Will my soldier get leave after OSUT if he is being stationed OCONUS?
He is having his BCT+AIT graduation and turning blue ceremonies at the end of September, and is scheduled to be stationed outside the country early November. Will he get leave? And if so how much
Question about Army OSUT?
You don't have two graduations. If I remember correctly you get a 36 hour pass when you hit where your BCT grad. should be. But there is no ceremony. I'm not 100% sure about that one though. When you do graduate OSUT you def. get a ceremony and a 36 hr. pass. It's called the Turning Blue ceremony, and you get your blue cords. After you graduate you have a certain amount of time to get to your next duty station. Now, if you're going Airborne, you go right from graduation to Airborne School, and you can get a pass for the weekend if you want. You can't leave during AB school, but it's pretty much a done at 1700 schedule for the first two weeks. And then your free after that. And unless you get 3rd ID, then you will not be stationed at Ft. Benning. If I correctly remember anything else I'll be sure to edit this answer.
Can I be deployed to a combat zone right after OSUT?
I'm a future soldier shipping out for training on Jan 2014. My OSUT is 15 weeks long and my MOS is 12B. How likely is it that I will be sent to Afghanistan considering the current scenario. I am looking forward to at least one deployment to Afghanistan for experience. What will i mostly be doing with my MOS out there? what will I be doing at a duty station with the same MOS? Is there a stat as to which duty station I'm more likely to be stationed at? Please answer only if you support our troops.
19D duty stations.....?
You'll do PT every morning unless there is something else going on. In most units you'll usually spend most of Monday in the motorpool doing Command Maintenance, pretty much truck repairs, inspections, and anything else needed to make sure your truck is ready to go. Depending on what vehicles you're on you may be in the motorpool most days doing maintenance. A lot of times you'll do classes at the platoon level on anything from weapons, MOUT, land nav, commo, mounted and dismounted patrols and actions on contact, conducting LP/OPs, vehicles and any other skills that you're platoon feels need to be touched on. Personally we spend a lot of time doing MOUT, land nav, and commo. You'll also go to the field quite often and do ranges, mounted/dismounted patrols, TCPs, LP/OPs, etc. ~~~ It depends on needs of the Army. Usually you'll go to a unit who is either getting ready to deploy or just got back as they try to fill them up personnel wise before deployment, and a lot of people PCS/ETS right after deployment. I couldn't begin to tell you where you'll end up. If there is an Army brigade there, you can go there. ~~~ Yet again it depends. I knew a guy who was in Afghanistan within 4 days of graduation. I know others who still havn't deployed. It all depends on rotations and when you go where. If you end up somewhere that doesn't deploy such as Irwin or Korea it could be a few years before you deploy. If you go someplace like Drum or Lewis it could be in a few months. You just never know. Besides that prepared to do quite a bit of standing by waiting to get tasked out on details, and gear layouts. Especially when gearing up for deployment.
What will happen to my Infantry Soldier right after OSUT graduation?
So I need information on what will happen to my husband after he graduates from Army BCT in May from Fort Benning, GA.. he writes in his letters that he will only have 20 minutes after OSUT graduation to be with his family.. he will be stationed in Fort Drum, NY.. and he also wrote that he was told that he will possible he deployed after four months of being there... this is a lot for me to take in.. so please give me some information if possible.. He really wants me to get all the information I can so I can update him.. Thanks !!
How soon after OSUT can i be deployed.?
it depends, if you are active duty you are usually afforded the opportunity to take leave before reporting in to you duty station. then from there it also depends,... if your unit is already deployed thye might give you 2-5 weeks of training, and send you out to meet your unit there... if the unit is prepping for deployment you prep with them... when units prep for deployment, they usually allow 2-4 weeks of Block leave to see youre families and such. theres also always a chance you'll be assigned to a unit that isnt going anywhere. hope this helps, BTW good luck at FT leonard wood, i graduated from basic there NOV of 2005, it was cold as all hell. :)
Does a 11b infantryman fresh out of OSUT have a high chance of being deployed?
If I'm not mistaken, they can't send you to a unit that is deploying within a certain time period after you get there. For example, they probably won't send you to a unit that is deploying a week after you arrive; there's a lot of preparation and pre-deployment requirements to complete. It all depends on the needs of the Army, but I would imagine that if he did go to a deploying unit, he would leave within 6 months of arriving. You can't really "apply" for a particular station, there's very little you can do straight out of OSUT as far as duty stations are concerned. I'm in Korea and we get new 11Bs straight from Benning here quite a bit. Is he in the Regular Army, National Guard or Army Reserve? EDIT: Ok, as an Active Duty soldier, he won't get much of a choice in assignment. Every job in the Army falls into a specific "Branch", and for a given rank a soldier will have a "Branch Manager" who decides where to assign them. Once you've been in a while you can talk to these managers, maybe get on their good side and they'll hook you up with a good assignment; for example, one of my Lieutenants just left for Hawaii after talking to his. But your boyfriend in OSUT would probably get ignored. The way they assign soldiers is that every unit has an MTOE (forgot what the acronym stands for) that says how many soldiers of what job and rank they are allowed to have. If they need one, they submit a requisition, or request, to fill the vacancy. So the branch manager will prioritize units based on a number of requirements; for example, a unit preparing for deployment is a high priority - they should fill as many vacancies as they can so they'll have everyone they need to successfully do their job. Once the units are prioritized, he'll go down the list and start filling in the vacancies. Once that is done and he has a little more freedom, then he will take into account the preferences of the soldier (what Chad referred to as the "dream sheet", which is likely just 3 choices, not 5). Hopefully my answers aren't too long. If you have any further questions, let me know. EDIT: In regards to what Jay wrote about airborne school, that's not always the case. In Korea we have received 11Bs just out of Airborne School before, its not as rare as you may think. Airborne won't guarantee he'll go to an Airborne unit.
