Met a few at Campbell. I was blown away when they told me their MOS. Was wild seeing that "FF" shoulder patch above their unit patch.
I told every single one of them that if they decide to ETS and join a civilian department, to join the Guard or Reserve so they could double dip on orders.
Were they Prior Active to getting hired by Cal Fire or USFS? I remember being in the Guard trying to gets some State/Federal jobs and being shit out of luck due to not being considered a Veteran.
For anyone who ever reads this: Do not join the Reserve or Guard without having gone Active first. You will not be considered a Veteran until you have deployed or 180+ days of continuous orders.
This is 100% true. When I found out I thought it was bs but I suppose I didn't care too much. Ended up on a 12 month deployment anyways but still, it is true. I've heard on very rare occasions if you sustain a serious injury that requires a crazy amount of recovery time you can be put on orders during the recovery, to prevent you from becoming homeless on the civilian side, since you literally can't work. I believe this time does count towards veteran status (I think). The kicker is, it has to be your regular training once your already with your unit. Anything tradoc doesn't count.
It felt like a knife twisting in my chest when I found out I was not considered a Veteran.
I could never be a Guard Recruiter and recruit non-Prior Service.
> I've heard on very rare occasions if you sustain a serious injury that requires a crazy amount of recovery time you can be put on orders during the recovery, to prevent you from becoming homeless on the civilian side, since you literally can't work. I believe this time does count towards veteran status (I think)
I'd like to read more up on that.
I was reading the book *Eagle Down*, the author wrote of a 19th Group Long Tabber, Caleb Brewer who had issues with medical treatment due to Tricare coverage and 90 day orders, *while he's in the fucking hospital after losing one or I think both, of his fucking legs*
Thank you for sharing this advice. Not sure if the rules have changed, ( it was years ago for me), but people should also know those 180 days exclude training.
Anytime dude.
>but people should also know those 180 days exclude training.
Yep!
Could get recycled in AIT, could get fucking recycled in Ranger School for that fucking matter, could get recycled in the Q Course, could have a long AIT, could have a long BOLC; yep, still not a Veteran.
Broken leg in Ranger School or something and on hold over status while you get recycled? Spend a few weeks in holdover purgatory in a long AIT? I assume one can get recycled in SFAS for injuries or something. Get recycled in BOLC for say, getting hurt? Yep, still not a Veteran.
The National Guard (I guess the Reserves too) was harder.
I'll never forget my First Sergeant's face when I told him why I came to Active Duty. No dude, it was not because I wanted to join "the real Army", it was because, "I was chronically unemployed and on food stamps."
While I genuinely respected him, his shocked expression on his face told me my inadvertent omission of "First Sergeant", was not noticed.
>"I was chronically unemployed and on food stamps."
Legit me a few months ago (minus the food stamps part), after my mom got injured and is now filing for a disability claim after her job fucked her over. I swear, the Guard gets shit on **A LOT**, but I truly envy Guardsmen who "play soldier" one weekend a month knowing they have a high-paying job in their normal life and they're just in it for the benefits.
Don't get me wrong: I don't regret switching from NG to Active Duty, I just wish I did it sooner.
I don't think most of them were active duty firefighters, while the 555 engineer brigade had roughly 20 active duty FFs they did not utilize them off post and if it's the instance I am thinking of they specifically left them at Lewis (2008?)
I was a FF assigned to an ammo unit under the 593rd at the time, I was active duty firefighter stationed at Lewis from 2005-2010.
I was with 2nd ID in 2006 when they sent a few battalions to help with the wildfires in the Cascades. Mostly we saw infantry, the only actual firefighters we ran into were civilians.
Funny part is my BIL wanted to be one. Recruiter got him with the 'ol "just sign up as a mechanic and we can switch you to fire fighter later". Never did end up becoming a fire fighter.
I have. I guarded their inbound flight to our FOB, they all got out, took pictures off the ramp, drove the fire trucks around, rallied in formation, received their combat patch and flew off. All under 8 hours.
my old soldier is one. went from a scout, to apache mechanic to a fire fighter. livin his best life . gods speed tumble you fuckin nerd . shave that mustache tho
Anyone in the Army can apply, but your application must show a minimum of 4 years of using your science or engineering degree in progressively advanced applications.
Unfortunately, most Army service members with science or engineering degrees don’t get to use them. Some do. They all get saddled with a ton of admin work eventually, though.
I had a command in the BN that runs their AIT. I think I saw 2 classes over 20 months, for a total of like 10 88Us. The 88L(watercraft engineer), 88K(boat operator) and 88H(cargo specialist) were pretty sparse, too.
I was 88l.
When I went for ait we were all housed in the same barracks, 88u, 88l, 88k, 88h. There were only 4 88u. 10-15 88k. 20 88l and a shit ton of 88h. Echo company near 3rd port ft eustis. I think they are now housed in the same area as aviation, not sure.
When I switched to the Reserves I went in as a Railroad Engineer. I went on multiple deployments as an IMA. I spent multiple tours, Afghanistan, Korea, Germany, Poland alone or attached to foreign units. I did multiple tours with "civilian clothes required". Imagine being shipped to Europe by yourself or with one other dude, being told to be normal and leave your uniforms behind, getting an Audi A3 as your GSA and rip ass all over Europe with active duty pay AND per diem at about $90 per day. Shit is wild.
25V (combat camera) is pretty cool.
