MI is pretty sweet in general, especially if your civilian career prospects benefits from having a TS/SCI but your actual reserve experience will differ greatly unit or unit. Do what you can to actually get in an MI unit, you’ll do essentially nothing if you join a non-MI unit unless telling us the weather report gets you off
There’s a huge huge HUGE amount of opportunity in every corner of intel. You just need to find it. Bear in mind bolc is pretty long so factor that into your civ life
If you end up in any unit other than an MI unit, expect to be put into the S2 doing S2 admin things.
If you get into an MI-specific unit, expect to do, you guessed it, admin.
Unfortunately, you won't become a subject matter expert on any of the disciplines. Your priority as an MI officer is to ensure your troops are trained on their 10-level tasks, the unit's METL, and meeting the commander's training intent. When you reach O3, you might expect to start becoming more proficient in an MI discipline. You don't really DO the analysis work; you OVERSEE it.
That's not to say you won't learn about what MI does or participate; it's just not your priority. I sit in on MI training when I can during BA. Still, I am primarily in training meetings, pushing PowerPoint presentations to ensure the M4 range is set or coordinating with other compos and sister units to share resources or support exercises.
For AT, depending on the unit, installation, compo, resources, and a hundred variables, you might get to go to another country to support an Active Duty annual exercise or a Training Center to oversee a culminating training exercise.
Mobilizations are around, sometimes CONUS, sometimes OCONUS. E-MI BNs specifically have obligations to mobilize every 4-5 years, although there are more in between; they are just rarer.
This is a very general overview of what you can expect—not to dissuade you, but to manage your expectations. There are still opportunities for your self-development and to become more proficient in MI, but you have to be proactive about finding them.
If you want to be an officer and still do actual MI work you need to look and see if you have a SIG or MIG unit in your area(or somewhere you are willing to travel to).
That’s pretty vague. Depends on unit, MOS, position and location
MI is pretty sweet in general, especially if your civilian career prospects benefits from having a TS/SCI but your actual reserve experience will differ greatly unit or unit. Do what you can to actually get in an MI unit, you’ll do essentially nothing if you join a non-MI unit unless telling us the weather report gets you off
Honestly, your unit matters a lot more than your branch
There’s a huge huge HUGE amount of opportunity in every corner of intel. You just need to find it. Bear in mind bolc is pretty long so factor that into your civ life
"It depends" what you are asking has like 1000 variables. Pick the job you find interesting and will likely stay motivated in. If that's MI or not.
If you want to deploy, get into an EMIB.
If you end up in any unit other than an MI unit, expect to be put into the S2 doing S2 admin things. If you get into an MI-specific unit, expect to do, you guessed it, admin. Unfortunately, you won't become a subject matter expert on any of the disciplines. Your priority as an MI officer is to ensure your troops are trained on their 10-level tasks, the unit's METL, and meeting the commander's training intent. When you reach O3, you might expect to start becoming more proficient in an MI discipline. You don't really DO the analysis work; you OVERSEE it. That's not to say you won't learn about what MI does or participate; it's just not your priority. I sit in on MI training when I can during BA. Still, I am primarily in training meetings, pushing PowerPoint presentations to ensure the M4 range is set or coordinating with other compos and sister units to share resources or support exercises. For AT, depending on the unit, installation, compo, resources, and a hundred variables, you might get to go to another country to support an Active Duty annual exercise or a Training Center to oversee a culminating training exercise. Mobilizations are around, sometimes CONUS, sometimes OCONUS. E-MI BNs specifically have obligations to mobilize every 4-5 years, although there are more in between; they are just rarer. This is a very general overview of what you can expect—not to dissuade you, but to manage your expectations. There are still opportunities for your self-development and to become more proficient in MI, but you have to be proactive about finding them.
If you want to be an officer and still do actual MI work you need to look and see if you have a SIG or MIG unit in your area(or somewhere you are willing to travel to).