Should I become an Officer?

Aussie.

Aussie.

Active member
Alright, I am 16 years old and I have seriously been considering a Military Career in Australia since I was 14 [Pernament career with the ARMY]

However, I am not sure if I should just enlist as soon as I turn 17 as a normal soldier or should I finish the two years of college and go to the Royal Military College of Duntroon and spend 18 months there to become an officer?

I really want to get into the army as soon as I can, but I also want to stay within the military as long as I can [As in, once I get "Too Old" I could still have something to do with the army] and I think that you can only stay in the Army afterwards if you went to RMC Duntroon.

Damn I aint doing a good job at explaining this :x

I dont want to go to College, but if I choose to go to RMC Duntroon I have to graduate from College, and when I finish at RMC Duntroon I will become a Officer in the Army. However, next Year I am turning 17 and then I would be able to enlist into the army, but I wont be an officer and I am not sure if you can stay in the army when you get too old for actual service.

I cant imagine doing anything other than joining the army [Perhaps a cop, but that would be boring] and this really has my balls in a woodchipper. So are there any Aussie's or Yanks out there that could help me?
 
Well, for the vast majority of militaries in the world, if you want a long military career, the enlistedman route is probably a better option. There aren't many spots for officer, especially compared to enlisted so that just increases the odds of your career coming to an end before you want it to.
 
Well I just plan to be a Rifleman or one of those guys that get chucked right into the thick of it all [Family tradition thing], so I guess you could easily be an officer in that position?
 
Hmm... actually no.
But I have not served in the Australian Army so you will have to wait until one of those folks post in this thread.
 
Well are you better at giving orders or enacting them? Cause the main difference between officer and enlisted is management skills really(aside from duties etc.)

If you do decide to go with enlisted, you always have the chance for promotion if you are eager and display officer skills.. plus if you enlist, you can always apply for entrance for RMC

But I'd recommend waiting until you've finished high school, it gives you options in case something comes up or if you want to apply for a job after ADF

Quick question; don't want to go to ADFA?
 
timmy said:
Well are you better at giving orders or enacting them? Cause the main difference between officer and enlisted is management skills really(aside from duties etc.)

If you do decide to go with enlisted, you always have the chance for promotion if you are eager and display officer skills.. plus if you enlist, you can always apply for entrance for RMC

But I'd recommend waiting until you've finished high school, it gives you options in case something comes up or if you want to apply for a job after ADF

Quick question; don't want to go to ADFA?
Click to expand...


I prefer taking orders, I dont think I can handle the stress and tough decisions a officer would take [When in a tough situation I do radical thinking].

Wait, so even if I enlisted straight after High School, I could still go to RMC Duntroon after a few years of service? Thats pretty sweet.

The idea of ADFA doesnt appeal to me. I dont want to be a mechanic/medic/carpenter for the army, really.
 
timmy said:
Well are you better at giving orders or enacting them? Cause the main difference between officer and enlisted is management skills really(aside from duties etc.)

If you do decide to go with enlisted, you always have the chance for promotion if you are eager and display officer skills.. plus if you enlist, you can always apply for entrance for RMC

But I'd recommend waiting until you've finished high school, it gives you options in case something comes up or if you want to apply for a job after ADF

Quick question; don't want to go to ADFA?
Click to expand...


I would prefer taking orders instead of giving them, because when I am under pressure I make radical decisions.

I thought you had to first finish college to be able to go to RMC Duntroon? So if I just normally enlisted after High School and serve a few years and perform well, I could choose to go to RMC?

ADFA is something that doesnt appeal to me at all. I dont want to be a carpenter/mechanic/doctor for the army.
 
If you want to be a Infantry officer you need to be able to lead from the front. Make decisions on the fly in a firefight. Mens lifes will depend on it. In the states being a Infantry officer is a low percentage. They only want the best. I believe Infantry, Pilot, and MI are the hardest officers fields to get into.
 
I am not sure you quite understand what ADFA is.
The Australian Defence Force Academy is basically a Defence University, where you can study a degree as well as train to become an officer. You will not be a tradesman at the end of it, but a Commissioned Officer in the branch you initially sign up for.

I would suggest if you are looking to stay in for the long run, you look into enlisting as a Digger, like it has been said before, there are a hell of a lot more jobs for Dig's as opposed to officers, promotion is probably more likely and there is no guarantee if you sign up as an O you will get what you want. You may want Infantry, but you may be better suited to being a Logistics Officer or something and end up well away from what you want.

Just a thought, look into a few jobs (Arms Corps and non Arms Corps) both Officer and Enlisted and really have a long think about what suits YOU best. Ask around (you mentioned family) and around here and other forums on specific jobs, get a feel for what may suit you the best, then go from there.
 
Well as I said before I dont really want to go to College/University [Not that I am bad at school, I just find it all very frustrating] so I doubt ADFA is for me.

Well, seems like I will just go for enlisted then. I sure as hell dont want to wind up in logistics haha.

What about after when you pass the age requirment [I think its when your 30-40 years old], will I still be able to stay in the army and do another, non-combat oriented job [something like transport or commander or something like that]?

I just want to stay in the army as long as possible.
 
yes its posible

Aussie. said:
I just want to stay in the army as long as possible.
Click to expand...
if u r valuable to the army they will keep u, their r wo1 in their 70's working here at 6RAR in the main q store, if u want to be be a leader and still get into combat become an enlisted man in the Infantry and get promoted to corporal because in the aus army once your sargent and above u may be on partroll but if the **** hits the fan u hang at the back with the officer doing up orders while the section comander [corporal] dose the actual leading in combat.
 
The way I see it (and I know very little about the Australian Army) you could get some college & still go in as an enlisted man. Make your decision to be an officer from the ranks while serving. I believe there is no military that doesn't profit from having officers that have served as enlisted. The experience you gain there is priceless. My contention that whether officer or enlisted there is no such thing as being too educated. I hold an Associates degree & 2 Bachelor degrees & I was a senior NCO in the US Army. I believe I wouldn't have achieved the rank I hold without it it as most of my contemporaries retired at one rank less than me.

So therefore my recommendation is to get some education, at least finish high school, enlist in the job that you want, get some experience & then decide whetyher you want to try for a commission. I think you'll have more opportunities in the enlisted ranks to do what you want to do. In the US Army officer candidates have to take the job the Army needs them to take except for the very top percent of their officer classes.
 
Get your reasons for joining as a Rfileman straight. Did my assessment day today and about 3 quarters to a half of the riflemen(80% of the group there wanted to be rifleman) did not get through. They must really grill them or something because most of the other guys including me went through. Ever considered something else besides the Army?
 
danntor said:
Ever considered something else besides the Army?
Click to expand...

Yes, I considered working as a security guard [Laugh all you want :p], Police Officer and even a teacher but to be honest none of them are really appealing to me, I just thought about it vaguely a few times.

I really want to join the army, and also seeing as it is family tradition that also is a factor in making me want to join so badly [Though not a main one, even if not a single member of my family served in the Army I would still want to go].
 
Oh, I feel like a dumbass now.

Well no, Navy isnt my style, and I can get a bit seasick sometimes.

RAAF would be cool, but I wear glasses [Only for reading and of course using my computer] so I guess being a pilot or anything like that is out of the question, and I dont fancy walking around an air base fitting missiles onto a F-111 haha.
 
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