by
Imed Bouchrika, Phd
Joining the military as enlisted personnel and working up the ranks is a potential career pathway, but those who wish to become officers can take the faster route and get a military science degree. Getting a bachelor’s in military science immediately puts you in the rank of second lieutenant, providing you with the benefits of a college degree without delay from the branch of the military you decide to join. Aside from developing practical and tactical skills, a military science degree prepares you for a wide range of knowledge areas such as psychology, resource management, engineering, history, and negotiation.
Depending on one’s career goals and career development plan in military science, a student can either pursue a law enforcement or military career. In this, we will show you the steps you need to take toward a military career path, the range of military salary you can enjoy, the different specializations you can pursue, and how you can move up in the service.
Military careers are not for everyone. In fact, recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics indicate that it is not among the most popular fields of study today. However, there still remain many individuals who are drawn to this calling. Military personnel defend a country’s land, air, and sea boundaries and may be deployed overseas to advance or defend the interests of their government. Currently, there are over 1.4 million active-duty personnels in the U.S. Armed Forces (U.S. Department of Defense, 2021).
Military personnel and officers operate in an environment where conflict is present. Those desiring to join the armed forces must be physically and mentally agile, ready, and able to take part in combat or support missions that may involve risk to their lives. Depending on the branch of service, soldiers may be deployed to distant locations.
There are six branches of the armed services:
The Air Force is responsible for military aviation—its assets, their operation, and support for other branches of the armed forces. Its mission is to achieve air and space superiority. The U.S. Air Force currently has 320,000 active personnel.
The Army is primarily land-based and responsible for operations in this terrain. Its mission is to help the country win wars by advancing through and controlling enemy lands and resources. Its military base has 472,000 active personnel.
The Navy is responsible for opposing seaborne aggression and maintaining freedom of navigation of the seas. Its aim is to control air, sea, and subsurface areas. It currently has 337,000 active personnel.
The U.S. Marine Corps works closely with the Navy on missions. Its missions include:
It currently has 182,000 active personnel.
The minor branches of the armed services would be:
The Coast Guard conducts various maritime missions, such as securing ports and waterways, maintaining navigational equipment such as lighthouses and buoys, and conducting search and rescue operations. It has 42,000 active personnel.
Space Force is the newest and smallest branch of the Armed Forces. Its mission is to protect U.S. and allied interests in space and provide joint capabilities to the joint force. It traces its history to the Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). It is estimated to have between 4,000 to 6,000 service members.
The men and women of these various branches, while fulfilling their distinct roles under their branch of command, also have non-combat roles similar to those in the civilian world: accountants, human resource personnel, doctors and nurses, IT personnel, and even religious roles such as that of a chaplain. Increasingly, there is a need for highly technical specialists such as unmanned vehicle, guided missile, and drone operators; cybersecurity experts; and even behavioral scientists.
Due to the essential nature of the armed forces to the country, the United States will always maintain a sufficiently large force. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that job prospects for the military professions will be very good through 2029 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021).
Entering the military profession certainly isn’t a dead-end job. Civilians might think that the military career path is only straight up (promotion, increase in rank) or straight down (demotion, decrease in rank, or dismissal from service). This is far from the truth.
One’s entry into the military is, as in other professions, just the beginning of one’s career. And for the servicemember who aspires to “be all that you can be” (as that 20-year-old Army recruitment tagline goes) and who’s willing to put in the time to acquire new knowledge and skills, this could be a self-fulfilling slogan.
Recruits fall into two categories: enlisted personnel and officers.
The majority of servicemembers join their units as enlisted personnel. They represent the rank-and-file, the general body of servicemembers (82% of the armed forces).
Enlisted personnel will be working their way up from the bottom of the military organization, being assigned specific tasks and roles in certain offices or units in the field. For instance, they can be assigned to combat operations, humanitarian missions, maintain military equipment, construct military camps, be part of their unit’s management information system (MIS) team, drive a vehicle, operate a ballistic weapon, or look after the health of personnel. They can seek to undergo additional and specialized training in those areas as a way of improving their skills and increasing their chances for promotion.
Enlisted personnel undergo basic training or boot camp that covers physical and military skills development, as well as general orientation to the military life. This lasts from seven to 13 weeks. Following this, enlisted men may be given formal training on the role they would be assigned to, which would last from 10 to 20 weeks. Once they are assigned to a unit, servicemen may be given additional on-the-job training to help them fulfill their duties there—be it on driving a forklift, food safety training for those assigned to the cafeteria, or operating global positioning services (GPS) equipment.