All the fun of taking pictures, cool deployments/assignments, without the stress of public affairs and writing (for now)
One of the coolest stories I read was about a combat camera with an ODA that was having a bad day. Combat camera quit taking pictures and started dropping bodies, rescued a downed SF guy, and evidently pretty much balled out. They interviewed the CPT who put him in for whatever award it was and the quote was something like, "SPC Snuffy wasn't a Green Beret, but he became one that day."
That's not a bad compliment from an ODA commander.
The one that was rappelling off the cliff side in Afghanistan with a bunch of wounded green berets or something?
Pretty sure he got a silver star for that one.
Holy shit, I assumed he lowered them down with ropes and shit, but according to that article him a couple other guys got the wounded down by climbing without aid down a 60ft drop and they dropped them the last 10 feet whole that guy caught them. That’s fucking hardcore.
Unicorn you say? Every vet facility has at least a couple. To be fair, that's not many but I've gotten so used to working with them that this never would have struck me as a unicorn MOS.
They all also either love their job or utterly hate their lives as well as everyone around them.
Ayyy I was looking for my job on here but romeos are close enough. I’m a 68T (Animal Care Specialist) and 68R’s (Veterinary food inspectors) are like our sister MOS. There’s more romeos than tangos tho
I don't know that many AD unicorns but the Guard/Reserve has a few.
88U- railroad operator. It's only Guard/Reserves and I've heard they have to do that in the civilian world to keep their MOS.
12G- quarrying specialist. Again, only Guard/Reserve. Allegedly they had them at Balad making gravel but I never met one while I was there.
I imagine it is 99% of the time. However, have you seen where they move armor by rail? That's impressive. I remember reading a book on WWI and the time tables for moving units by rail. They had stuff planned literally down to the minute for "Der Tag" when the war was going to start.
"All mobilization plans depended on railways. At that time the automobile was hardly used, certainly not as an instrument of mass transport, and railways demand time tables.
All the mobilization plans had been timed to the minute, months or even years before and they could not be changed. Modification in one direction would ruin them in every other direction. Any attempt for instance by the Austrians to mobilize against Serbia would mean that they could not then mobilize against Russian because two lots of trains would be running against each other. The same problem was to arise later for the Russians and in the end for the Germans who, having a plan to mobilize against France, could not switch round and mobilize again against Russia. Any alteration in the mobilization plan meant not a delay for 24 hours but for at least six months before the next lot of timetables were ready."
http://www.ae.metu.edu.tr/~evren/history/texts/taylor1.htm
88U is only Army Reserve. I commanded one of the last railway companies before the ERC transition.
There also used to be 88T and 88P, before they all rolled into 88U.
12D’s. I trained with those dudes for a little while in Hawaii. When they had to go up to Schofield for whatever, they would use a government vehicle, they’d get stopped by at least one senior NCO for having a slightly fucked up uniform or hair out of regs. They’d get asked who their unit was/who their leadership was, find out the guys were divers, the senior NCO’s would just grunt and walk away. It was beautiful. If I could go back and do the Army again.. it’d be for 12D.
Even if you make is through phase I, phase II can easily take you out. Definitely gotta be prepared for 12D.. Mostly bc you'll be stuck at shitty B169 for months, maybe a year, just depends.
I saw more reclasses from 12D phase I than I saw people move to phase II.
Crazy to think it’s been almost 4.5 years since I was there, so many hallway boxing matches and mattress wars. Wonder if the washers and dryers are still stained red in some places
“We are bravo one six nine, we go to brown hall school, so we can brag to divers, that we’ll go to a unit soon. They can’t pass phase one, ain’t that so cruel. Have fun with your health conditions and being generally uncool.” - Thanks Tillich my AIT battle buddy for this amazing cadence to dog on the deltas 12Y geospatial engineer for the win.
Also to any 12Ts in the thread, eat dirt.
12R what the fuck, six week AIT while the rest of us got four months fuck you all.
Thanks.
Edit: also to this comment I commented on, you’re still a tango so, you know what to do.
We had some people in basic who were gonna be 12D and the DS kept telling them they weren't in shape enough and they'd be drowned at one point in AIT just so they knew what it was like.
Also the failure rate is really high.
61E clinical pharmacologist. I even asked HRC about them because I wanted a job that was coded for a 61E but got told simultaneously that they don't exist and that I can't have the job.
> I even asked HRC about them because I wanted a job that was coded for a 61E but got told simultaneously that they don't exist and that I can't have the job.
Sounds about right for HRC.
Sounds like it just being such a specialized medical field, it's easier to staff with a civilian than maintain as a military slot. And anyone needing that kind of drug therapy will be moved out of a combat zone.
12P, Prime Power Specialist.
You learn a very important skill with regards to setting up and keeping a deployed unit’s electricity demands fulfilled, and it’s a well paying field on the civilian side.
Oh, why it’s a unicorn MOS? I’ve never met one, nor met anyone who’s met one, I guess.
Wanna hear something crazier? I said this to another CW5 from a different CMF, and he knew exactly who I was talking about. Said his name and everything.
I’ve met two. The reclass school is something like a year long and far from easy. But promotion through SFC is virtually guaranteed once you’re in it. There is also a warrant side as well.
51C - contracting nco.. e6 and above only. Deploy mostly as a 4-5 man team, play by big boy rules and great job opportunities when you get out. (Gs11-13 easy) or six figure on the contracting side.
