I'm not sure what the intended finishing point for this topic was/is by the original poster, but if it goes where I think it is...let me weigh in...
When I was a 13M I found out there was this "brotherhood" of people so proud of the fact that they were 13Ms that I actually lost friends and people stopped talking to me when I decided to re-enlist for a different MOS (not everyone mind you).
So when I went to re-up the BN re-up and career counselor refused to tell me (a PFC with 17 months TIS) about Option 3. Instead they just kept repeating over and over about how I couldn't do the BEAR program because my out call was N and there were no exceptions for 97E at that time.
I was dead set on becoming a 97E and so with just about 4 months left on my initial contract (came in on a 2yr) I went to the recruiter to ask about ETSing and then coming right back in. The problem is/was, he said, was that being prior service with such a short break and a demand for 13M still strong, that the Army would most likely not let me come back in as anything else.
Eventually I busted out AR 601-280 and sifted through it finding the information I wanted and I got re-enlisted after a trip to IG (after all other routes were exhausted). The rush was that at that time, on a 2yr enlistment your re-up window was only from 17-21 months. Not much time to dick around.
Anyhow, that long story might or might not help. And that is the reason I volunteered to be a re-up NCO and attend the Total Army Retention MTT.
