re: Any Military Officers here?

There are a lot of people who will give you advice, just remember the Army is always changing so what they tell you may be the truth but it was through their lens during their time of service.

2004 - 2010 the Army was short people, especially officers, and adopted a lot of practices that weren't sustainable. Promotion rates up to LTC were almost 100% and a ton of good officers bounced as soon as their first contract was up.

The last few years we've been downsizing and kicking people out left and right. Now we seem to have stabilized but it could go either way again. It is a much better place to work now that the bottom feeders are weeded out.

If you're coming in as a prior service officer the pay and benefits are outstanding. O1E your base pay is around $3800 a month but you'll have full health insurance and also receive tax free subsistance (BAS) allowance of $250 and housing allowance of around $1100 depending on location. Do the math it's good living. In four years you'll be a Captain and base pay is around $5600 with BAH of 1500 or so.

Promotion timeline right now is two years to 1LT and the promotion rate is about 95%. Two more years to Captain and that promotion rate is between 80 - 90% depending on the branch. Basically as long as you work hard, learn your craft, stay out of trouble you'll make Captain.

After six years as a Captain you'll pin Major. Promotion rate has been low last few years (50 - 60%) but will probably stabilize at the historical trend of around 70%. You have to work to earn it but not hard and if you can't cut it you'll know early from your evals. If you get passed over twice you are separated from the service and if you have under 18 years you get no pension.

With the Army downsizing the eliminated a lot of units especially overseas. To fill this gap they are deploying brigades from stateside to Europe and Korea for nine months at a time. Deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan are also nine months long.

Right now you can plan on when you finish your basic course being sent to a brigade going through train up. You'll arrive, spend about 7 - 8 months training including a month-long rotation to NTC / JRTC and then deploy for nine months. If you stay in the same brigade after the deployment it will be about 18 months till you deploy again. As an officer expect to move every 2 - 3 years.

Like some said earlier - OCS is the last fill for officers so be prepared for a branch you don't want (chemical, signal, logistics). I wouldn't sweat it too much though if you're in it for career you will have plenty of chances to switch to another branch or functional area (civil affairs / public affairs / special forces / cyber etc). Also other than when you are in a direct leadership role (platoon leader / company commander) you're on staff anyway.

Best of luck to you and anyone else joining. The best advice I can give is figure out what needs taken seriously and give every last drop of effort. Figure out what stuff is just space filler and treat it accordingly. The Army can grind you down but if you handle it right it's extremely rewarding.

Don't work for evals or boards - if you perform you'll be taken care of and if for some reason you get hosed you leave the Army with experience and memories and get another job. Nothing is worth compromising your ethics or stabbing someone in the back.