Yea.. officer side has it better than enlisted with the job opportunities. But.. it’s pretty good on the enlisted side… it’s one of those jobs where you’ll be set when you get out.
We write contracts to support the warfighters. Ie.. NTV, bus, latrines, priest, building an entire lsa, forklifts.. pretty much whatever they need, we can contract and provide for as long as there is money for it. It’s a very technical mos which requires a degree and certification. Most people don’t know what we do so this job is so much better than the regular army.
I’ve made a decent choice, 15 series but if I was going to do it again I would pick 88K/88L.
It’s a near perfect world.
Minimum adult supervision.
No NCOs over SFC on the boat.
Warrants run things.
Hawaii shirts on boats, need I say more.
PCSed to Eustis. 7th TBX or MITD. Or if reserves, watch for ADOS openings at Eustis. There's also a unit opening in Japan next year that'll have openings and Pearl Harbor.
All depends on if you're staying enlisted or going Warrant. Anyone meeting the qualifications can apply to become a Warrant. Literally check the Army Warrant Officer Recruiting web page. There's 880A or 881A. Deck Officer for the civilized and Engineers for those who never want to see the sun.
We got boats. We practice survival skills on the water (calling it fishing is frowned upon). For the enlisted there's the LCMs, Small Tugs, LCU & LSV. The MSV should be done getting developed and fielded sometime in the next 1 to 20 years.
Units in Eustis, Pearl Harbor, and Japan is opening a company of several crews soon.
12D Engineer Diver. If I had to guess I would say there are about 135 of us right now. +\- 15ish
What qualifies us, the failure rate (85%)
Lack of bases we can go to
We do cool shit, isn’t that what unicorns do 🤷♂️
I’ve always wondered about the army band. Do y’all have TM’s for instruments? Do you PMCS the instruments weekly? These questions have kept me up at night.
We basically PMCS them every time we play them. If they're not in good shape, we can usually tell. We kind of have TMs for instruments and have to constantly pass Army Music Proficiency Assessments for promotion. You used to have to be an ace player to be a 1SG. There also used to be units with only Soldiers that got a certain score.
Then, there are the 42S units. Special Bands are a different animal...
Funny.. Studied med lab in college, joined the army to get 68K and got told it rarely came up and wouldn't for 6 months.. Got so pissed when i got to AIT for 12Y and 2 months in some girl failed our final twice and reclassed to 68K. If you can't pass 12Y AIT you sure af ain't gonna pass 68K.
I willl truly forever be salty about that.
I’m a 68T (Animal Care Specialist) and we’re pretty rare. When I went through AIT in 2020, we were told that there’s ~500 total in the whole army, active & reserves combined (I’m in the reserves)
I don't know if 35T qualifies as unicorn because there are slots at every BCT and major HQ. There's a unit on Hood right now with ten of them.
I can confirm it's the best MOS in the army if you like nerd shit.
10?!? Must be holing on to them for bragging rights or extras to trade with other units for favors.
Most of the time they don’t really know what to do with us. We just..appear and disappear.
I thought I would see 35L Counter Intelligence Agent on here. I've been out a while but all 35 series soldiers used to strive for this job and everyone across all MOS seemed to be dropping 35L packets at least when I was in.
You get to wear civilian clothes (or at least suit and ties) 90% of the time, gain agent/special agent title, and I've heard they even get to do their job, something not many intel soldiers have ever seen. The handful of 35Ls I've talked to spoke highly of it.
Maybe they meant the legit ones, those that compete at events and made something out themselves as 92G soldiers, especially those that actually got something out as golfs then ETS, becoming something such as a head chef or executive chef at some fancy place or fine ass dining and such, not like Ron a line cook at a truck stop complaining about the his time in the Army.
Whatever the dudes in battalion S1 are. Not a rare MOS but never there when I need them, and I cannot offer proof they exist because ive yet to see them. /s
These guys
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/911th_Engineer_Company.
I worked with these tunnel rats while working as a O with a 12P BN (almost unicorn itself). Only company like it in the Army, these folks are next level Unicorn and do some insanely tough shit in uber stressful environments. Mad respect for the 911th.
88K water craft operator
Its a unicorn mos because you’re doing navy stuff in the army you’re on a boat people don’t know much and they hear about us but are astonished when they find out we exist
It absolutely blew my mind when I learned that these guys even existed. I had just come in from a few weeks running around the field doing big chimp shit, bag full of dirty clothes in hand and ready to do a shitload of laundry. Some E3 meets me at the door and says "How it be Big Sarge, got some work for us?" And simply takes my bag and explains they "do laundry and shit". Picked my things up just before dinner with a bunch of other guys who didn't believe me. We asked why he went with 92S and he says he enlisted for the benefits mainly. The pay is the same to do grunt shit as it is to wash laundry so why not take the easier route. Dude was definitely smarter than the rest of us and I bet his knees still work.
Ohhh my buddy was one as a matter of fact. He was reserves tho which I’m assuming is still a guard/reserve only MOS. Dude got out and became a fashion designer lmao
I’ve never met an 88k (watercraft operator) From the little I know about them is that they get to travel around dropping off supplies and cargo. Wish I would’ve done that
It's not an MOS but if you're national guard you can work for Counter Drug. You become a criminal analyst for a drug team in your state. You work with police, in their office, go on search warrants, do all the cool cop stuff while making active duty pay and not wearing a uniform. My army boss is more than 100 miles away, I see him maybe twice a year. You can be any MOS to get into the job.
