1st Lt. Jessica Pauley, shown on an M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle in this March 2020 photo, became the first female infantry officer in the Idaho National Guard in 2019. As a platoon leader, she helped pave the way for junior enlisted women to take combat arms positions in her battalion, according to the Army News Service. (Crystal Farris/U.S. Army)
The Army is asking for about 300 lieutenants serving in combat arms branches to switch into support roles as it seeks to avoid an unbalanced future officer force, service officials said.
The second-year program is seeking volunteers among officers commissioned into the infantry, armor, field artillery or engineer branches in the 2022 year group to transfer into an understrength combat support branch or functional area early next year, the Army said in a news release.
Combat-support branches the Army is looking to fill out are its adjutant general, air defense, finance, logistics and signal corps. It also needs officers to volunteer to enter functional areas for information technology engineering, space operations, public affairs and simulation operations, the service said.
Army officials said a pilot program launched early this year for combat arms officers to voluntarily transfer into similar support jobs was successful, convincing the service to continue the effort. The pilot, announced in January, saw about 130 infantry and armor branch lieutenants from the 2021 year group voluntarily transfer into the adjutant general, finance and signal corps, said Maj. Thomas Mussman, a readiness analyst for Army Human Resources Command’s Force Shaping Directorate.
“By offering more options this year we hope to get greater participation and have a greater impact on readiness,” Mussman said.
Combat arms branches — especially the infantry and armor — have long been among the most sought-after branches for new officers because of better prospects for career advancement.
The service has long required large numbers on junior officers to commission into combat arms fields to lead platoons and serve in other staff roles, but it needs fewer officers in those fields at higher ranks.
The Army has other programs that allow junior officers to serve in those combat branches before transitioning into support roles, but it only began seeking volunteers for these unplanned, seamless transition opportunities into understaffed career fields this year.
Service officials said no officers would be moved out of their current combat arms roles without volunteering. They have pitched the transitions as necessary to fill current open assignments and especially to ensure these critical support roles are manned in the years ahead.
“Offering these opportunities allows us to retain individual officers at the beginning of their careers while rebalancing the force for long term readiness,” said Col. Shay O’Neal, the director for readiness for HRC. “The Army will eventually face shortages at the battalion, brigade, division and corps level if we don’t shape the force now.”
Combat arms officers in the 2022 year group have from Jan. 7 to Feb. 17, 2025 to volunteer to switch into one of the support branches or functional areas, according to the news release.
To volunteer, they must log into the Integrated Personnel and Pay System-Army, or IPPS-A, portal, enter the Talent Management, or TAM, soldier work center and select “closed marketplace preferences in the “self-service” window to provide their rebranching preferences, Army officials said.
Those seeking to re-branch into one of the open combat-support branches must place their desired new branch above their current branch in their preferred order. Those looking to transfer into one of the functional areas must place their desired functional area as their No. 1 choice. Officers will be pre-screened before being accepted into their chosen functional area, according to the release.
Among those who volunteered to change branches in the 2024 pilot program, 57% received their first-choice branch and the other 43% got their second choice, according to the Army.
Those who transfer branches or enter functional areas during the upcoming volunteer process will not be forced to move, said Maj. Jesse Lansford, a senior marketplace analyst at HRC.
“We’re not looking to accelerate the officer’s [permanent change of station] timeline,” she said. “After transferring, an officer can seek out a post internal move to align themselves with their new branch until it’s time to schedule Captain’s Career Course with their new branch.”
The Army expects to announce branch transfer and functional area moves in March, she said.
