Can Anyone tell me why I dont want to be an Officer?
So I was looking at the FY 2006 pay scale today. Since I'm going in to the Army as a Specialist (E4), I thought I would see how much I can expect to get paid. As it turns out....it aint much....at all. I have to start payments on my student loans in the very near future, since I didnt qualify for any tuition repayment, or enlistment bonuses. I didnt even get the Bonus for having my degree. So lets use a little deductive reasoning.
Q: Why did I bother to pay $30,000 to get my degree
A: In order to make a better living
Q: What does an E4 with >6 make in an Army of one?
A: 2018.40 before taxes
Q: What Does an O1E make with >6 in an Army of One?
A: 3246.30 before taxes
So theres a pretty big disparity in monetary compensation there. I can tell you all one thing definitively, I did not get my degree to go be poor and not be able to pay my bills. I didnt do it so that everything I own could rot in storage while I wait to make E7, or get married so I can get BAH.
I have said before that I didnt enlist as an 18X for the money. There's more to life than money, than the pursuit of money. Its not like Im going to get rich as an officer either, but at least I'd be able to pay my debts. I can go SF as an officer as well. I dont know. I dont know why I got a degree in management if I wasn't going to take a job with a leadership position. Would I be of more use as an officer or a specialist? There are so many things to consider.
Q: Why did I bother to pay $30,000 to get my degree
A: In order to make a better living
Q: What does an E4 with >6 make in an Army of one?
A: 2018.40 before taxes
Q: What Does an O1E make with >6 in an Army of One?
A: 3246.30 before taxes
So theres a pretty big disparity in monetary compensation there. I can tell you all one thing definitively, I did not get my degree to go be poor and not be able to pay my bills. I didnt do it so that everything I own could rot in storage while I wait to make E7, or get married so I can get BAH.
I have said before that I didnt enlist as an 18X for the money. There's more to life than money, than the pursuit of money. Its not like Im going to get rich as an officer either, but at least I'd be able to pay my debts. I can go SF as an officer as well. I dont know. I dont know why I got a degree in management if I wasn't going to take a job with a leadership position. Would I be of more use as an officer or a specialist? There are so many things to consider.
posted by ElimiNate at 11:33 AM
2 Comments:
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I don't know you personally but I doubt the officer thing would be what you are looking for, at least not from the start.
An officer will only lead soldiers for the first 18 months or so (if he's lucky) after he gets to his unit. After that he will be an XO or work in staff until he makes CPT and takes a Company (usually about 5-6 years in or so). He will lead the company for 18-24 months and then work in staff again until he makes LTC and takes a Battalion. Only 10% of each officer year group ever takes a Battalion command. And officer will spend the vast majority of his career in staff, an NCO will spend the vast majority of his career leading soldiers.
Years ago I turned down a Green to Gold slot that was offered to me for exactly this reason.
Most prior enlisted people don't make it past Major anyway, not because there is a prohibition against it, just because most of them reach retirement by then.
I could be wrong (pretty sure I'm not though) but you can't come in as an SF officer. There are no LT's in SF (at least not on the operational side.) To go to selection as an officer you have to be a 1LT promotable or a CPT.
You could always go to OCS later on if you want to. They will have you go be a LT in an Infantry company until you are close to making CPT and then send you back to the teams. I had a Platoon Leader in this situation a few years back.
Money wise, by the time you get to a team you will either already be an E-6 or pin on shortly thereafter. When I was a newly pinned E-6 I had a soldier of mine head off to the Q course as an E-4. He made the E-7 list the year after I did (and I fast tracked.)
I may be off a little on some of the specifics with regard to SF officers but you should email Jack Army and bounce this off of him. He would know better than I would.
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