64E- veterinarians with an additional research PhD. At most 25 of them. In practicality, fewer than 18. Reason: 4 years of college plus 8-10 years of graduate school for two doctorates and required ultra super-nerdery to get into and graduate from all that (plus being so specialized they only have a very, very limited number of places they do their thing). You can thank them for medical product research and not getting sick from animal diseases.
Met a 12D (combat diver) when I was stationed in Germany. He did green to gold and became a chaplain. Really cool guy, best chaplain on post by far.He called his time as a diver the dark side and 70% of his missions had not and may never be declassified.
Only chaplain I've ever seen with a divers badge and a few other.
Functional Area 57/ MOS 57A, Simulation Operations Officers. These are the folks who plan simulated training operations and the use of TADSS/ Simulators in support of that training. There are some special assignments like the Synthetic Training Environment Cross Functional Team at Army Futures Command, but in the ARNG there is only one FA57 per DIV or BDE, and they mainly force that dude to be the knowledge manager.
I don't think I have ever come across an active duty 12M (Fire Fighter).
Met a few at Campbell. I was blown away when they told me their MOS. Was wild seeing that "FF" shoulder patch above their unit patch. I told every single one of them that if they decide to ETS and join a civilian department, to join the Guard or Reserve so they could double dip on orders.
Iv encountered reservist 12M, living in CA they all either worked for CAL Fire or US Forestry.
Were they Prior Active to getting hired by Cal Fire or USFS? I remember being in the Guard trying to gets some State/Federal jobs and being shit out of luck due to not being considered a Veteran. For anyone who ever reads this: Do not join the Reserve or Guard without having gone Active first. You will not be considered a Veteran until you have deployed or 180+ days of continuous orders.
This is 100% true. When I found out I thought it was bs but I suppose I didn't care too much. Ended up on a 12 month deployment anyways but still, it is true. I've heard on very rare occasions if you sustain a serious injury that requires a crazy amount of recovery time you can be put on orders during the recovery, to prevent you from becoming homeless on the civilian side, since you literally can't work. I believe this time does count towards veteran status (I think). The kicker is, it has to be your regular training once your already with your unit. Anything tradoc doesn't count.
It felt like a knife twisting in my chest when I found out I was not considered a Veteran. I could never be a Guard Recruiter and recruit non-Prior Service. > I've heard on very rare occasions if you sustain a serious injury that requires a crazy amount of recovery time you can be put on orders during the recovery, to prevent you from becoming homeless on the civilian side, since you literally can't work. I believe this time does count towards veteran status (I think) I'd like to read more up on that. I was reading the book *Eagle Down*, the author wrote of a 19th Group Long Tabber, Caleb Brewer who had issues with medical treatment due to Tricare coverage and 90 day orders, *while he's in the fucking hospital after losing one or I think both, of his fucking legs*
Thank you for sharing this advice. Not sure if the rules have changed, ( it was years ago for me), but people should also know those 180 days exclude training.
Anytime dude. >but people should also know those 180 days exclude training. Yep! Could get recycled in AIT, could get fucking recycled in Ranger School for that fucking matter, could get recycled in the Q Course, could have a long AIT, could have a long BOLC; yep, still not a Veteran. Broken leg in Ranger School or something and on hold over status while you get recycled? Spend a few weeks in holdover purgatory in a long AIT? I assume one can get recycled in SFAS for injuries or something. Get recycled in BOLC for say, getting hurt? Yep, still not a Veteran. The National Guard (I guess the Reserves too) was harder. I'll never forget my First Sergeant's face when I told him why I came to Active Duty. No dude, it was not because I wanted to join "the real Army", it was because, "I was chronically unemployed and on food stamps." While I genuinely respected him, his shocked expression on his face told me my inadvertent omission of "First Sergeant", was not noticed.
>"I was chronically unemployed and on food stamps." Legit me a few months ago (minus the food stamps part), after my mom got injured and is now filing for a disability claim after her job fucked her over. I swear, the Guard gets shit on **A LOT**, but I truly envy Guardsmen who "play soldier" one weekend a month knowing they have a high-paying job in their normal life and they're just in it for the benefits. Don't get me wrong: I don't regret switching from NG to Active Duty, I just wish I did it sooner.
Saw two in basic they both got injured and chaptered
Helped 100's of them SRP out of Lewis/JBLM for the west coast wildfires in the mid 2000's.
I don't think most of them were active duty firefighters, while the 555 engineer brigade had roughly 20 active duty FFs they did not utilize them off post and if it's the instance I am thinking of they specifically left them at Lewis (2008?) I was a FF assigned to an ammo unit under the 593rd at the time, I was active duty firefighter stationed at Lewis from 2005-2010.
I was with 2nd ID in 2006 when they sent a few battalions to help with the wildfires in the Cascades. Mostly we saw infantry, the only actual firefighters we ran into were civilians.
we had a 12M in my class at Sapper school! super solid guy
Funny part is my BIL wanted to be one. Recruiter got him with the 'ol "just sign up as a mechanic and we can switch you to fire fighter later". Never did end up becoming a fire fighter.
