Infantry Officer

[jmackenzie_15]

- I just want an understanding of what im getting into before I make the plunge

Wow, thanks for being really helpful, especially as directing staff. I really appreciate your opendmindedness.I also really appreciated the broad brush stroke you painted me with assuming i'm some kind of hard charging imbecile that doesn't understand what the Infantry is like. I attempted at least several times to drive home the point that I was not in any way whatsoever holding one posn in any order of "greatness" over another, all I was trying to get at was what I should expect. I'll know never to ask a general question about what to expect on these forums again - and in the end, after you were done being sarcastic and wasting forum space elaborating on subjects im already well aware of, you didn't even answer the question that I thought was pretty ****ing relevant considering it's a career choice.

You'll do what you're told to do - Oh WOW really? Is that what this comes down to? Crap sorry, I didn't realize that was how the military worked - thank you for pointing that out to me, I would have been miserable without first acquiring knowledge of that fact.

Get the chip off of your f-ing shoulder "sir".

 

[Michael OLeary]

- I just want an understanding of what im getting into before I make the plunge
<snip>

Get the chip off of your f-ing shoulder "sir".

Mack, slow down.  Did you read the thread I directed you to?  The bitter truth, if you want to consider it that, is that there are not as many field jobs as there are willing officers.  Also, every one of those staff jobs has to be done by someone, and they are best done by officers that understand that they are supporting the field force - even when they are instructors, base staff, HQ staff, recruiting, or any number of other jobs you might end up with.  I've known officers with most of their careers up to the rank of major in units, and others with minimal field time - and members of neither group are necessarily where they want to be every day of every posting.  Frankly, an officer with maximum unit experience can have greater problems adjusting to the world outside the field force when he/she eventually winds up there, than one who has transited back aand forth at each posting cycle.

There are models the career managers use for career expectations, but they seldom resemble anyone's actual career paths, they are just average potential paths for discussing the posting opportunities and career courses an officer might expect.  And because they seldom represent a broad swath of reality, they make poor examples to describe for new applicants.

All I can suggest is that it you want to go to the infantry, you need to be prepared to make the most of the unit postings you have and never regret the time you spend in other jobs.

 

[jmackenzie_15]

Mack, slow down.  Did you read the thread I directed you to?  The bitter truth, if you want to consider it that, is that there are not as many field jobs as there are willing officers.  Also, every one of those staff jobs has to be done by someone, and they are best done by officers that understand that they are supporting the field force - even when they are instructors, base staff, HQ staff, recruiting, or any number of other jobs you might end up with.  I've known officers with most of their careers up to the rank of major in units, and others with minimal field time - and members of neither group are necessarily where they want to be every day of every posting.  Frankly, an officer with maximum unit experience can have greater problems adjusting to the world outside the field force when he/she eventually winds up there, than one who has transited back aand forth at each posting cycle.

There are models the career managers use for career expectations, but they seldom resemble anyone's actual career paths, they are just average potential paths for discussing the posting opportunities and career courses an officer might expect.  And because they seldom represent a broad swath of reality, they make poor examples to describe for new applicants.

All I can suggest is that it you want to go to the infantry, you need to be prepared to make the most of the unit postings you have and never regret the time you spend in other jobs.

I did read the thread, but I still found some things unclear
That's the kind of answer I was looking to find - Thanks

Cheers