Monday, August 16, 2010

And We Are Moving To...

Over the weekend I was in Georgia for Branch Day. For those who don't know what Branch Day is, it is the day all OCS soldiers choose what their job will be in the Army for the next three years. Each Officer Candidate has been ranked based on PT scores, test scores and a few other things as well. Currently John is 40 out of 150 some. The lower you are ranked the less likely you are to get the job you want. However, for the most part everyone gets their first choice. Out of this class I would say there were abotu 10 who may not have been happy but only because of their ranking.

Each class gets a slot allotcation sheet that tells them how many job openining there are in Infantry, MI, Transportation and others. Candidates go up one at a time (in the order they are ranked), choose a job and then say, "I am Officer Candidate Pennington and I choose...". Prior service, guard and reserve already have their jobs going into OCS so they go up and state "I am" instead.

Anyone wanting to do Aviation, Medical Services or Engineering must fill out a packet. Aviation and Engineering both found out about their positions, but Medical Services have not. John is hoping for Medical Services.

So because we are still not sure about Medical Services John still had to pick a branch he wanted. Right now he will be doing Military Intelliegence with a Field Artilery detail. This means John will go for training at Ft. Sill, OK and do in FA for two years and then go and train to be in MI. Fingers are still crossed for Medical Services to come through though.

2 comments:

Army Wife said...

Congrats.

Feeling a little more relaxed now that you know where you're headed? Or still feeling pretty apprehensive as you wait to hear back on MS?

Good luck on getting Med Services.

MilitaryWife&Mom said...

Still feeling apprehensive because we are waiting to hear back on MS. Makes it hard to plan anything because our plans could change in a second.

The other bad part is that we bought all the patches and ribbons for his Blues for FA knowing there is a chance it might change, but his uniform has to be ready when he gets out of the field. We really didn't have a choice.