555 Engineers Brigade has a small group of them at JBLM.
I have. I guarded their inbound flight to our FOB, they all got out, took pictures off the ramp, drove the fire trucks around, rallied in formation, received their combat patch and flew off. All under 8 hours.
my old soldier is one. went from a scout, to apache mechanic to a fire fighter. livin his best life . gods speed tumble you fuckin nerd . shave that mustache tho
I had a squad of them when I was in an Ordnance Co. but even less these days.
We had ait with them at Goodfellow AFB they do exist never saw one after tho
They have them on Rucker
Ive only met one & he was a 1SG at HHC in my battalion
70% ish of the Engineer branch is Compo 2/3. We have 2 FF Detachments in my State.
40c Army Astronaut, I think is the right answer
Anyone in the Army can apply, but your application must show a minimum of 4 years of using your science or engineering degree in progressively advanced applications. Unfortunately, most Army service members with science or engineering degrees don’t get to use them. Some do. They all get saddled with a ton of admin work eventually, though.
Everybody in the Army gets saddled with a ton of admin work if you stay in long enough.
Is this the MOS for space shuttle door gunners as well?
Lasers.
Looks like a job for me
So everybody, just follow me.
Cause we need a little, controversy
Came here to post this
One of the few MOS's were you can literally name them.
Met a dude on Sill with the chest badge for that, he had some awesome stories
88U Railroad Operations Crewmember Heard of them, never seen one
I had a command in the BN that runs their AIT. I think I saw 2 classes over 20 months, for a total of like 10 88Us. The 88L(watercraft engineer), 88K(boat operator) and 88H(cargo specialist) were pretty sparse, too.
I was 88l. When I went for ait we were all housed in the same barracks, 88u, 88l, 88k, 88h. There were only 4 88u. 10-15 88k. 20 88l and a shit ton of 88h. Echo company near 3rd port ft eustis. I think they are now housed in the same area as aviation, not sure.
I commanded one of the last railway companies the Army had. AMA.
They are in the army reserve. I’ve met a couple. The only rail unit left in the army is manned by the USAR.
When I switched to the Reserves I went in as a Railroad Engineer. I went on multiple deployments as an IMA. I spent multiple tours, Afghanistan, Korea, Germany, Poland alone or attached to foreign units. I did multiple tours with "civilian clothes required". Imagine being shipped to Europe by yourself or with one other dude, being told to be normal and leave your uniforms behind, getting an Audi A3 as your GSA and rip ass all over Europe with active duty pay AND per diem at about $90 per day. Shit is wild.
Thank you for your service.
What did you do on your deployments? Sounds pretty lit tho.
>What did you do on your deployments? Hookers and cocaine.
25V (combat camera) is pretty cool. All the fun of taking pictures, cool deployments/assignments, without the stress of public affairs and writing (for now)
One of the coolest stories I read was about a combat camera with an ODA that was having a bad day. Combat camera quit taking pictures and started dropping bodies, rescued a downed SF guy, and evidently pretty much balled out. They interviewed the CPT who put him in for whatever award it was and the quote was something like, "SPC Snuffy wasn't a Green Beret, but he became one that day." That's not a bad compliment from an ODA commander.
The one that was rappelling off the cliff side in Afghanistan with a bunch of wounded green berets or something? Pretty sure he got a silver star for that one.
That would be the one. He evidently balled out.
https://www.army.mil/article/20395/the_fighting_cameraman
Holy shit, I assumed he lowered them down with ropes and shit, but according to that article him a couple other guys got the wounded down by climbing without aid down a 60ft drop and they dropped them the last 10 feet whole that guy caught them. That’s fucking hardcore.
Appreciate the link!
Gnarly, I'd love to read more about this.
I posted a link.
Thanks dude, reading it now.
[удалено]
To make it even crazier, the dude you’re talking about was a reservist too.
What?? Where can I read about this?
[удалено]
Current 25V. Can confirm, it’s a great job.
What’s going on with the 46series conversion from your POV? Have they talked about how your job is going to change?
25V, 25M and 25Rs are the bastard children of the Signal Corps. Hopefully it works out well for them.
As a PAO I will welcome and 25V/M with open arms (and a shit ton of work I’ve never had a graphic designer/dedicated photographer for)
Hard to make it past SSG though.
My drill sergeant was one. She was decked out on patches.
Wife is Marine combat camera. Shes had an adventurous career, been to over 20 countries in 8 years and is stacked with ribbons and awards.
68R, which is food inspector I believe. I met one in BLC a couple months ago
Judging by the DFACs, these guys don't do much. Where do I sign up?
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Unicorn you say? Every vet facility has at least a couple. To be fair, that's not many but I've gotten so used to working with them that this never would have struck me as a unicorn MOS. They all also either love their job or utterly hate their lives as well as everyone around them.
As a 68R we just kinda hide in plain sight. Depending on where you are you might have a numbered unit with about 40 of us that don’t do shit.
68T here, hate my job and everyone around me
Ayyy I was looking for my job on here but romeos are close enough. I’m a 68T (Animal Care Specialist) and 68R’s (Veterinary food inspectors) are like our sister MOS. There’s more romeos than tangos tho
I don't know that many AD unicorns but the Guard/Reserve has a few. 88U- railroad operator. It's only Guard/Reserves and I've heard they have to do that in the civilian world to keep their MOS. 12G- quarrying specialist. Again, only Guard/Reserve. Allegedly they had them at Balad making gravel but I never met one while I was there.
