Commission or Deploy
On 14 January I received an email from my Unit Administrator (UA) pertaining to my army career. I would like to just post a quote of the email, and while it is an unclassified document, I don't feel it to be appropriate so I'll summarize. Basically I submitted an application for pre-qualification for a direct commission as an officer in the US Army Reserve--which I did qualify and I'm currently awaiting further direction from higher up the chain of command. However, my unit is preparing to mobilize for deployment to Afghanistan and a lot of training is forthcoming throughout this year. In fact, I already have a week of training coming up in February. Also prior to deploying we have about thee months of training in another state. The process of commissioning can be very lengthy and frankly the chances of getting commissioned and trained in time for deployment in January 2012 is slim-to-none at the rate the process is going. Ideally, it would be great to commission and finish officer school prior to deploying, but as I've already stated... Suffice it to say if I continue with the direct commission I would be placed on an order of merit, which would make me "non-deployable".
When I read all this I couldn't help but think something along the lines of "It can never be a singular and simple path, but forks in the road every so often."
So after much discussion, careful and prayerful thought on the matter, this was my emailed reply to my UA:
This may seem incredibly personal to you but I've prayed about this, sought advice from my mother and thought even longer on the matter. I can't shake the desire to deploy with the unit. I feel that in the long run becoming an officer after enlisted experience while deployed is invaluable and I'd be remiss to pass it up. I think I'll be a better officer after doing so. Therefore I've decided to hold off on going to officer training school until we return from deployment. I feel very strongly about it and believe that it is the right choice. But YES, ideally if the opportunity were to avail itself to commission and complete officer school prior to deploying, I'd do it! :)
Finally, to answer your question about attending schools for deployment, yes.
Thank you!
SPC Moore
We shall see what happens in the coming months following this.
Hooah!
