In my state, dual branching is very common for this very reason. A few years back I had an FA BDE Commander who was also my full-time federal technician DOIM (boss) with our J6. The other option is to look for functional areas. I picked up a second company-level command, and a Major slot, as a Public Affairs officer (46A).

When trying to find out what’s best for your career, the best thing I’ve done is find a mentor who is dialed into the overall picture of the state. That includes 01A slots. While I greatly respect the guidance and mentorship of my brigade commanders, I learned that they can sometimes have a myopic view of career progression for their officers. If you are a good officer, the tendency can be to keep you in the same brigade. For those of us with support branches, that can really limit our progression.

I was fortunate enough to have a mentor relationship with my state J1. I made a “mentoring” appointment with him to talk about my Individual Development Plan. He was able to show me where all the 01A slots in the state, in addition to my branch and functional area, were located and gave me recommendations on how to position myself to move to get to them and make it to BN and BDE command as a Signal officer!

Seek out senior officers who know your state and ask for their advice. When I met with my mentor, he mentioned that many officers came to him for the same guidance.

Remember, no one cares more about you career than you do, but plenty of people are willing to give you advice if you ask!