I'm interested in going into Intelligence, but am not sure if I should go in Enlisted first or go the OCS route. Any suggestions? Also, what job in MI would best prepare me for a civilian career in intelligence? Thanks!

Pretty much all of them have civilian equivalents. What discipline you go into (SIGINT, HUMINT, IMINT, etc) will determine where you are best qualified to work, be it as a civilian contractor (booz-allen-hamilton, CACI, General Dynamics, etc) or a federal government employee (FBI, CIA, NSA, NGA, etc).

I prefer the enlisted side personally. Officers tend to get non-MOS jobs more frequently (such as company commander, Bn Adjutant, etc). NCOs generally have additional duties to occupy their time (squad leader, UPL, platoon sergeant, key control NCO, shop NCOIC, etc). The best route, if you want to be an in-depth intelligence professional, largely ignoring the Army as a whole (aside from mandatory requirements like APFT, weapon quals, etc), is to go MI Technical Warrant. As far as I know, all enlisted MI MOS's have warrant equivalents.

But to do that, you'll have to start out enlisted.

Thank you so much SSG Prophet! That is good advice & is right in line with what some others have been saying. I appreciate it! I'm waiting to hear from the recruiter on what enlisted MI slots are available in my state & I'll go from there. Thanks again!

Not a problem, best of luck to you!

I originally had planned to drop a warrant packet, but I found that I enjoyed taking care of my soldiers and enforcing the Army standard. I have more fun as an NCO than I think I would have as a technical warrant.

Are you planning to go Active, Guard, or Reserve? If you want reserve, I can tell you some positions if you can indicate the area (zip code and mile radius is preferable).

If you enlist in the Reserves, it's relatively easy these days to get a commission. We're also looking to fill warrant officer position (sort of in between)