Charlemagne-Introduction

[Charlemagne]

Hello all,

I am a 27 year old prior service enlisted Marine that is now going officer in the Army. I was a radio operator and data communications Marine while I was in the Corps. I was with 1st BN / 7th Marines in 29 Palms, Headquarters BN in Okinawa, and 8th Comm BN in Camp Lejeune. I've been to Kuwait, Iraq, Japan, Guam and Thailand. I was in from 2001-2005.

After I got out I figured that I would get my degree and become a police officer. I graduated with a 3.93 GPA and a degree in Criminal Justice. After several months of trying to get a job after graduating, I decided to put myself through the police academy in the hopes that this would improve my chances. However a funny thing happened while I was in the academy. I realized that I missed the military and that I really wanted to make a career out of it rather than being a cop. I graduated from the academy with honors and within months after graduating I signed up to go officer in the Army.

I just couldn't see myself sitting in car all day, writing up stupid reports about giving traffic tickets to soccer moms or hassling the town's drunks. I want to be where the action is, I want to be humping a machine gun up a mountain, I want to be leading from the front, I want to be one of the best, I want to be a Ranger.

[PocketKings]

Welcome. Success begets success, and you seem to be on the right path.

When do you ship? I'm assuming you're going OCS at Benning?

[snafu]

Welcome. Just an FYI-there are lots of LEO's on this site...

There's a lot of info for men in your position. I'm sure you can find answers to most of your questions from searching/reading. Your prior svc experience will help you out in OCS.

[Ranger Bill]

Welcome to the site. Your will to serve once again is appreciated. Your shot at Ranger School will depend on your Branch assignment, which will be based primarily on the needs of the Army. Of course, the better your performance in OCS, the better your odds are of getting a Branch assignment you want. Best of luck to you in reaching your goals, but chances are that after you finish your inital training and as an officer you will never be humping a maching gun, unless things have really gone bad.

[dbmtrman]

Gee, until this young Marine, opened my eyes, I didn't realize I had such a shitty career. Its to bad you spent so much time in college and the police academy before you realized you didn't want to be a cop. It really was a waste of time for you, if that is the understanding of what you thing a cop does.

As for humping a machine gun up a mountain, maybe that is what they do in the Corps., not in the Army, unless you make it to Ranger School.

[al_2ndWolfhounds]

Welcome and thank you for your past and future service.

If you haven't noticed we value LEO's at this site. Given current events in the near past and in the news today; being a Law Enforcement Officer is a very dangerous career.

[Charlemagne]

Gee, until this young Marine, opened my eyes, I didn't realize I had such a shitty career. Its to bad you spent so much time in college and the police academy before you realized you didn't want to be a cop. It really was a waste of time for you, if that is the understanding of what you thing a cop does.

As for humping a machine gun up a mountain, maybe that is what they do in the Corps., not in the Army, unless you make it to Ranger School.

Who said it was a shitty career? I have lots of friends who are cops, hell I was gonna be one. The pay is generally good, you get full health benefits, and a nice pension. It is just not the career for me. I meant no disrespect to your profession. Believe me I think that some of the cops that work in some of the crime ridden cities and towns are heroes.

Was college a waste of time? Yeah, probably. In most cases in America nowadays college is a big waste of time, unless you get a degree in an advanced engineering field or mathematics. But at least I get to go back in as an officer now rather than enlisted so it wasn't a total washout.

Was the police academy a waste of time? No. I learned a lot of things that I can put into use when I am in charge of my own platoon. I think it helped hone my bearing, my public speaking skills and my ability to communicate points across much better to people. I also got some sweet letters of recommendation from the training staff and made some good friends.

At this point, being 27, being a combat veteran, and having some life experience I think is going to serve me well when I go back into the military.

[Ranger Ron]

Welcome to ArmyRanger.com and thanks for you continued service to our great country!

[Ranger Bill]

...couldn't see myself sitting in car all day, writing up stupid reports about giving traffic tickets to soccer moms or hassling the town's drunks. I want to be where the action is...

...at least I get to go back in as an officer now rather than enlisted...

