Long story short I'm talking to a recruiter about joining the service, I want to be an enlisted Cavalry scout both in honor of my Grandfather (who was a Cavalry officer in the Polish army in WWII) and out of my desire to serve in a combat arms position.

The recruiter was very upfront that due to my age and education (27 and a BS in management) he thinks I would make a better officer then enlisted man.

I'm giving it due consideration but I see there isn't a cavalry officer option... however I'm told that they do exist as a subset of the Armor corps.

If anyone here knows anything about that I'd appreciate it, also are schools enlisted only or can officers attend (specifically SDM school at Camp Robinson)?

There are air cav and armored cav officers. You just have to get into the right MOS and game the system till you get assigned to a cav unit.  

Quoted: Long story short I'm talking to a recruiter about joining the service, I want to be an enlisted Cavalry scout both in honor of my Grandfather (who was a Cavalry officer in the Polish army in WWII) and out of my desire to serve in a combat arms position. The recruiter was very upfront that due to my age and education (27 and a BS in management) he thinks I would make a better officer then enlisted man. I'm giving it due consideration but I see there isn't a cavalry officer option... however I'm told that they do exist as a subset of the Armor corps. If anyone here knows anything about that I'd appreciate it, also are schools enlisted only or can officers attend (specifically SDM school at Camp Robinson)?

Cavalry exists as a subset of (A) Armor and (B) Aviation...

You can't branch Cav, however you can be assigned to a cavalry unit as an Armor officer - either as part of a scout unit, or in one if the 3 'Big Cav' units (1st Cavalry Division, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment) as a tanker......

If Aviation (Air Cav) appeals to you, then do well enough to get a good pick of aircraft, and select the OH-58 (Kiowa Warrior)... It's a scout/attack bird, and it WILL get you assigned to air-cav units for your career (It's the Army bird that looks like a police helo with guns/rockets & a bowling-ball on top of the rotors)...

As an ENLISTED soldier, you can enlist for 19D Cavalry Scout - and you will be sent to any number of places to do your MOS... Most likely your low-level command (Squadron/Battallion) will be Cav...

Special scools? Scout leader course, under the Armor school.... For Armor officers assigned to cav-scout units (A/O tanker units)....

Let me clarify,

I'm attempting to join the NG, there is a dedicated Cavalry unit in my state. (5th Squadron, 117th Cavalry )

I didn't believe one could request assignment into the rotary wing program from the outset, I thought you needed to already be in and prepare a packet for that sort of thing.

Quoted: Let me clarify, I'm attempting to join the NG, there is a dedicated Cavalry unit in my state. (5th Squadron, 117th Cavalry ) I didn't believe one could request assignment into the rotary wing program from the outset, I thought you needed to already be in and prepare a packet for that sort of thing.

That's a whole different ball of wax.  You need to contact the unit directly, and yes, you can go into aviation directly.  You'll have to take the AFAST and pass your phyisical before you ship out to Basic.  Then you'll of course have OCS and all the other standard officer schools before flight school.  Should only take you about 3 years to get fully trained.  

Officers pilots in "Air Cav" are branched as Aviation. I was an enlisted Aeroscout in a NG Armored Cavalry Regiment. I flew on the OH58A Kiowa. We were the regimental aviation squadron and our officer pilots were nearly all branched Aviation. I knew a few that were branched as Engineers. No such thing as Air Cav branch.

Quoted: Officers pilots in "Air Cav" are branched as Aviation. I was an enlisted Aeroscout in a NG Armored Cavalry Regiment. I flew on the OH58A Kiowa. We were the regimental aviation squadron and our officer pilots were nearly all branched Aviation. I knew a few that were branched as Engineers. No such thing as Air Cav branch.

Correct...

Branched Aviation (see above post)... But a 58 pilot will ALWAYS be assigned to an Air Cav unit...

Quoted: I didn't believe one could request assignment into the rotary wing program from the outset, I thought you needed to already be in and prepare a packet for that sort of thing.

