Why Do I Want To Be An Army Officer?

Well, the answer to this question has some politically correct answers, however, I'm not going to only give you those answers. Oh, those answers are definitely part of my reasonings, but they are not the only ones. That being said, I do have to warn you that I have many reasons and this is not going to be a short and simple answer (when I do write anything that is short and easy?). Furthermore, due to INFOSEC restrictions I will have to obscure some aspects of my explanation. You will quickly figure out when I do this because the details will be nonspecific to any specific function or task. As you know, this is unusual for me. I typically go out of my way to be clear and concise in my details.

Also, this will not be provided in a list approach. The justifications of my intention to become an officer are frequently intertwined and do not lend themselves easily to a list. Therefore, without further adieu, let the explanation roll.

I am currently a Specialist (E-4) in the Army National Guard. I will have completed nine years of service in the near future. In order to earn a retirement from the Department of Defense, I will have to complete 20 years of service. I will have 15 years of service completed at the end of the contract I have just signed. In my current job assignment (MOS), I am unable to be promoted to a higher rank. Unlike the active duty Army, the National Guard has a slot system for promotions. Not only do you have to be worthy of the promotion, but you have to have a slot available to be promoted into. As it stands right this time, I represent the top of this MOS promotion list for the state and I have been for the past six or so years. That being said and experienced by me, I know I can't be promote for slot reasons.

Therefore, you might ask, how can I get promoted then? Well, as long as I keep my current job, I can't. In order to obtain a higher rank, I will have to change my job. This is fine by me. There are other jobs in which I am certainly qualified to satisfactorily (or better) execute and contribute a valuable service to a team. However, due to Army regulations, I would have to attend an Army school or other approved qualification path to be awarded this job. Well, I am insulted by this requirement and will not bend to do what the Army wants. I refuse to waste my personal time and be away from my civilian career to sate Uncle Sam. I know I can do the job that I want but, because I can't quantify it with my civilian education (there exists a small gap between the requirements and what I can quantify in my transcripts and my "official" job title). Attending one of these approved qualification paths require either a year plus of weekends attending a tech school or six months of active duty to attend the Army school. I refuse to waste my weekends for drill falling asleep in a classroom in which I don't belong and I refuse to be away from my civilian job for that time for something that I see as a waste of my time.

Also, my current job is not utilized during my drill weekends or annual training periods. I spend the majority of my time on these weekends looking for work from multiple sources. Many of the tasks that I do pickup are irrelevant to my job or even to the mission. I am tasked to do the menial things that would get assigned to the newbie Privates on active duty. However, since the National Guard is light on the lower ranks, Specialist is a rough equivalent. There are many reasons why my job is under utilized, however, I'm not at liberty to explain those in the detail I would like. Suffice it to say that I'm a peon on my drill weekends.

There is plenty of motivation available to me as you can see already to change my job. If I wanted to stay an enlisted soldier then becoming certified for another job would be the logical route. However, within my nine years of experience thus far, I can tell you with absolute certainty that unless you are a First Sergent or above, you do not have any power to influence anything about how the unit operates, details about the mission, or policies that we are expected to abide. All the way up the enlisted path, the level of responsibility to the lower enlisted remains at a even keel. You will direct them to do the things that you are tasked to delegate. I also see that the upper enlisted are always in a struggle to get the lower enlisted to cooperate. The lack of respect there from the lower enlisted if deplorable in the National Guard. I constantly hear from guys that were on active duty that some of the things that occur in the guard wouldn't fly in the active side of the house. I don't want to have to deal with that. I want to be an expert and have people listen to my advice and have the ability to mold how a mission is going to work in some facet, even if that contribution is something as a minor part of the mission. However, that minor part of the mission is critical to someone. I'm sure of it. I guess what I'm saying is that I want respect and control.

