Contemplating going army after graduating college (training, officers, enlisted, veterans)
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Ideally I'll be graduating from my university in a year and I've seriously been thinking about joining the army as an officer and go in for language translation and getting into the Defense Language Institute. I want to know how to go about that since I can't join my school's ROTC program any more and I don't really know how to get into the OCS. I would also like recommendations and opinions on my route.
Ideally I'll be graduating from my university in a year and I've seriously been thinking about joining the army as an officer and go in for language translation and getting into the Defense Language Institute. I want to know how to go about that since I can't join my school's ROTC program any more and I don't really know how to get into the OCS. I would also like recommendations and opinions on my route.
For the Army: You are proposing two mutually exclusive routes. You generally can't go in as a new commissioned officer and immediately go to language school. You'd have to get into a functional area or Special Operations later, after your first few years as a Lieutenant, that required a language.
You CAN, however, enlist for an MOS that requires a language and go to DLI as part of your initial entry training.
Getting into the Defense Language Institute (DLI), can't really help you there. I retired in 1990, things have changed, you need a career field which require the language, you need an appropriate "Defense Language Aptitude Battery" (DLAB) score (I did not do well). You can study for it, to a degree, have seen people do it. Read over this page: Defense Language Aptitude Battery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Well I want to go in as a translator I'm already bilingual but my language isn't in demand so I want to do another language, would translator be a MOS and what is MOS?
There is no translator MOS for commissioned officers in the U.S. Army that I am aware of.
The closest thing is Foreign Area Officer. That's something you can do after 4-7 years as a basic branch officer (it is what is called a 'functional area', which is basically a fairly specialized career field that the Army really doesn't need new officers in).
It is very hard to get into-you had better bring your A game to everything you do-but if you are picked for FAO, you are sent to graduate school for area or international studies, language school, and a year of in-country training for the area you specialize in, so we're talking 3-ish years of training before you really even start working as a FAO.
The end state of FAO is to live overseas in a country of the area you specialize in, working (usually) at the embassy, and interacting with the local military and the local culture, in their native language. However, sometimes FAOs are based in DC or at geographic combatant commands when not working in a country (for instance, Central Command in Tampa has some Middle Eastern FAOs assigned there permanently).
Ideally I'll be graduating from my university in a year and I've seriously been thinking about joining the army as an officer and go in for language translation and getting into the Defense Language Institute. I want to know how to go about that since I can't join my school's ROTC program any more and I don't really know how to get into the OCS. I would also like recommendations and opinions on my route.
since you said you can't get into ROTC anymore and would have to go OCS to be an officer or enlist; I would suggest that you do not make being an officer your primary career goal. and it would be too soon for you to think of going in just to be a language/DLI officer anyway. Admit maybe you could enlist as a language specialist, if needs are the Army deemed it so. But translators can be hired anytime.
With all the cutbacks and people being pinkslipped, nothing is certain so my suggestion is to explore other options. If you were committed to military service from the get go or had been in ROTC all along, I might say give it your best shot to fulfill your dream. good luck
The closest thing is Foreign Area Officer. That's something you can do after 4-7 years as a basic branch officer (it is what is called a 'functional area', which is basically a fairly specialized career field that the Army really doesn't need new officers in).
It is very hard to get into-you had better bring your A game to everything you do-but if you are picked for FAO, you are sent to graduate school for area or international studies, language school, and a year of in-country training for the area you specialize in, so we're talking 3-ish years of training before you really even start working as a FAO.
The end state of FAO is to live overseas in a country of the area you specialize in, working (usually) at the embassy, and interacting with the local military and the local culture, in their native language. However, sometimes FAOs are based in DC or at geographic combatant commands when not working in a country (for instance, Central Command in Tampa has some Middle Eastern FAOs assigned there permanently).
That sounded cool enough to me that I was almost enticed to join. Almost. The 'after ten years, there's a small chance' part was a bit of a damper.
Landing a federal civilian position as a recent college graduate is significantly harder than in 2001-2007. Many agencies do not want to pay to get you a clearance and training when there is a steady stream of veterans needing employment who have the wanted prerequisites.
The OP needs a clear career plan before he chooses the officer or enlisted side. There are positives and negatives to each choice which will help guide any decision.
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