Expert: Aaron Shifferly - 12/3/2009

Question
Aaron,

thank you for your service and your background seems perfect for my question.

I am 23 and in my 1st semester of graduate school studying international relations. I have a dual focus in East and Central Asia with 2 semesters of entry level college Arabic. After grad school, I am interested in pursuing a career performing intelligence analyst work for the US government. i have heard that there are a number of opportunities to do such work as a commissioned officer in the military. what was your experience like doing intelligence work enlisted in the army and what would be the differences as a commissioned officer? (e.g combat or field work vs. office work, supervisory work?, ect...)  

Answer
As a commissioned officer you would oversee a section of specialists doing work instead of doing a lot yourself. The problem with MI is that it covers a lot of disciplines and a lot of different things that can't be discussed in detail over media such as this. In combat your mission isnt much different from what happens back home aside from some of the targets and threats change. your biggest difference would be from being an expert on a tiny area of MI (enlisted) to a kind of jack of all trades manager (officer).. hope this helps.