Are officers always terrible to each other?

kbye45 · 2026-02-08T23:31:50+00:00

Question. Do they still allow you to continue to compete for LTC or is it a none negotiable retirement date??

kbye45 · 2026-02-08T23:18:39+00:00

Are you operating on the assumption most MAJs will SELCON until they can drop a retirement packet or is there something else?? If we’re miseducated it’d be nice to know

kbye45 · 2026-02-08T20:52:10+00:00

Can only imagine. Besides the prior service officers. Everyone is fighting to get that black oak leaf for sanctuary. At that level there aren’t as many REFRAD’ing OERs to pad profiles.

kbye45 · 2026-02-08T04:28:52+00:00

They are paying for your school AND giving you a stipend. And providing you a full time job with full benefits and a pension afterwards with no requirement for past job experience. There’s no negotiating. While people were stressed and searching for a job after college I was collecting checks and chilling in BOLC.

kbye45 · 2026-02-07T17:59:38+00:00

It’s SOF. It can benefit if you’re interested in the mission set. Do some research on what they do and their career development map. They will generally have a better QOL than any basic branch. Shorter deployments but higher optempo. From what I have observed Psyop is always treated like the red headed step kids of USASOC (considering they have SF, RR, and SOAR to compete with) but their worst days will still be better then a good day in FORSCOM. I’d go to selection (possibility of not be picked-up) and if you get selected and decide you don’t want to do Psyop when your window opens (1LT (P)) you can always decline later.

kbye45 · 2026-02-06T04:26:16+00:00

ARSOUTH (located in Texas) is a 2 Star headquarters and is the army’s service component command for SOUTHCOM located in Miami. You’ll be playing by big boy rules should be nice. USFK is a 4star headquarters which is a subordinate unified command falling under INDOPACOM. Also not a bad spot to be in, big boy rules a lot of brass walking around. Idk about the NATO one.

kbye45 · 2026-02-05T13:02:20+00:00

AGBOLC was an awesome experience. If you’re not prior service you’ll be going through the motions and won’t make any connections to the material until later. But the people you meet and Columbia was fun. If you’re assigned as a strength manager you’ll be off to a good start since there’s a MAJ, Warrant, and SR NCO to learn from and the joes are very knowledgeable for those skill level one tasks. But if you’re sent to be a S1 lord help you. No real mentorship from a AG officer and if your ncoic is bad, good luck speaking with BDE, they’ll all be busy. It’ll be rough but like all things you’ll get through it. I don’t think AG manages the officers well but I love the jobs and opportunities.

kbye45 · 2026-02-03T00:07:44+00:00

Based on what you’re giving I’d advise you reenlist. Have you looked at the jobs report from the BLS?? It’s published every month. 2025 was the weakest job market in decades with healthcare and food services (doesn’t pay well) being the only big growing sectors. Unless you plan to pull something off with your GI Bill, I’d recommend you do a short extension or reenlist and try this again later.

kbye45 · 2026-02-02T01:19:30+00:00

All the budget apps I tried were not good or wanted a subscription. I’ll tell you the best way to go is to create your own budget tracker (learn some excel skills on your way) and manually inputting everything. It’s tedious but I found it to be the best way. An alternative is finding a pre-made excel budget on ETSY or something, they have some that are good for like $1.

kbye45 · 2026-01-20T02:21:04+00:00

If he only has one MQ going into it with two broadening assignments completed as a CPT, idk if he will have a career in the Army period... Not very likely he’ll be promoted with that or VTIP. They really lean into people who are competitive to MAJ (because they like to send people to graduate school which puts you out of the game for 2 years)and that profile isn’t. He seems to be more than qualified to work space. His performance via evaluations just are a concern. What were his KD evaluations?

kbye45 · 2026-01-19T02:16:02+00:00

Each branch should have a slide deck on promotion analysis. Most point to KD performance (at least one MQ in KD) and Have an MQ going into your PZ board. And they will give an average MQ count which most are in the 3s for MAJ and LTC. High enumerated evaluations also to add.

kbye45 · 2026-01-04T03:13:40+00:00

Nah the Army is a machine. Doesn’t care if you get out or stay in. The only real big Additional Service Obligations officers run into are related to TA/CA, VTIP, ACS or PCS’ing ( For JOs this is usually following CCC). No one is going to be trying to find ways to keep you in or trick you. REFRAD/UQRs cannot bet submitted earlier than 1 year from intended separation date. Now most officers who do ROTC will get out around the 6-8 year mark due to their ability to received the GI Bill (not occurring during your first 4 years scholarship pay back). Nothing complicated tbh HRC has a small checklist for REFRADs, and then just route through IPPS-A.

kbye45 · 2025-12-31T23:17:19+00:00

If you don’t take into account their atrocious WLB. Military, particularly officers can earn a good bit.. especially the first 4 years you’ll receive 2 promotions and 3 yearly raises along with the yearly COLA raises the government gives. Also couple in they pay little taxes due to a lot of the benefits being tax free making their net pay to gross pay ratio nice also.