You too? Seems like they don't tell anyone about *that perticular* program.... I've run into plenty who's recruiters 'stuck' them in Aviation, when they could have enlisted for WOFT....

You can enlist directly for rotary-wing-pilot... The program is called 'High School to Flight School', as they will take a kid out of HS who meets the standards, send him to WOCS, and make him a pilot if he graduates....

"Watches (read:tapes) Dave_A fondle the disco balls on top of the Kiowas, and prepares to post it to YouTube"

Quoted: "Watches (read:tapes) Dave_A fondle the disco balls on top of the Kiowas, and prepares to post it to YouTube"

Now now, shew...

There are no 58Ds at Lewis...

They are all in Iraq...

And you weren't in my unit in Iraq...

P.S. Shrew is a 19D Cav Scout, IIRC...

<--- Reluctantly admits hes a Scout

ETA: "What are you still doing awake you!?"

*tosses a twinkie in Dave_A's direction*

I admire your sense of tradition, however I think it would be foolish to do what you are asking.

Do what you are good at, do what you enjoy. Dont try to be someone else, regardless of how good they were in their time.  Be yourself in your own era.

Halfway down the trail to hell...... AIEEYAH!!!!!

Dave_A was the only one who only briefly mentioned the Warrant Officer Flight Training.

Little easier to get into then the Commissioned Officer route.

I flew AH1s and OH58Ds as a Warrant Officer in Air Cavalry Units.  Besides the mission, the attitudes in a Cav unit are different then in a straight Attack Battalion or a lift unit.

Check out KiowaPilots.com and look around.  Great people and good resources.  Look around, do some research, then ask your questions.

My Son joined as a Cav Scout last year.  He is serving in a scout platoon of an armored regiment in Korea.  He loves it.

The Cav Scout OSUT is very hard so prepare yourself.

Here is a forum for Cav Scouts.  You can learn a lot from reading the post.

www.cavalryscouts.com/forum/index.php

here is a picture of his scout platoon in Korea:

Quoted: Quoted: Long story short I'm talking to a recruiter about joining the service, I want to be an enlisted Cavalry scout both in honor of my Grandfather (who was a Cavalry officer in the Polish army in WWII) and out of my desire to serve in a combat arms position. The recruiter was very upfront that due to my age and education (27 and a BS in management) he thinks I would make a better officer then enlisted man. I'm giving it due consideration but I see there isn't a cavalry officer option... however I'm told that they do exist as a subset of the Armor corps. If anyone here knows anything about that I'd appreciate it, also are schools enlisted only or can officers attend (specifically SDM school at Camp Robinson)? Cavalry exists as a subset of (A) Armor and (B) Aviation... You can't branch Cav, however you can be assigned to a cavalry unit as an Armor officer - either as part of a scout unit, or in one if the 3 'Big Cav' units (1st Cavalry Division, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment) as a tanker...... If Aviation (Air Cav) appeals to you, then do well enough to get a good pick of aircraft, and select the OH-58 (Kiowa Warrior)... It's a scout/attack bird, and it WILL get you assigned to air-cav units for your career (It's the Army bird that looks like a police helo with guns/rockets & a bowling-ball on top of the rotors)... As an ENLISTED soldier, you can enlist for 19D Cavalry Scout - and you will be sent to any number of places to do your MOS... Most likely your low-level command (Squadron/Battallion) will be Cav... Special scools? Scout leader course, under the Armor school.... For Armor officers assigned to cav-scout units (A/O tanker units)....

Question can you insist on the scout leaders course the same way people insist on airborne or whatever to be written into their contract before they sign? I'd very much like to insist on it, but I don't know if thats possible.

And also for the guy who made the comment about my Love of tradition, Its something I want to do personally too.

bump

"Cavalry" refers to mission.

Economy of force, security and recon in the squadrons and regiments, misc MOS's; recon if attached to a armor BN as a scout platoon, all 19D's.

An armor branch officer can be assigned to squadrons and regiments, or a scout platoon as an LT; but you are essentially in the armor branch.