If my Army contract says I have Airborne school right after OSUT will I be able to visit home after basic training/AIT or will I have to wait until after Airborne school?
This entirely depends on your current chain of command. Specifically, your current commander. I would start by first asking your first-line supervisor (in your case, your drill sergeant) and go from there. In the end, it entirely depends on your commander’s decision. The issue you are going to have in your first few months of being on active duty is that you will have only a few days of accrued leave at most by the time you finish OSUT training. I would guess around 5 days accrued, depending how long you have been in at that time. It really depends on how long your OSUT training cycle lasts. Recall that for every month you serve, you accrue 2.5 days of leave time. Probably the biggest issues, though, is the start/report date of your Airborne school. You cannot be late for reporting to Airborne School, as it is only about a couple of weeks long. Also, taking leave between OSUT and Airborne school may not be such a good idea. I really need to be in the best shape as you can be when you get to Airborne School. Most people don’t do much exercise during leave, meaning that you will go a week or two with no exercise to all of a sudden you are in Airborne school, doing tons of running, rucking, jumping off of stuff, etc. Falling out of a run in Airborne school in taboo, meaning you may be eliminated from the course.My advice: Airborne school only lasts a couple of weeks or so. Tough it out and take leave after you have earned your jump wings. Also, as your drill sergeant what you can do early on so that you can be best prepared for Airborne school. What I mean by early on is within the first week of Basic/OSUT training. Make it your goal to be the top of your class in both OSUT and Airborne school which means you should be doing the very best you can to get in good shaped before you enter the Army. Learn how to do pushups correctly first and do this out of habit (learn to go all the way down when executing them). You should be able to do no less than 60 correctly performed pushups within 2 minutes before you get to Basic. Also, you need to start running now with the goal of running 2 miles in 14 minutes or better… Ask your recruiter what workout regiment you should do before you enter basic training. Doing this (esp. with pushups) will make Basic/OSUT training so much more tolerable any ways.
How could I be assured of being assigned to the 82nd Airborne?
When I joined the Army (as enlisted) in 2002 I worked with recruiters to find the job that I wanted. You enter into a contract when you join and "for the most part" as I understand it. You are likely to get the job, permanent duty station, and assignment that is agreed upon.I remember there are a few things that can change that.Failing in basic trainingFailing in AITNeeds of the army#1 and #2 might change things, they might not. If you get re-cycled it can mess up the timeline and which units need which jobs.#3 Basically means that they can do whatever they want with you if they think they have a good reason. Think of it like the opposite of a stop-loss.I think you just have to tell a recruiter what you want, have the ASVAB scores needed to give you enough job choice flexibility, and be willing to wait for the opening.I think being able to have a former general make a call or two couldn't hurt.Extra adviceDo not join until you talk to 2-3 people who have your MOS and find out what they actually do all day.Remember that everything a recruiter tells you that you can do, is not a guarantee unless it is in writing. e.g. I was very excited because I was told that I could take local college courses while enlisted. Well, that is up to the training schedule, readiness schedule, deployment schedule.Don't let anyone making you feel bad keep you from going to sick call. Shin splints can turn into stress fractures. "Suck it up and drive on" is a great mentality for reaching a goal, not for ongoing pain management.
I just completed infantry OSUT and volunteered for a Ranger contract. Soon I’ll be going to RASP and hopefully making it to the Ranger Battalion. Are Rangers allowed beards in their units or when they are deployed?
Casey is a little bit incorrect in his answer. Not far off though, I guess.In Ranger regiment, the only times you’ll be allowed to grow a beard is if you’re on leave or if it’s the weekend or if you’re apart of Recce.There are two other circumstances where you can grow a beard even as a junior enlisted guy; you’re either going to be deployed as a part of a task force that requires, “relaxed grooming standards”, or if you’re going to be attached to Recce. Other than that you’ll be required to maintain the same grooming standards as most of the regular army. Honestly though, I’ve seen dudes get away with a little be of stubble here and there. Usually you can get away with growing out your hair a little longer than most as well.