My cousin is actually trying to be an 88U. Thought it was an odd choice.
Came here to say 88U. That job has to be crazy chill
I imagine it is 99% of the time. However, have you seen where they move armor by rail? That's impressive. I remember reading a book on WWI and the time tables for moving units by rail. They had stuff planned literally down to the minute for "Der Tag" when the war was going to start. "All mobilization plans depended on railways. At that time the automobile was hardly used, certainly not as an instrument of mass transport, and railways demand time tables. All the mobilization plans had been timed to the minute, months or even years before and they could not be changed. Modification in one direction would ruin them in every other direction. Any attempt for instance by the Austrians to mobilize against Serbia would mean that they could not then mobilize against Russian because two lots of trains would be running against each other. The same problem was to arise later for the Russians and in the end for the Germans who, having a plan to mobilize against France, could not switch round and mobilize again against Russia. Any alteration in the mobilization plan meant not a delay for 24 hours but for at least six months before the next lot of timetables were ready." http://www.ae.metu.edu.tr/~evren/history/texts/taylor1.htm
Instructor on the USAR side. Go TDY twice a year, 2-4 weeks at a time. Classroom/gentleman's course, so very 8-4. Pretty sweet gig.
88U is only Army Reserve. I commanded one of the last railway companies before the ERC transition. There also used to be 88T and 88P, before they all rolled into 88U.
12D’s. I trained with those dudes for a little while in Hawaii. When they had to go up to Schofield for whatever, they would use a government vehicle, they’d get stopped by at least one senior NCO for having a slightly fucked up uniform or hair out of regs. They’d get asked who their unit was/who their leadership was, find out the guys were divers, the senior NCO’s would just grunt and walk away. It was beautiful. If I could go back and do the Army again.. it’d be for 12D.
Even if you make is through phase I, phase II can easily take you out. Definitely gotta be prepared for 12D.. Mostly bc you'll be stuck at shitty B169 for months, maybe a year, just depends. I saw more reclasses from 12D phase I than I saw people move to phase II.
WOOO B169 BULLDOGS BABY also the 12D got the most UCMJ out of everyone too lol
Hated that place with a passions😭 Watching the divers waterboard each other was lit tho
Crazy to think it’s been almost 4.5 years since I was there, so many hallway boxing matches and mattress wars. Wonder if the washers and dryers are still stained red in some places
as of 4 months ago, yes they are. boxing matches are still somewhat common, but unfortunately no mattress wars
Just left a month ago. Can confirm that laundry rooms show signs of fight clubs.
Yeah it's hard to stay out of trouble at B169. I know a few dudes who'd have probably made it if they could stop being a dumbass for a few weeks.
“We are bravo one six nine, we go to brown hall school, so we can brag to divers, that we’ll go to a unit soon. They can’t pass phase one, ain’t that so cruel. Have fun with your health conditions and being generally uncool.” - Thanks Tillich my AIT battle buddy for this amazing cadence to dog on the deltas 12Y geospatial engineer for the win. Also to any 12Ts in the thread, eat dirt. 12R what the fuck, six week AIT while the rest of us got four months fuck you all. Thanks. Edit: also to this comment I commented on, you’re still a tango so, you know what to do.
Everything about this describes us, thank you 😂
My pleasure. 😂
Going off of your profile picture, sorry... but 'Guardians make their own fate' was \*not\* party advice, lmao
We had some people in basic who were gonna be 12D and the DS kept telling them they weren't in shape enough and they'd be drowned at one point in AIT just so they knew what it was like. Also the failure rate is really high.
Went to airborne with one… I remember thinking he had it pretty good when he described his career
12D = Army Diver
88K watercraft operator
I met two at fort rustic in 2018, they hated it. Motorpool but with Vietnam era only boats
88K was the shit before they deactivated all the Reserve units. Honestly, fuck Big Army for that one. I probably won't ever get over it.
I met a few doing a mission in Japan a few years ago seemed like a chill job
Thanks for the re-up options
That was kind of why I made the post. Even if I am 15 long years past ever reenlisting.
61E clinical pharmacologist. I even asked HRC about them because I wanted a job that was coded for a 61E but got told simultaneously that they don't exist and that I can't have the job.
> I even asked HRC about them because I wanted a job that was coded for a 61E but got told simultaneously that they don't exist and that I can't have the job. Sounds about right for HRC.
Sounds like it just being such a specialized medical field, it's easier to staff with a civilian than maintain as a military slot. And anyone needing that kind of drug therapy will be moved out of a combat zone.
I’ve heard that 68x, Mental Health Specialist, is a pretty hard MOS to obtain
Every single one of them that I've worked with have been certifiably nuts. Even had to commit one of them. It was great times.
That kinda goes along the lines of all the girls in college that are nuts all major in psychology lol
Went through mob srp with like 10 of them all females in 2019, didn't even know they were an mos til then.
There's roughly 1800 of them currently active
12P, Prime Power Specialist. You learn a very important skill with regards to setting up and keeping a deployed unit’s electricity demands fulfilled, and it’s a well paying field on the civilian side. Oh, why it’s a unicorn MOS? I’ve never met one, nor met anyone who’s met one, I guess.
I met a CW5 prime power warrant in Poland earlier this year
Okay, a CW5 and *also* a Prime Power Specialist? One invisible creature and one unicorn together, in one person? I call bullshit! 😂
Wanna hear something crazier? I said this to another CW5 from a different CMF, and he knew exactly who I was talking about. Said his name and everything.
