My husband is currently in the process of enlisting, he's taken his ASVAB, did quite well, and the next step is his physical and chosing an MOS.

I have a question about MOSs. For example, if a person chose flute player, for instance, my logic says that a flute player would not be needed in Iraq or in other combat areas. So, if you're MOS is something that does not have a place in combat, can the army decide you are needed for deployment and then what would happen? Would you have to chose a new job, or be assigned one, and retrained?

My husband's scores on the ASVAB qualify him for all jobs in the military. I know that Security Clearance can also factor in, are there other factors beyond that? Are there any resources that would tell you what jobs requite what security clearances and the different levels for security clearances? My husband has some blemishes I think towards security clearances from what I know about them, but he did work most recenly for Lockheed Martin and had a security clearance from them.


Sorry if my questions are silly or have been already answered!

Thanks!
Also, if anyone has any advice to give to me, please do!

Anne

well, the army's motto is that every soldier is a rifleman first, regardless of MOS, so even a flute player is espected to be proficient in basic soldier stuff. that being said, certain jobs have lower likliehoods of seeing combat than others (i.e. flute player), but it all depends on where you are stationed and what unit you are in. as far as the army snatching you out of your current job to make you go to war with a different one, they haven't done that to my knowledge. the closest thing to that would be getting deployed with a unit other than yours, but you would still do the same job. as far as security clearances go, there are 3: confidential, secret, and top secret. my guess is that if he got a clearance at lockheed martin, he should not have much trouble getting one in the army, but i am only speculating. i hope this helps. and don't worry, there are no silly questions except the ones you don't ask.

The Army is a warfighting institution, make no mistake about that. There is no MOS that doesn't have a place in combat; even flute players go to war. The only way to be realatively safe from deployment is to be a 79R recruiter and that's only available to NCOs.

I've seen a couple of soldiers in the past few months moved to other units, retrained, reclassified, and deployed. This however is not the norm, and I don't know if it's being done outsid the Army Reserve.

Please understand that the Army must place it's own needs above that of individual soldiers.

thanks for your answers. they are helpful but I still don't have my main question answered.

I assumed to be true that flute players or anyone could be sent to fight. One of my questions was to confirm this assumption and that was answered. However, what I still don't understand is what a flute player would do in combat? Are they assigned a new MOS, do they maintain their MOS but perform an army specified or chosen task in combat ? Basically, if you are told the army needs you for deployment, and not in your specific MOS, do you have a choice of what you then do on your deployment or is it assigned to you? I understand alot about the army, but not very much about the process of deployment. If anyone wants to educate me, please, feel free.

Thanks in advance :lol: :P

Although everyone is assigned a specific MOS, every soldier has to qualify and train on common tasks like weopon qualification, Land Nav etc..

That being said, If he is sent to Combat and is in a support MOS, he will be in a support position doing his job. But, wars are unpredictable, and an individual has to know basic soldier skills if a situation of vulnerability arises. For Example: 88m Truck Drivers, are taught to operate and drive vehicles. They transport supplies to where they are needed. In a lot of cases they have escorts to protect them, or the areas they are driving in have been deeemed secure. But, if the situation arises, they need to know how to protect themselves.

Someone that is a flute player, will probably been in an area that is very secure, as they mostly do ceremonial duties. But as I said earlier, the soldier has to be prepared, just in case.'

The only time I have seen the Army change someones MOS, is when they fail their AIT ( MOS School). When this happens, of course the soldier will change his/her job, as he/she is not qualified for the one originally processed for. To fail in AIT is not very common in most fields, as you are usually given 2 or 3 chances at re-testing each phase of the school. If the scores are high like you say they are, then I wouldn't worry about the MOS changing.

Another thing I forgot to add, is that within every Army unit there is a list stating what MOS slots there are. These slots are supposed to be filled. In other words, you are sent to a unit based on your MOS.

normaly, the bands war time mission is to provide security for the CG or someone high ranking. so yes a "flute player" can and will deploy.

my question to you is, why would you even question depolyment in todays army? look at the campains all over the world. you would be a fool to think that you could join the army and not deploy sometime in the enlistment. I think you should sit down with your spouse and SERIOUSLY discuss his desision to enlist and why. :?:

What about that artillery unit that got retrained and reclassed as MPs?

judge,
You bring up a valid point. When I was stationed at the JSA in korea, I was administratively reclassed to 11B even though I am a MP.

I am pretty sure the the artillery guys were reserves, I apoligize. I am not very familiar with the reserves. If this is happening in the Regular Army.... I guess I was wrong, I myself have never seen it happen. I was in a unit in Germany as a 45K and the mission of the unit changed, but we still had 45K slots. I worked as a 63G for 2 years. I tried like hell to get OJT for 63G, but they never gave it to me.

