Originally posted by: Born2bwire
Originally posted by: sonambulo
Originally posted by: destrekor
Sometimes I wish I skipped school and went straight into enlisted and took the OCS track.
You mean OCS right out of high school? Please explain.
He probably means that he got his bar through ROTC in college as opposed to being a 90 day wonder (though I'm pretty sure that idiom is no longer applicable).
No bar yet. Got 2 more years.
No, I was referencing the idea of going through 4 years of enlisted duty, and then submitting an application to enter OCS.
School, however, is ultimately the better track, for the reason that various factors could limit my service to my contracted time and nothing beyond that. This will be uncertain until I reach the end of my contract, and then the decision to continue will obviously be made then. So, maybe I'll want to pursue a civilian career (likely government, as that is why my degree (IntStds - specializing in Security and Intel)) following my time in the service. Thus that degree will be nice. But there's also the fact that I'll likely end up being the first in my family to earn a 4-year degree, so I had that notion in the back of my mind, pushing me towards school. I also, before starting school, thought I'd never want to be a grunt. But now I fear I have missed a great experience that could only improve my leadership capability.
but yes, some people could get into OCS pretty much right away, but that's a very difficult feat. But, it would have been a proving point if I could land that opportunity. However, can't have regrets in life, rather you gotta make the best of what you've done.
ROTC kind of teaches us the grunt aspect first, but in a much milder setting, and without the experience gained through extensive field training. It's definitely a great organization, and our school has one of the better ones, and highly experienced Cadre that I have already learned a great deal from. I just wish I could fast forward and get into specialized training.
I really do have the mindset of a grunt (though I take control of any situation that I can, I've always naturally led rather than followed if I could) and want to deploy, but I have made my commitments.
well that felt like a blog post. But isn't that what ATOT really is?