Respect and control are not something that come easily within the enlisted rank. Therefore, with my qualifications (real world experience, years of personal experience, and civilian education) I want to put myself into a place to put those skills to good use. The Warrant Officer (WO) tract will provide that satisfaction (assuming that I can get the job that I want). So, some details regarding the WO environment. Warrant Officers are a hybrid between the enlisted rank and the command officer tract. Warrant Officers are specialists in their field. These specializations are many and various. There are civil engineer WOs, quartermaster WOs, human resources WOs, IT WOs, pilot WOs and more. There are three such specializations that I feel that I can fill (excluding pilot, I am capable but unwilling).

Since WOs are a hybrid between the enlisted and command officers, they are also paid in the middle. I'm sure if you search on Google that you will be able to find a pay chart that will accurately quantify this for you. That leads us to the Officer tract. Officers have higher requirements for entry and are paid the most in the Army. However, they have the most responsibility and also carry the most respect. Also, officers that have gone from green to gold often earn more respect.

Do I know with absolute certain that I can be an effective leader? I'm not sure. However, I know I will give it my best and learn as I go. Becoming a command officer is not my first choice. However, it is the only alternative left if I am unable to enter into the WO tract. Becoming a command officer is the polar opposite of how I would like to participate in any work environment. In my civilian career, I don't want to be in management. I enjoy being in the trenches and having my hands directly in the environments that I am responsible. Don't get me wrong, officers are in the trenches, literally, when the time comes. However, they are the managers of the soldiers and are directly responsible for the actions that their soldiers take and/or lead to take.

So, the one thing that I have yet to address are the requirements to become one of these officer types. They have similar time requirements to commission (the act of acquiring the officer title). There are multiple phases with different titles per tract, but the time requirements are similar. I would be required to complete between six and nine months of training at different training facilities at different durations under different conditions. I believe that a minimum of two of the training excursions would be under zero/minimal contact orders. Meaning that I would be in training without being able to talk to my wife/family/friends at will. I know that one of these training excursions will be like undergoing basic training all over again and contact with the outside world would be minimal. Maybe on Sundays. That's it.

At this point, if you have yet to put the pieces together, you might be asking what is different between the time spent to get promoted as an enlisted soldier or the time spent becoming an officer? Well, there are many things. The officer ranks are thinner and promotions are easier to earn. The requirements to become promoted as an officer are more objective than those of an enlisted soldier. The money is better as a WO1 or a O-1 than that of an E-5. Also, from what I can tell, the job trading to get promoted are less intrusive as an officer. Once I obtain my officer specialty, I won't be forced to change from it again. However, if I remain enlisted, once I earn E-6, I will once again hit a wall. I can admit right now that I could retire as an E-6 if I were to get that high. Furthermore, I could comfortably retire as a WO-2 or a WO-3, or a WO-3 and I won't feel bad about my career. Another aspect to this decision is that the officer tracts are greatly new to me. I would have much to learn before I could claim that I'm comfortable in my job and have an opportunity to become bored. I can't say the same of the enlisted ranks. I've spent plenty of time looking up to know that I don't want to have to deal with that for another 11 years.

The last topic that I want to spend some time on is influence. The upper enlisted are certainly qualified to be respected de facto and the majority of them have the experience and face time to provide influence to their lower enlisted soldiers. However, the influence and ability to obtain control of a situation amongst soldiers is much easier and greater for those of brass. From the first day in basic, the Drill Sergents are immediately in control. However, even at the end of the time spent at basic, the fear and obedience soldiers exhibit towards brass are universal. Soldiers spend the majority of their time among those within the enlisted world. However, with minimal exception, their exposure to those of brass remain at a minimum. There are even rules regarding how and when officers can interact with enlisted at and away from the uniform. Therefore, by default, not only do officers have command and control over enlisted soldiers, but they also have influence. If you have the opportunity as an officer to interact with a single soldier for a long enough period of time, you can mold and shape them to make them a better soldier and/or person. That same ability requires much, much more time and effort for an upper enlisted to accomplish than that of those wearing brass.

Please keep in mind, all of my justifications provided above (minus pay, that is objective and easily supported) are my own opinions of the Army and how it operates. This is not to be used as fact as a documentation source for an argument that does not include me or my position in the Army.

So, after all of that, I'm sure you can see why I chose to make this another post instead of including it into the post that prompted this discussion.

Later all.