Did you have to go to Advanced Infantry School when they involuntarily reclassed you to 11B? I have been out of the the real Army world lately (Recruiter), and I never saw this going on before I came out here. Is the RA doing On The Job Training now and switching people's MOS. I would think this would be in the news. I know the Marines do have always been doing it. So am I lying to my guys when they have a job on thier contract that they signed up to do for x amount of years. I understand Recruiting and Drill Sergeant, but those are detailed jobs. Well, I guess I am wrong. I did say that I personally have not seen this. I apoligize if this is happening around the Army, I guess this Recruiting world has left me out of touch tremendously.

What happened was...
When I got stationed at the Joint Security Area, "they" (admin shop) stated that I was now an 11B and for 15 months, thats what I did. There was a platoon of MPs there and we did not do MP stuff. Even on my ERB, it now shows 11B and 31B. The olny MP stuff we did was EPW, Support by fire, and some route recon. but 95% of our training was RANGER doctrine. we didnt even have a MP station.

It does happen. When the Artillery BN from 2BDE got deployed from Korea, they retrained the batteries. They would rotate every few months with one battery providing artillery support, one MP, and one Infantry. Don't know if they admin reclassed the MOS's or not, seeing as they would only be doing each for a few months before moving on.

[quote:8740f51b0f="MP desk SGT"]normaly, the bands war time mission is to provide security for the CG or someone high ranking. so yes a "flute player" can and will deploy.

my question to you is, why would you even question depolyment in todays army? look at the campains all over the world. you would be a fool to think that you could join the army and not deploy sometime in the enlistment. I think you should sit down with your spouse and SERIOUSLY discuss his desision to enlist and why. :?:[/quote:8740f51b0f]

you've misunderstood me. i understand that my husband will in all probability be deployed. he is interested in the jobs that have more of a role (from my logic) in combat than do things like flute player, guitar player etc. i was just curious knowing that most everyone will be deployed as to what someone with an MOS that doesn't have an obvious role in combat (by my logic) would do in combat. that was my question, and it didn't really pertain to my husband. most of the MOS he is looking at, the role in combat is quite clear.

And for anyone else, my question about security clearances has not been answered. Is there anywhere we can find out more info about them and the process? Do you have to get the clear on the security clearance before you sign the contract for the job or after? And if after, what if you don't get the clearance, then do you chose a new MOS or does the army chose it for you? (that wouldn't be too optimal) Also, what are the different levels and breakdown..

Thanks in advance.

I apologise,I guess I did misunderstand your question. As far as security clearance goes, it depends on what level of clearance he needs. a "top secret" clearance can take up to a year or more to obtain. what will probably happen(needs a recruiter to back me on this) is that he will be granted an "interim clearance" while he is in AIT and then after all the background checks are complete, his clearance will be given. You dont have anything to worry about as long as you dont have real bad credit,anything other than traffic tickets or a felony on your record. I would be happy to tell you or your husband the peacetime and wartime mission of any MOS in the army or you can go to a number of websites for that info.....

Ok as far as background check for initial entry they work like this. He will fill out the security questionaire. His recruiter will then run police checks in the city county and state you live in. If he has had any law violations at all then the recruiter will run police checks wherever the violation happened. So my biggest advice is that if he has had ANY run ins with the law at all EVER to tell the recruiter about it so the recruiter can get the documentation. It is much worse for it to come up from the FBI background check (which it will come up). If he picks a job that will require him to obtain a certain security clearance then he will go through school while the background check is being done. If something happens and he is not able to get the clearance required for that job he will be given the chance to choose a different job.


P.S. I am a recruiter if you couldnt tell. :wink:

[quote:ed2aad11c1="MP desk SGT"]What happened was...
When I got stationed at the Joint Security Area, "they" (admin shop) stated that I was now an 11B and for 15 months, thats what I did. There was a platoon of MPs there and we did not do MP stuff. Even on my ERB, it now shows 11B and 31B. The olny MP stuff we did was EPW, Support by fire, and some route recon. but 95% of our training was RANGER doctrine. we didnt even have a MP station.[/quote:ed2aad11c1]

Out of curiosity, were there any women that knew about this? I am not doubting you, I was just curious if there were women that were saying it was not right.. EO, double standard etc... Or, were there women that did that anyway, while male counterparts were awarded that MOS and they were not. (never been to Korea, so I am somewhat clueless on the Joint Security Area details. For all I know, women may not be aloowed to pull duty there)