Originally posted by ShaulWolf
I was an artillery forward observer so I got a good taste of both the artillery and the infantry world, since my actual unit and team were all infantry units but each heavy weapons team is required to have 1 forward observer attached to manage their indirect fire support assets.
That being said, I also know a bit about the officer angle of artillery and infantry. We cross-trained often with the marines artillery units so I know a lot about how the marines operate vs. the army as well. Also i've had a few friends in intel, particularly in HUMINT and interrogation teams but I don't know any intel officers
Here's some pro's and con's to help you decide, based on my experience:
Intel is less likely to get you shot, but you may still be able to see action depending on where in the intel world you get placed. If your overseeing a bunch of anylysts than not much action, desk weenie type work. If you are officer of a HUMINT team that collects data on the scene than you will be going out of the wire more often and may even see some action.
Intel is good because it could translate into a civilian job when you reach your ETS date and now have to go find a real job out in the civilian world.
Artillery: In my experience, the marines artillery do get to play with cool toys and blow shit up more often, but the necessity for indirect fire assets like artillery, mortars, close air support etc is is dwindling. The new hotness is trying to somehow operate a war with minimal civilian casualties. This is a fail but its how the've chosen to do it. As a result, mayn people who get into artillery end up getting re-classed into another job field, usually not of their choosing. CCA Helicopter assets are used a lot though for things like recon and route clearance for convoys etc so there still is some need for observers, but less so for artillery personell.
Infantry:
Being a dismounted light infantry guy is hard because it involves mroe training (read as `pain`), more physical endurance since you gotta walk your ass, your assault pack, and your weapon all over the place often time while running, ducking through windows etc. So it is tiring.
But on the plus size you get to kill people. If you want to kill people, this is obviously the route that will elad directly to accomplishing that goal.
It is seen as the cooler job as far as military MOS's go but it also carries a higher risk factor. Especially the marines, who seem very careless in terms of trying not to get shot from what i've seen. We had one cross training exercise where it was army vs. marines in Ft Polk LA where we spent 30 days doing a Joint Rediness Training Regiment. In this exercise we all had lasers strapped to our guns and sensors strapped to our armor/helmets. It was like a game of laser tag using blanks and lasers to simulate real firefights.
The marines lost. Badly. The exercise had to be reset more than once since the marines lost most of their force before the exercise was complete.
That leads me to the mechanized units you are also thinking of:
Mechanized means less walking, but bigger target. Also, motorpool. You will spend countless hours washing and servicing the constantly breaking machines you use when in the field. This is boring and gay, to say the least. But, way cooler toys. I think marines use the lav-25's nowadays but i'm not real informed on current nomenclature for the vehicles they use at the moment. Either way, light mech units kick ass.
Just think, do you want to get a good job after your service? If yes, than intel.
Do you want to kill people and get promoted the fastest? If yes than infantry.
Either way, kick some ass, and enjoy your unnecesarily higher than enlisted rate of pay for being an officer.
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