Expert: MARK A. HOWELL - 4/15/2009

Question
My husband is currently a 1LT air defense artillery officer in the army, and we are not liking the army lifestyle that much. He grew up navy and I grew up Marine. He is seriously thinking about doing an interservice transfer once he becomes a Captain, to the Navy. So my questions are...how easy and likely is this to get done, if they do not have any air defense artillery type jobs open, will they just send him to a captains career type course of the new job, and about how long do interservice transfers typically take. If you can answer any of these questions or shed any light on this type of transfer it would be much appreciated! Thanks!

Answer
Allison,
So he wants to become a Lieutenant again, huh?
It's not easy but it can be done.
Interservice transfers apply to all commissioned officers requesting transfer from the Active Army into another uniformed service.  Interservice transfers are processed by the Accessions Branch.

After he makes CPT is a good time to do it because the Navy won't accept 0-4 and above.

Before he is accepted into the Navy he must be in a job that directly translates into a Navy job.  I personally don't know what that would be, probably Surface Warfare, but I do know the Navy is establishing an Air and Missile Defense Command, maybe that also translates.  If it doesn't translate, the they won't accept him because he'll be paid too much to go to a new school and retrain all over again.

If his commander recommends approval, they forward the request to the Army.  They Army usually takes about three months for staffing, branching, approval, and to have orders published.

Think about what part of the Army lifestyle you don't like.  All the Services have a similar lifestyle, just different missions.  Having both been from military families helps.  I just want to be sure you're not jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

I wish you both the best.
Colonel H