Not to pick a fight, but while you didn't outright say an LEO career is shitty, the effect of your words are the same. Then you insult 95% of the men on this site for being enlisted. I guess these are examples of what you meant by ...

...my public speaking skills and my ability to communicate points across much better to people.

[Charlemagne]

...couldn't see myself sitting in car all day, writing up stupid reports about giving traffic tickets to soccer moms or hassling the town's drunks. I want to be where the action is...

...at least I get to go back in as an officer now rather than enlisted...

Not to pick a fight, but while you didn't outright say an LEO career is shitty, the effect of your words are the same. Then you insult 95% of the men on this site for being enlisted. I guess these are examples of what you meant by ...

...my public speaking skills and my ability to communicate points across much better to people.

If my words insulted anybody I apologize. Please do not think that I think anything less of enlisted personnel. I was an enlisted Marine and an enlisted Marine who spent his first 2 years in a grunt unit no less. I was there scraping moss out of the side walk on field day till 4 in the morning. I was the one who got stuck carrying the mortar base plate and the radio during 25 mile humps. I was the one who got picked to go on duty because somebody flaked out. I want to be the officer that cares for his men, listens to his NCO's, tries to be as fair as possible and makes the right decisions.

I appreciate your input. If I come across as brash or offensive I don't mean to be. The way I see it, as a potential officer my main job is to take in and learn as much from NCO's and Senior NCO's as possible. Thank you.

[Charlemagne]

I just couldn't see myself sitting in car all day, writing up stupid reports about giving traffic tickets to soccer moms or hassling the town's drunks. I want to be where the action is, I want to be humping a machine gun up a mountain, I want to be leading from the front, I want to be one of the best, I want to be a Ranger.

Well can you see yourself sitting at a desk writing reports or checking paperwork? This is a large part of an Officer's life. The actual "hooah" portion of a LT's life is small in comparison with the rest of the BS you have to put up with.

A lot of young LTs go in with the idea that all they are going to be doing is train with their soldiers day in and day out and become disappointed when they find that this is not reality. If you unit isn't in a training cycle, you may only see your Platoon in the morning for PT. When your platoon gets decimated by 1SG or CSM details, what do you think the Platoon Leader does when there is no one available to “lead”? You do “additional duties such as Unit NBC Officer (only one example). Yup...you can get a BIG hard-on going through your unit's NBC NCO's paperwork, to see if he is keeping up with preventative maintenance he should be doing as well as doing spot inspections of the equipment. Of course the two week Brigade or Division level NBC school that you will have to go to will keep you at the edge of your seat. Now if you half-ass it, who do you think they look at when there is a Corps level NBC inspection and your room and the training level of soldiers in the company fails miserably? You, the NBC Officer will instantly get the attention of at least the Battalion Commander in not a good way.

Perhaps you will have the excitement of doing a "Report of Survey" when someone loses their TA-50. You do not know the definition of “stupid” or “tedious” yet. Of course if you are in Mech Unit, maintenance of your vehicles does weigh heavy on your mind. The Battalion Commander will chew on your Commander who will in-turn chew on you if your vehicles should fail an IG level inspection or fail to meet Operational Readiness standards.

This is the life of a Combat Arms Platoon Leader when in garrison and not some staff weenie or a Combat Service Support Branched LT. Now if you screw off and do a half-ass job doing these non-hooah things, you just may screw yourself when it comes to getting the good jobs. You could be lucky like I was many years ago and have all the key/fun jobs like I did (Platoon Ldr, Scout Platoon Ldr, Company XO) but the Garrison BS and additional duties will still drive you nuts. Remember, there are far more LTs then slots for those key/fun jobs. The LTs who aren’t lucky to get such jobs get shipped to be perhaps work at Range Control where they schedule units to use ranges. You know you aren’t doing well when you are continually sent to interview for such odd jobs outside the unit.

Of course you may be put in a staff position waiting to get a platoon or after your platoon time is over. While I have never done it, being Asst. S1 must be a real blast. In any staff job, you really get into the fun of paperwork, reports and the way I understand it today….Powerpoint presentations. There is one young “Tabbed” Infantry LT on this site whose first assignment is one of Mess Hall Officer. He is not even at Division level yet.

