infantry officer - limits?

[scottyg]

Hey everyone I have not made myself popular on this site with my lack of research for questions and general ignorance, however I do have a question that is important to me, and I have searched through the site and could not find the answer...

I was just wondering about the military courses, such as para, mountain warfare, ranger exchange into the US....I was wondering if infantry officers were allowed to do these courses? I just remember from the website it said the infantry officer was the one to lead and the soldier would do the work, so would the infantry officer then just instruct these courses, provided they met the requirements? Also, would infantry officers have a higher chance of receiving these courses were they allowed to take them, or would NCM's?

Sorry if this has been answered before but I really could not find it.

 

[Michael OLeary]

Some infantry officers do get specialist courses, getting on them is very much a matter of being in the right place at the right time and being selected for the right job by your Commanding Officer that requires you to have the training.  There are also relatively few positions that require specific specialist courses.  For example, in each Reg F infantry regiment there is one parachute company - so at any one time each regiment requires about 100 NCOs and soldiers qualified and three Lieutenant platoon commanders - you can do the math on probabilities.  Do others get opportunities for such courses, yes, but it is not common, see my first sentence again.  Many other courses are even more unlikely for officers to find themselves on, not impossible, but not common.  Rare offerings for courses like the Ranger course are highly contested for across the Army.

You can ask all you like for courses.  You will get sent on the ones your CO needs you to have to do the job he is giving you.  Whatever you do, don't build your career expectations around planning to get any specific 'high-speed' courses.

 

[scottyg]

I see that my fear has been affirmed! I really would want to receive those courses I mentioned but as an infantry officer I guess there is a lot less demand for that...while on the subject of specialist courses, how about for JTF-2...I know i know everyone wants to be one, and the likelihoods of most getting into it are SLIM at best, but do officers face the same number challenges here as they would with the paratroop course you gave as an example earlier? for example, 2 Liuetenants to 25 soldiers?

 

[Michael OLeary]

Everyone who wants to and passes the prerequisite fitness tests gets a chance to try out.  After that, any calculation of probabilities of making it are going to depend on passing the necessary assessments, meeting the trade, skill, and rank requirements that they are looking for at that time, and, if you get that far, passing the qualification courses. No one can give you a definitive answer.

 

[scottyg]

OK, thank you for the help...uhh since you're being helpful can I risk another question? What would the likelihoods be for me to receive the paratroop/MG/Recce courses if I only joined the military for the minimum 3 years as a NCM...(assuming I meet all physical requirements, and was the top 10% of my platoon)

 

[Michael OLeary]

Once again ... courses depend on being at the right time and place in your career path.

If you get sent to the 'wrong' battalion, it doesn't matter how well you did on your courses if the unit doesn't get space on the para course.

If you're the new guy, the Platoon staffs and Company Sergeant Major won't be checking your placement on BMQ and BIQ before they recommend soldiers for0 courses ...  they already have quite a few soldiers ahead of you waiting for their chances, and they know exactly what quality of troops they are. Being a newbie also means working to establish your place on every list the chain of command maintains, and that includes who's going on what courses next.

If you land in a company that is short signallers but has all the machine gunners it needs, then the company is going to fight for extra space on the communications course.

When you land in a battalion and mention the Recce platoon or any other specialist job, you'll run into soldiers in their third, fourth or fifth year in the rifle company who will tell you they are in line to go there first (at least as far as they are concerned).  And some have them will have been working very hard to impress on people that they deserve to be in that job.

Time, place, circumstance, opportunity .... LUCK.

 

[dangerboy]

Same as what Michael O'Leary said in the previous post,  right time / right place.  There does not seem sometimes to be any logic how people get courses.  As mentioned previously if your Chain of command thinks that they need you to be qualified that they will course load you on it.  The MG course (for the C6) is now called IPSWQ Infantry Platoon Support Weapons Qualification, and most units want as many people qualified this as possible so there is a good chance you can get this one in your initial engagement.

 

[scottyg]

Alright, thanks a lot everyone you have been helpful.