Realistically how many different MOS/ratings, or specialties do you get to experience (Air Force, Navy)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Realistically how many different MOS/ratings, specialties will you get to experience while serving? Do enlisted and officers have different experience regarding this?
If you were in the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, how many different departments did you work in? Or are you stuck with one job and on job only?
If you do move around, what is the most common pair, or combination? Like infantry to aviation, or culinary specialist to mechanic to electrician. Or in the Navy, machinist mate to special warfare to JAG. Is that even possible? Or like Corpman to Bosun mate, to Gunner Mate.
As enlisted, any trade to recruiter or drill instructor.
It all depends. If there's a critical shortage in, say, avionics, you can move to that at your reenlistment if your current field is fully manned.
If your current field has a critical shortage, you're probably not going anywhere. (But there might be a reenlistment bonus)
It really all depends on the kind of rating/officer designator that you have.
As an example, an Intelligence Specialist or Cryptologic Technician Collection (both Navy ratings) gain experience in their primary field as well as in other warfare domains if they deploy. Both of those ratings are expected to deploy on a surface combatant or perhaps with an air crew, where they are expected to obtain the enlisted surface and air warfare qualifications, too. Then, everyone will probably take turns at galley duty also.
On the other hand, however, if you are a Cryptologic Technician Networks in the Navy, you simply will not have the same opportunities as other ratings and will generally only specialize in your field.
On the officer side of the house (again, talking about the Navy here), there are generally many opportunities to cross specialize, too, though some designators may not have that chance or may only have that opportunity during certain shore rotations (for the deployer designators). Then you have your supply officers, who are expected to contribute to the running of the platforms that they may be deployed on, which takes cross specialization and training.
And, note, this doesn't even get into the opportunity to formally re-designate or lateral transfer into another community.
Realistically how many different MOS/ratings, specialties will you get to experience while serving? Do enlisted and officers have different experience regarding this?
If you were in the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, how many different departments did you work in? Or are you stuck with one job and on job only?
If you do move around, what is the most common pair, or combination? Like infantry to aviation, or culinary specialist to mechanic to electrician. Or in the Navy, machinist mate to special warfare to JAG. Is that even possible? Or like Corpman to Bosun mate, to Gunner Mate.
Army: enlisted, probably one, possibly two. Recruiting or Drill or other (ROTC or reserve advisor) is a 3-ish year diversion most should expect to do once. Or you might be in an MOS that gets eliminated or downsized and be forced to reclass. Pershing Missile crew was big in the 80s but when the platform was eliminated those Soldiers were retrained if they stayed in. It’s usually smarter to keep a seasoned soldier who already knows how to do PT, march, knows how to counsel, is invested in the culture, etc. and send him to MOS training than bring in a new soldier (who do have a small but steady attrition rate due to things like physical issues or an inability to adapt to the unique pressures).
Officer, the average seems to be two. By design many officers are “branch detailed”, or programmed to fill jobs that have high LT needs but low CPT or higher needs, but are scheduled and expected from the moment they commission to jobs that have high CPT or higher needs but much lower LT needs, for instance Infantry (high LT but a very sharp pyramid) to Intelligence (very low LT needs to fairly high CPT or MAJ needs). There is also a nontrivial number that apply to become and train in a “functional area”, which is a way of describing a technically oriented branch that has virtually no need for junior officers but extremely high demand for Majors, Lieutenant Colonels, etc. Examples are things like Public Affairs or Force Management.
I had 2. What’s funny is that my DD-214 shows 3, an obvious error, but since it didn’t affect my retirement pay, I let it go.
When I came back to the force as a contractor after retirement, I did ask around about how something like this could happen, and I think I figured it out. Back when I was in Okinawa many years ago, someone keyed in the wrong AFSC when I was being upgraded. Eventually after a few weeks, they caught it, and changed it back to the right one, that way my record was correct when it was time for promotion that year.
Anyway, when they created the DD-214 about 15 years later when it was time for me to retire, it showed that I had a different AFSC for about a month, so it’s now forever in my record.
As a Submarine ET, it is common to get your first NEC coming out of 'C' school. In my case I had NEC:3333 to work on mainframe computers.
On my first boat, while in off-crew status one week I saw the school had an open seat for a school I was interested in so I jumped into that seat and I picked up the NEC:1594 WLR-1 tech [Electronic Surveillance Measures].
At re-enlistment time, they barter over how much your signing bonus will be [called 'SRB'], as well as what new NEC to go through for your next enlistment contract. That was when I picked up NEC:3323 [Intermediate Maintenance and calibration of synchros & gears].
Open billets for instructor duty were few after serving on two hulls, I wanted some kind of shore-duty. The Navy was advertising for Navy Police NEC: 9545, so I did that for shore duty.
On my last sub I picked up NEC:3924 - Intelligence operator.
My first Air Force AFSC required a TOP SECRET SCI clearance at my first duty station. When I inquired after a year about cross training, the personnel airman actually laughed in my face.
But sometime later, I wound up at an assignment--COPE THUNDER dissimilar air combat training exercises in the Philippines--which didn't actually need or use my AFSC. I hated it the first few months because I wasn't working my career field. But then I decided to plunge into it and learn the role of an "operational intelligence specialist" at the squadron level.
What made it neat was that in COPE THUNDER, I was working with aircrews from all the services, many different aircraft, and several foreign countries. I got experiences and opportunities far different from others in my career field, including morale rides on all kinds of different aircraft, riding in the back of a C-130 with a crazy-as-hell Aussie pilot, being out in the ocean on a zodiac with A-10s pounding the water around me, almost getting whacked by a broaching practice bomb, getting captured in the jungle by Communist rebels, and having a role in snatching Ferdinand Marcos out of his palace (the last was the only time I got to use my original training).
Location: Unlike most on CD, I'm not afraid to give my location: Milwaukee, WI.
1,789 posts, read 4,154,051 times
Reputation: 4092
I had 3 different MOSs in 12 years. All totally different. I had my original one I enlisted for (2 yrs), then a "special duty" assignment/MOS (only used overseas) I applied for and got (3 yrs), and then re-enlisted for retraining into another specialty that had openings for my rank. Most of my time in was spent in that latter specialty.
In my experience, peeps generally only held 1 or maybe 2 diff. MOSs for their entire career.
Vietnam era way back in time. I had two different MOS classifications. First was an infantry repair person. Went to school for that but only did that job for about six months. For most of my four year enlistment my MOS was embassy guard. And I had a top secret clearance even though I was just Sgt E5. Parents told me people were going around the neighborhood asking questions about me.
Vietnam era way back in time. I had two different MOS classifications. First was an infantry repair person. Went to school for that but only did that job for about six months. For most of my four year enlistment my MOS was embassy guard. And I had a top secret clearance even though I was just Sgt E5. Parents told me people were going around the neighborhood asking questions about me.
LOL. The first time I went back home on leave, I visited a few family friends and neighbors. At some point in the discussion, every of them edged into the question: "There were some federal agents asking about you a few months ago...."
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
