@brock.j.young – Preach the good word!! Definitively agree with your bit on promotion timelines for ARNG. Agree totally about you being your own best manager, too. @george.l.gurrola – agree with all you posted, too. Very similar to my thoughts that I’ve posted here.

@cale – My response to your post is a serious of ‘gates’ that I’d recommend to someone. I’d even go so far as to say that I think this could apply to more senior folk, too, but it’s going to look and taste a bit different by the virtue of rank.

1 – Know the standard path, the branch requirements. Smartbook PAM 600-3 is great for that. It’s the equivalent of knowing the classic moves before divining into French Impressionism; you gotta be able to paint well, first. https://www.milsuite.mil/book/groups/smartbook-da-pam-600-3

2- After you know ‘the path’, consider if that is exciting, satisfactory, or suitable to you. If maybe not, then start looking at other options (such as VTIP for branch transfer or functional area, FLEP, or maybe specific schools.)

3 – Know how the ‘alternate paths’ will affect the ‘standard path’. Maybe that’s knowing how something might conflict with command time, maybe that’s looking at if you should fight to get a Ranger school slot versus something else. Know the pluses and minuses of the perception and reality, as well as how this would need to be sequenced with current and future jobs to stay on track of PAM 600-3. This all will enable them to speak well to their leadership to show they thought out this decision thoroughly and are serious in their dedication. Also, understanding the requirements (even only paperwork) for the their path will be vital. For example, AC CPTs looking to do a certain broadening assignment need to be filing inquiries and coordinating with their Branch manager around 18-24 months out from when they would PCS. BL: seek all the information to make an informed decision.

Speaking more broadly – and to tie this into the timeline tool (posted above)- I would say that people should probably have a contingency plan (or several COAs, depending on their perspective). They might be A: “VTIP to X Branch” and B:”Stay in present branch” , but I think it’s important to recognize that the Army does have a say in the Soldier’s request to move their career in a certain direction.

Understand that “the enemy has a say”. That might mean an injury pre-Ranger that they can’t recover fast enough from to not significantly impact their timeline in other actions, that might mean a pregnancy or a family illness, that might mean HRC doesn’t select them for VTIP, or the timing of PL/XO/CC time gets off-kilter because of another decision that the BN/BDE commander made. I think accepting this means both have alternate COAs and also knowing enough about your plan to be able to intelligently fight for the career you want. Not everyone wants to (or will) be a BN or BDE commander, so even though people will argue that if you take X job, you’ll be out of the running for command, maybe you have different career goals and that motivation doesn’t work for you. I think this is all part of the ability to be able to reply to whoever is “the enemy”.

On a related note to “knowing the classics”, they should understand what right looks like (or what wrong looks like). For example, knowing what assignments are relevant and helpful with the Senior Rater comments on an OER can help the HRC branch manager see the Soldier’s interests. Likewise, having Platoon Leader on a future assignment for a CPT is simply a poorly written OER. So knowing that this is on the OER and that it shouldn’t be would then enable the officer to speak up during SR counseling and request an adjustment. Then, knowing their desired career path, they could suggest a replacement job for that OER.

Finally, to more directly address your question about mentors and career managing: yes, I do have 2 mentors whom I rely on as sounding boards. They’re both professionally similarly minded, but have distinctly different world views. I’ve found this helpful to exposing me to different experiences from those I trust to achieve a more well-rounded view. I’ve known them both for about a decade, so that has been very helpful to discussions of the arc of my career timeline, and – to be frank – theirs too!