Now what if at OCS you do not get branched as a Combat Arms Officer? It is VERY competitive. You could be branched as a Quartermaster Officer. This could very well mean no Ranger School and no humping a machine gun around the mountains like you envision. You could find yourself running a Supply Warehouse. What are you going to do if that happens to you stud?

Just giving you a little dose of reality of what it may be like to being an Officer in the “Big Army”. Of course the more you advance in your career, being in the field with soldiers starts to become a distant memory which can drive an Officer who loves the field absolutely nuts. I have BTDT.

You will have to put up with the “Big Army” before even thinking about making it to the Ranger Regiment as an Officer where life can be a lot different but then again, making it to the Ranger Regiment as an Officer is next to impossible. Think about it, you are competing against perhaps every Tabbed 1LT Infantry Officer in the Army for a VERY limited number of positions. There are only three Ranger Battalions.

On a personal note, if today, I was 25 years younger, college educated and wanting to join the Army and knew I wanted to be in the Ranger Regiment, I would enlist with an Option 40 contract and then down the road look at perhaps going to OCS with the thinking that perhaps having experience in the Regiment as an Enlisted Soldier may get my foot in the door to come back again as an Officer.

An Option 40 contract is the ONLY guarantee of at least being given the opportunity to join the Regiment where the normal “BS” of the “Big Army” is minimized. Why didn’t I do this back in 1983? Quite frankly, I really did not know anything about the two Ranger Battalions that existed at the time and really knew very little about Ranger School before going through it. The internet nor ArmyRanger.com didn’t exist back then. Today, I am convinced more than ever that if a man loves the field and loves training and leading soldiers, being a Combat Arms NCO is the best job in the Army.

Welcome to the site and good luck with your pursuits.

Appreciate your input. I have a lot to learn. All that I can do is try my best and see what happens.

[al_2ndWolfhounds]

Duties I was saddled with as an Infantry 2Lt:

XO - Paper Work and more Paper Work.
Additional Duties as XO;
Training Officer - Lots of Paper Work.
Mess Officer - Not as much paper work but can be a chewed ass position when meals are not where they are supposed to be and on time.
Re-enlistment Officer - More Paper Work.
Supply Officer - Paper Work and signing you life away when you have to inventory and sign for every piece of Company Equipment.
Morale and Unit Fund Officer - More Paper Work.
Let us not leave out; Reports of Surveys, Line of Duty Investigations, Bn, Bde, and Post Duty Officer - all of these appointed by Higher HQ on as needed basis or Duty Roster.

Orders for Vietnam were very welcome - I was a 1Lt and actually got to function as a Rifle Platoon Leader 24 hours a day for 6 months then came the Paper Work crash when I was reassigned as a Company XO again. See 2Lt duties above and add in having to assist in the counting of over 9 million dollars in Military Payment Currency (MPC) watching it burn and signing of documents attesting to the count and destruction.

As ZoneIV has already pointed out lots of reports and paperwork as an officer and it doesn't get any better as you rise in rank.

Being a LEO is probably a lot like being in a combat zone: Days and maybe weeks of tedium punctuated by minutes or hours of shit hitting the fan and adrenaline. That's why I have such a great deal of respect for both; everyday your life is in jeopardy.

This was not a thread hijack just a reinforcement of what to expect as an officer. Of course being a Lt in the 75th may have more troop time in a non-combat environment than what I experienced.

[RANGER513]

One nice thing about being a " cop " ...............

As an officer in the Army, you will NEVER make as much money every month has I do !

Just saying.

[Charlemagne]

One nice thing about being a " cop " ...............

As an officer in the Army, you will NEVER make as much money every month has I do !

Just saying.

Well, that depends. What state do you work in?

Given the current economic crisis hitting this country, I would not be surprised if public employee pay begins to take as big a hit as the private sector does. Quite a few of my friends who were on the job got laid off and they are having a very tough time finding work. Very unfortunate.

One good thing about the military is that you are not going to be laid off. And as I see it, when things get really bad economically and the people begin to rise in rebellion, without fail, time and time again, the powers that are in charge of the government take the country to war.