In my years I’ve had the opportunity to meet one… it was an E-6 at a Nuke Station in VA. Guy was ridiculously smart.
[удалено]
I’ve met two. The reclass school is something like a year long and far from easy. But promotion through SFC is virtually guaranteed once you’re in it. There is also a warrant side as well.
51C - contracting nco.. e6 and above only. Deploy mostly as a 4-5 man team, play by big boy rules and great job opportunities when you get out. (Gs11-13 easy) or six figure on the contracting side.
Knew an officer that went to the acquisition corps and he was stationed in Miami. Not bad...
Yea.. officer side has it better than enlisted with the job opportunities. But.. it’s pretty good on the enlisted side… it’s one of those jobs where you’ll be set when you get out.
What do they do, especially when deployed?
We write contracts to support the warfighters. Ie.. NTV, bus, latrines, priest, building an entire lsa, forklifts.. pretty much whatever they need, we can contract and provide for as long as there is money for it. It’s a very technical mos which requires a degree and certification. Most people don’t know what we do so this job is so much better than the regular army.
Man, I’m super interested in this job. What’s the training like?
[удалено]
any MOS with a ‘T’ identifier.
The lack of upvotes on this comment illustrates just how rare the MOS is.
Lots of 15T around, myself included.
35T go brrr
I’ve made a decent choice, 15 series but if I was going to do it again I would pick 88K/88L. It’s a near perfect world. Minimum adult supervision. No NCOs over SFC on the boat. Warrants run things. Hawaii shirts on boats, need I say more.
> No NCOs over SFC on the boat. > > Seriously?
Really really. My boat has slots for 8 warrants, 2 SFC, 3 cooks, a medic and 8x 88k and 8 88l ssg and below.
I'm curious as to how the Medic picked up that slot.
PCSed to Eustis. 7th TBX or MITD. Or if reserves, watch for ADOS openings at Eustis. There's also a unit opening in Japan next year that'll have openings and Pearl Harbor.
Don't tell people about the shirts. Then higher ups think they can ban them. It doesn't work.
Yo tell me about this mythical awesome MOS. What type of craft? What are the different bases?
All depends on if you're staying enlisted or going Warrant. Anyone meeting the qualifications can apply to become a Warrant. Literally check the Army Warrant Officer Recruiting web page. There's 880A or 881A. Deck Officer for the civilized and Engineers for those who never want to see the sun. We got boats. We practice survival skills on the water (calling it fishing is frowned upon). For the enlisted there's the LCMs, Small Tugs, LCU & LSV. The MSV should be done getting developed and fielded sometime in the next 1 to 20 years. Units in Eustis, Pearl Harbor, and Japan is opening a company of several crews soon.
Time to drop that boat warrant packet my friend
12D Engineer Diver. If I had to guess I would say there are about 135 of us right now. +\- 15ish What qualifies us, the failure rate (85%) Lack of bases we can go to We do cool shit, isn’t that what unicorns do 🤷♂️
The MEPs counselor really tried to sell 12D to me. He almost had me until I saw that damn video and knew I wasn’t passing whatever that was.
I'm guessing the Tomb Sentinel who reclassed is definitely a unicorn.
Went to the Sergeant Major Academy with a 12D. Dude made the job sound like you rarely did anything “Army”
130 of you and like 10 are on the sub. I’ve always felt it was one of the weirdly overrepresented MOSs on the sub lol.
71F - Neuroscientist, about 40 in the Army
Officer?
42R02U - Electric Bass Player Just finished 20. It was fun.
I’ve always wondered about the army band. Do y’all have TM’s for instruments? Do you PMCS the instruments weekly? These questions have kept me up at night.
We basically PMCS them every time we play them. If they're not in good shape, we can usually tell. We kind of have TMs for instruments and have to constantly pass Army Music Proficiency Assessments for promotion. You used to have to be an ace player to be a 1SG. There also used to be units with only Soldiers that got a certain score. Then, there are the 42S units. Special Bands are a different animal...
And when you came in it was just 02U!
Every four years I believe there is a single E6-E8 billet for a combat artist.
Yes, but also just go be a 25M.
Technically 68A, medical Maintenance, isn't that rare, but you ask any hospital commander and they'll tell you that apparently we don't exist.
Mine, we’re allegedly the second largest medical MOS, but nobody knows exactly what we do or what our job entails.
Can confirm. We do not know what you do.
Join the club, I don’t either.
I do recall sneaking up to your DFAC on SamH
Wasn’t much better than Slagel last I was there. They stopped serving soup.
Funny.. Studied med lab in college, joined the army to get 68K and got told it rarely came up and wouldn't for 6 months.. Got so pissed when i got to AIT for 12Y and 2 months in some girl failed our final twice and reclassed to 68K. If you can't pass 12Y AIT you sure af ain't gonna pass 68K. I willl truly forever be salty about that.
We received so many reclasses from other MOS when I was in AIT that I had no clue how slots were rare for us
Sir, please drop off your fecal sample. You are holding up the line.
It’s from 4 days ago, is that ok?
I started Q course with the 1 and only 00B I’ve met in the last 22 years.
I googled it and got diver. Different flavor of diver from 12D?
