Cross commission or NROTC...

[Achilles_MC0302]

Hey y'all,

I was curious about something and wanted to see if you could help. I am starting as a doolie at the Air Force Academy this summer, but Im not sure if the Air Force is where I want my military career to be. I am looking more towards becoming a Marine officer, so I wanted to know the probability of cross commissioning Marines from AFA (from any academy grads), or if I should transfer NROTC after a couple years. Also, concerning the cross commissioning, what types of limitations are there (does it have to be a one for one trade type thing with the sister academies, very competitive to do, etc). Thanks for any help you may have and have a great day.

Achilles

 

[gaijin6423]

The only person I personally knew who cross-commissioned from USAFA did so to become a Marine infantry officer. I'm sure you'll hear about him when you get to Colorado Springs, too, as he was KIA in Iraq.

As far as restrictions... I'm pretty sure that you have to go into a field that your present service doesn't have. That would explain both how the LtCol I knew transferred over (for infantry), and how someone else I knew from Navy crossed to the USAF (for an astronomical research billet).

I never really considered the cross-commissioning thing, so I never really looked into it much. But from what I've gathered, it's not too easy.

 

[Achilles_MC0302]

Thank you for the reply. Another thing that I am curious about, if anybody can answer this, is what standing are you normally in to be considered for cross commissioning. Do you have to be not too good but not too bad, or does that not even matter just as long as there is someone from the other service willing to cross to yours. The reason I ask is because if you are hypothetically at the top of your class and looking to cross commission, wouldnt the service you are in want to try to keep you, whereas if you are at the bottom of your class, the receiving service wouldnt necessarily want you. Thanks again for everyone's help.