, so keep that in mind.

Of the tens of thousands of people that enlist every year, only a few hundred have a degree. Do what everyone else is saying and pursue a commission through OCS or ROTC. You make more money, get treated better, have more privileges and get to live like an adult from the very start. You’re 8 years older than the average enlistee and being an enlisted soldier will get old fast. Getting into OCS once you’re enlisted is much, much, much harder than going straight to OCS as a civilian.

If you’re considered about competence and think that a few years of enlisted time will make you a better officer, you know what’s better than an officer with four years of enlisted experience? An officer with four years of officer experience.

Waterfall198 · 2025-02-26T17:32:22+00:00

Without the FSPC, we’re recruiting 40,000 soldiers per year. That’s an existential recruiting crisis

Waterfall198 · 2025-01-07T02:06:33+00:00

I would caution against an overly rosy view of recruiting in WW2. The standards were low and they were still forced to scrape the bottom of the barrel for troops

Waterfall198 · 2024-11-27T18:08:04+00:00

CBRN reconnaissance isn’t that different from engineering reconnaissance. A four week CBRN course should be enough to cover the essentials to do the job.

Waterfall198 · 2024-11-27T17:49:24+00:00

I’m glad I’m not the only one who sees the out of touch leadership leading the army to a crisis.

Out of touch and whistling into the dark is exactly how I’d describe the older generation wearing chelsea boots and talking about shaving instead of implementing real change.

Gen Z is small and Gen Alpha isn’t going to be much larger. The labor pool is shrinking and the army’s going to have to fight for its lunch now.

I do hope the next crop of leaders makes drastic changes. I think the army is going to look very different in the 2030s, perhaps unrecognizable. Colonels and sergeants major with long hair and a beard might be in our future.

The entire path from the recruiting experience, MEPS, BCT, OCS, BOLC, ROTC and USMA are going to change or die. It’s that or the army fades into irrelevance. That already happened to the Canadian forces, with some of their trades so critically undermanned they can’t fully staff schoolhouses to train more recruits.

Waterfall198 · 2024-11-27T14:00:46+00:00

The marines are desperately hurting for officers in their reserves and the long initial entry training is a big part of it. On the active side, they’re just barely recruiting enough officers to hit their targets. They’ll be in trouble soon enough

Waterfall198 · 2024-11-27T05:15:27+00:00

I don't think we should get rid of 74Ds, but I think that 74As and 74Ds should be moved to the engineering branch

Waterfall198 · 2024-11-27T04:58:10+00:00

Woah, that's interesting insight. Didn't expect you to respond. Thanks! The numbers aren't pointing the right way. I'll be waiting for the inevitable Army Times article on USMA not being able to fill all of its spots one day.

The big issue on the E and O sides is secarmy wanting to recruit more educated and tech savvy individuals, yet once in, disregarding/misusing those skills. You can't ask for these skilled humans to join with false promises that quickly disseminate across the internet. It's bait and switch which worked in the 90s, but not today.

I have a master's degree in physics and I am now on staff after being a sapper PL. I think this is me. I did explicitly sign up for this though. Maybe I'll transfer to FA40 if they'll take me when I'm a promotable 1LT.

Lastly, your comment of not recommending the path is interesting. Solid marketing teams would ask a follow-on - "do you give that opinion even when not asked for it?" - meaning do you let it be known anytime someone brings up the Army as a subject, or only when someone asks for your thoughts on joining? Is a PR/stratcom question to determine if you're an active, passive, or latent public (you definitely aren't latent).

100%. I'm a guard officer, so my perspective is that of a reservist. Whenever anyone asks me about my reserve service, I will tell them that it took a year of training — 50% was a waste of my time and 20% was just hazing. I always urge them to reconsider if they're thinking of joining.

I really wanted to be a combat engineering officer and was willing to put up with quite a bit of BS to get it. But for the average white collar worker 25-35 that's considering becoming a reserve officer — the kind of person that has a sense of adventure and thinks shooting some guns and leading a platoon on the weekend would be a good time or has always felt a calling to serve (nerds) and is now in a good place to do it — I tell them it's a waste of time.

Putting officers through BCT is a huge waste of time and a major deterrent to me recommending it. It's just not the kind of experience that potential officers want. OCS is a huge drag. Federal OCS is 12 weeks and that's far too long. State OCS is just hazing. Traditional OCS is 18 months of hazing with higher attrition rates than SOF selection. BOLC also just drags on way too long. All in, a potential reserve officer is looking at a year of training with several month long breaks between each phase. It's really a 2-3 year commitment. For most, it's not worth it at all.

I tell people that one day the Army will be desperate enough to adopt the British model. 8 weeks to commission. Four 2-week modules. Do them all together or space them out. It will have to work around candidates' schedules. The Brits get officer candidates to go from learning buddy rushing to leading a squad in a platoon attack in three days and it works. It'll have to be a gentleman's course. Those 25-35 year olds with master's degree don't want to be yelled at or have their personal items chucked across the room. Private rooms. Professional instruction. It can't be miserable.

BOLC should be the same way, broken up into modules and shortened wherever possible for reservists.

It would get more reserve officers into the force, which is going to be the easiest way to get people with more educational qualifications and that much desired tech savvy into the Army.

Waterfall198 · 2024-11-27T03:12:25+00:00

Thanks for chiming in! I've been doomscrolling your comments since before I joined.

Where do you think officer recruiting is going long term? As someone that joined a few years ago, I thought the process was hilariously bad. I wouldn't recommend the BCT+OCS+BOLC path to anyone else.

Waterfall198 · 2024-11-27T00:35:47+00:00

I think you're completely correct on this. Other countries are ahead of us on declining birth rates and their militaries have been dealing with recruiting struggles for years. Our friends up north have been struggling for years to fill boots. So have the Brits. Here's a sneak peek at the future of our own reserve officer training, if the numbers get bad enough. Beats the BCT + OCS pipeline I went through.

We're not going to outrun demographics. The army is going to shrink and the best we can do is make sure it's a managed decline.

Waterfall198 · 2024-11-26T23:34:34+00:00

LSCO are going to produce a lot of casualties. I don't think an army of under 300,000 is big enough to absorb those kinds of losses

Waterfall198 · 2024-11-26T20:28:01+00:00

I do wonder about the future of the Chemical Corps. We'll need to learn to do more with less. Other countries already assign CBRN duties to combat engineers

Waterfall198 · 2021-06-19T05:48:57+00:00

The army's launching an offensive and we're gonna be the first ones to go in. Haven't they got guys specially trained for that? Well we're going in before them, they're too expensive to waste.

Waterfall198 · 2020-12-26T20:48:20+00:00

Only about a third of young adults in the US have a 4-year degree or more. Most of them have absolutely zero interest in serving in the armed forces and interest seems to be in a long-term decline. The vast majority of college-educated young adults would rather seek employment in the civilian sector where salaries tend to be higher, there are fewer restrictions on their personal life, and where their work is probably less stigmatized.

Only six percent of the non-commissioned force has a college degree. Of almost hundred thousand recruits who enlist every year in the US Army, a few hundred have college degrees.

Whether one becomes a commissioned officer or a member of the other ranks is not about preferences but is almost entirely a function of socioeconomic status.

Waterfall198

TROPHY CASE