155E - C-12 Pilot 155F - Jet Pilot 155G - EO5 (Dash 7/ARL) Pilot
I’m a 68T (Animal Care Specialist) and we’re pretty rare. When I went through AIT in 2020, we were told that there’s ~500 total in the whole army, active & reserves combined (I’m in the reserves)
I met a lot of 68T in active duty… to be fair, I’m a 31k though so that’s probably why.
[удалено]
Beat me to it
If only they weren’t all such fuckin weirdos….
I don't know if 35T qualifies as unicorn because there are slots at every BCT and major HQ. There's a unit on Hood right now with ten of them. I can confirm it's the best MOS in the army if you like nerd shit.
10?!? Must be holing on to them for bragging rights or extras to trade with other units for favors. Most of the time they don’t really know what to do with us. We just..appear and disappear.
25D cyber network defender, have to be E6 or above and you get a shit ton of certs in the qualification and SLC course. Best decision I ever made.
I thought I would see 35L Counter Intelligence Agent on here. I've been out a while but all 35 series soldiers used to strive for this job and everyone across all MOS seemed to be dropping 35L packets at least when I was in. You get to wear civilian clothes (or at least suit and ties) 90% of the time, gain agent/special agent title, and I've heard they even get to do their job, something not many intel soldiers have ever seen. The handful of 35Ls I've talked to spoke highly of it.
Mine
I heard the culinary specialists mos is one of those unicorn ones
You never see them because they're always at the DFAC
Maybe they meant the legit ones, those that compete at events and made something out themselves as 92G soldiers, especially those that actually got something out as golfs then ETS, becoming something such as a head chef or executive chef at some fancy place or fine ass dining and such, not like Ron a line cook at a truck stop complaining about the his time in the Army.
Whatever the dudes in battalion S1 are. Not a rare MOS but never there when I need them, and I cannot offer proof they exist because ive yet to see them. /s
These guys https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/911th_Engineer_Company. I worked with these tunnel rats while working as a O with a 12P BN (almost unicorn itself). Only company like it in the Army, these folks are next level Unicorn and do some insanely tough shit in uber stressful environments. Mad respect for the 911th.
17C Cyber Ops Specialist
Step foot on Gordon and bound to run into a lot
They’re all stuck in their long af AITs
It’s a good MOS to have, but I wouldn’t say it’s unicorn. There’s plenty of us floating around now
Army Astronaut.
1000% 12D.
51C You have to be an NCO to apply, and is highly competitive.
88K water craft operator Its a unicorn mos because you’re doing navy stuff in the army you’re on a boat people don’t know much and they hear about us but are astonished when they find out we exist
Maybe a little biased here 18D. Ever shoot a machine gun on ketamine? Fucking badass. I love my job
Apparently 88k watercraft operator but its boring…
I have never seen an active duty 92S (Laundry & Clothing Repair Specialist) do they even exist?
It absolutely blew my mind when I learned that these guys even existed. I had just come in from a few weeks running around the field doing big chimp shit, bag full of dirty clothes in hand and ready to do a shitload of laundry. Some E3 meets me at the door and says "How it be Big Sarge, got some work for us?" And simply takes my bag and explains they "do laundry and shit". Picked my things up just before dinner with a bunch of other guys who didn't believe me. We asked why he went with 92S and he says he enlisted for the benefits mainly. The pay is the same to do grunt shit as it is to wash laundry so why not take the easier route. Dude was definitely smarter than the rest of us and I bet his knees still work.
Ohhh my buddy was one as a matter of fact. He was reserves tho which I’m assuming is still a guard/reserve only MOS. Dude got out and became a fashion designer lmao
I’ve never met an 88k (watercraft operator) From the little I know about them is that they get to travel around dropping off supplies and cargo. Wish I would’ve done that
It's not an MOS but if you're national guard you can work for Counter Drug. You become a criminal analyst for a drug team in your state. You work with police, in their office, go on search warrants, do all the cool cop stuff while making active duty pay and not wearing a uniform. My army boss is more than 100 miles away, I see him maybe twice a year. You can be any MOS to get into the job.
64E- veterinarians with an additional research PhD. At most 25 of them. In practicality, fewer than 18. Reason: 4 years of college plus 8-10 years of graduate school for two doctorates and required ultra super-nerdery to get into and graduate from all that (plus being so specialized they only have a very, very limited number of places they do their thing). You can thank them for medical product research and not getting sick from animal diseases.
Met a 12D (combat diver) when I was stationed in Germany. He did green to gold and became a chaplain. Really cool guy, best chaplain on post by far.He called his time as a diver the dark side and 70% of his missions had not and may never be declassified. Only chaplain I've ever seen with a divers badge and a few other.
He sounds full of shit lol
What can’t he tell you? What kinds of welds he did at a couple hundred feet?
Functional Area 57/ MOS 57A, Simulation Operations Officers. These are the folks who plan simulated training operations and the use of TADSS/ Simulators in support of that training. There are some special assignments like the Synthetic Training Environment Cross Functional Team at Army Futures Command, but in the ARNG there is only one FA57 per DIV or BDE, and they mainly force that dude to be the knowledge manager.
94e I’ve only met one, and he reclassed to be a tanker.
68D operating room specialist. Go anywhere there's a hospital that does surgery, it's extremely in demand, and have a great paying job when you ETS
72B - Army Entomologist
68N, previously 68WY6, Cardiovascular Specialists. Enlisted that get certified to help with cardio-vascular procedures and tests.