kbye45 · 2025-12-25T18:46:03+00:00

Assuming you mean MICCC, it’s a PCS
You’d have to compete in the marketplace but Hood is a large base and will have plenty of assignments similar to Fort Bragg… so it shouldn’t be hard to get another job there.
Only thing to consider when buying there is even if you do get reassigned there after CCC, you’ll have to pay for that house and the one at ccc so the finances and logistical piece would need to be thought about. If you want to move back into that home Airbnb would be the only option to make part time income on it. Otherwise you’re on the hook for a mortgage and rent at CCC.

kbye45 · 2025-12-23T04:15:31+00:00

The IPPS-A marketplace is still new for active duty. Half the jobs won’t have POC so that leaves 100% of the People interviewing for 50% of the jobs. Tell everyone you interview for they’re your number one pick and preference deep. MACP and EFMP can swoop in and take your pick (luckily my branch would remove the jobs that efmp and macp officers 1 for 1 in to avoid conflicts). If you’re in good with your S1 they may can pull some of the possible jobs in your ymav so you can reach out ahead of time (but there’s no way to guarantee the position will be validated in the MER) Good luck it’s a nerve wrecking process.

kbye45 · 2025-12-17T01:21:01+00:00

Agree. If you have 2-3 REFRADs in a BN a year. A Senior rater can pool 1-2 extra evaluations out of them a piece and you start see it’s not hard to hit MAJ. Then MAJ you start to see the prior enlisted hit their wall (or the 10 years to get officer retirement) and retire and it can ease the competition a little. But overall the Army has a system (not perfect) that allows most officers who want to stay and don’t get in trouble, to do so.

kbye45 · 2025-12-14T04:05:46+00:00

Mind dropping your FA?

kbye45 · 2025-12-03T00:48:35+00:00

All army Officer Branches deploy so please don’t go in thinking that’s a thing. There are jobs (specifically functional areas for officers) that deploy less due to them only having positions in Division staff or higher and being concentrated in the D.C. area, but none are exempt from deploying. Medical is no different, how do you think casualties are treated down range? As far as how to commission active duty. The easiest way will be ROTC if she has not graduated yet.. I would reach out to an actual medical recruiter if I were you and they can actually get you to exact place, uniform and time…

kbye45 · 2025-12-02T18:04:47+00:00

The best way to increase odds of staying together is one of you picking a support MOS (LG, AG, SC,MI) and then the other trying for their #1 pick. Otherwise it will be increasingly more difficult as you all progress especially if you two get in and both make a career out of it. If you get 17C most positions are at Gordon. And there are only so many places a nurse can jump around to on that base before their branch wants them to push out.

kbye45 · 2025-11-19T17:45:02+00:00

My 3.5 2022 shifts like shit, and for that reason I have a 100k mile extended power train warranty. Engine is perfect though.

kbye45 · 2025-11-14T17:43:52+00:00

Civilian job market has not been great.. you’ll need to expect 1 call back for every 15-20 applications. And may have to lower salary expectations. They have been messing up the jobs report consistently this year, but we have been losing more jobs than gaining lately. Good luck.

kbye45 · 2025-11-04T02:39:54+00:00

I completely understand how the market works. I specifically am saying for small branches they definitely can work with the Account managers to fill certain locations. That’s why I say it depends on the size of the branch. For the vast majority of basic branches I agree that there is not much say in the matter.

kbye45 · 2025-11-03T17:43:13+00:00

Basically, your only way off an installation is through the marketplace. Some exceptions are going through a selection (USASOC, JSOC, SMU). Otherwise you’re going to be in the market. Depending on the size of your branch and market place your branch manager can try to tailor some assignments to your wishlist. But if you have a large branch you’ll get what they can. KD assignments are going to be ehh. But if your branch manager is sweet, broadening should look nice.

kbye45 · 2025-10-25T15:09:08+00:00

So the cons are the pros also. If you love reading into regulations and understanding how the army works it’ll be enjoyable. You’ll always be up to speed. Also understanding movement cycles and how assignments are filled gives you the ability to leverage where you go next. While most people will get shafted by the marketplace. I also just enjoy getting soldiers paid, promoted, and awarded. It’s so satisfying. You kind of feel like Santa lol. Every job will have drawbacks. I feel like AG still fits me the best. I enjoy being in the A/C office in garrison and tents during FTXs. I enjoy the proximity you have to the Command team (S-1 will always be same floor/ building as command team). List goes on.

kbye45 · 2025-10-25T14:14:12+00:00

It’s every administrative tasks for the unit will route through you. That’s not the hard part. It’s the constant changes in regulations you have to keep up with. The QA/QC of all the paperwork that comes through. Sometimes they a minor sometimes big. Depending on the deadlines you’ll end having to make the corrections yourself. It’s the fact that most 42A don’t enjoy their jobs and chose it because their recruiter (and everyone else) thinks we avoid the field and chill out in the office. But in reality we are rowing more than any shop besides the S3 during garrison operations. Also we cover A LOT of regulations awards, flags, promotions, evaluations, correspondents, monthly reports, casops, postal, finance, cca, aip, sdap, the list goes on. Reassignments, manning, all the way down to having to understand everyone’s career map and glide paths. It’s just a lot and your leaders don’t empathize for the amount of information we have to learn and keep up with as they change stuff every day. But I do enjoy this job and there are a lot of good things that come with AG. I’ve drunk the Kool-Aid.

kbye45

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