Expert: Rod Powers - 10/4/2009

Question
Sir,
I am currently an active duty Marine with just over 12 years of service.  I am going to be seperating from the Marine Corps in less than 8 months.  I am getting seperated because I failed to pick up SSgt.  I have been looking in to the Army and Air Force as an option after my seperation to finish out my 20 years at least.  I am wondering if you know whether or not I can enlist into either branch after my seperation from the Marine Corps, or do I have to do an inner service transfer.  This question mostly applies to my inquiries into the Army Warrant Officer Program.  All the information I can find talks about inner-service transfer, but nothing about after I am already seperated from the Marine Corps.  I would rather wait until after I seperate, that way I can still get my seperations bonus from the Marine Corps.  I have also been told that to join either of those services post seperation require me to wait 90 days.  I am trying to keep my options open for when I get out, but do not want to find out later there was something I needed to do before I got out.  Any information you can give me in regards to this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Hi Lance,

In most cases, enlisted members cannot simply transfer from one active duty service to another. However, the Army WOFT program is one of the exceptions. In fact, my own son-in-law transfered to the Army Warrant Officer Flight Training Program from the Air Force. You didn't say your age, but you must be under the age of 33 to apply. See: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/warrantofficerjobs/a/053a.htm

I don't see anything in either the Army Recruiting Regulation or the Army WOFT Recruiting regulation that requires a 90 day waiting period (see: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/armyreg/l/blar601210.htm and http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/arreg2/blarec601-91.htm).

One of the problems you *could* run into would be High Year of Tenure (HYT), based on your current years of service, and the rank the Army or Air Force would allow you to re-enlist at (yes, if you join for the WOFT program, you'll still have to "enlist" first.

You are currently an E-5 with 12 years of active duty service.

HYT shouldn't be a problem with an Air Force prior service enlistment, as you should be allowed to retain your E-5 rank (see: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/airforcejoin/a/psrank.htm), and the HYT for E-5s in the Air Force is 20 years (see: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/navypromotions/a/hyt.htm).

However, it may be a problem for the Army. For non-Army prior service enlistments, the Army Human Resources Command will determine your starting rank, based on your military records (see: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/armyjoin/a/psrank.-u5z.htm). If they knock you down to E-4, HYT could be a problem.

For more information about the United States Military, feel free to visit my US Military information site at: http://usmilitary.about.com

Hope this helps!

Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com