Categories of Enlisted Personnel
Aside from combat roles, there are various categories of enlisted personnel:
For their acquired specialized skills, enlisted men can be promoted to the rank that corresponds to the appropriate salary band, i.e. carpenter ($39,940/year), auto mechanic ($36,610), aircraft repairer ($55,230), firefighter ($42,250), and other roles necessary for frontline and support units.
The training and skills that servicemen take with them when they exit the service make them among the most qualified workers to rejoin the private sector in whatever industry they wish.
Based on the military salary grades/bands, the salaries of an Air Force pilot, an Army mechanical engineer, a Navy nurse, a Marine electrician, and a Coast Guard truck driver would fall within the median range among all salaries in that field. This means that their salaries would be higher than 50% of all salaries in that role, whether in the public or private sector.
Source: learnhowtobecome.org, 2019
Military officers hold leadership positions in a specific branch of service and command varying sizes of service units—larger units signifying a higher level of authority and responsibility.
In general, officers enjoy the privileges of their rank because they joined the armed forces with advanced academic credentials.
One path would be from one of the five federal service academies: Military Academy at West Point, Naval Academy at Annapolis, the Air Force Academy, the Merchant Marines Academy, and the Cost Guard Academy. Tuition at these institutions is waived in full but admission is extremely competitive and only 8 to 17% of applicants will be accepted. Every year, these schools make it to the most selective and best colleges. The few proud graduates at these prestigious military schools automatically get a commission in the armed forces.
A second path to becoming an officer would be through a Reserved Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program in high school or college. Some of these programs, which run between two to four years, offer scholarships that may include tuition, room and board, and books (Moody, 2020).
The third path towards an officer rank would be through a bachelor’s degree, such as a bachelor’s degree in military science. Whereas enlisted personnel train for specific tasks and roles, officers are given management modules and train primarily on handling the men and women under them in different scenarios.
Officers fall under three categories:
1. Commissioned officers
Commissioned officers (CO) receive a ‘commission’ and are given their rank even before they assume their posts. Because of their educational credentials and additional in-service training that the military provides, they are entrusted with the role of leading, guiding, protecting, and bringing out the best in their men.
2. Non-commissioned officers
Non-commissioned officers (NCO) are servicemen who have gained officer status by acquiring additional training. However, they have not yet received their commission or officer rank. These mid-level personnel of the armed forces typically have direct supervisory roles over enlisted men. As ‘middle executives’ in the armed services, they are expected to excel in leadership over the men assigned to them, while being prime examples to these men of obedience and submission to higher command.
3. Warrant officers
Warrant officers are trained to become technical and tactical experts who ensure that a unit’s combat systems and networks are at maximum capability. Functioning as combat leaders, advisers, or trainers, they are qualified to serve in any of the 14 military branches. Warrant officers are enlisted men who have reached staff sergeant rank and are classified under E-6 salary band (or higher), and who made it through Warrant Officer Candidate School. They can continue on to attend Warrant Officer Flight Training to become combat-ready airplane or helicopter pilots. Warrant officers can even move into leadership roles that oversee commissioned officers.
One major difference between civilian jobs and the military profession is its salary structure. Across all the armed services, basic pay is based on two factors: rank and time in service. There is a big difference between the salaries of rank-and-file enlisted men vs. the supervisor/management-level officers. For instance, an E1 (enlisted man, salary band 1 – i.e. an Army or Marine private, Navy seaman recruit, or Airman basic) will have a starting annual salary of $21,420 whereas the lowest commissioned officer rank, an 01 (commissioned officer, salary band 1 – i.e. an Army, Navy or Air Force second lieutenant, or Navy ensign) will start at $40,620—almost twice the enlisted man’s salary.
At the same time, tenure is a major factor in increasing all personnel’s salaries. For instance, an O2 (first lieutenant) with two years of service will earn just $46,884 while an E9 (Army or Marine sergeant major, master chief petty officer of the Navy, or chief master sergeant of the Air Force) with 32 years of service will earn more than twice the officer at $95,224 per year. This is just the way the armed forces place value on a soldier’s loyalty and time in the service.
But the officer’s distinct advantage is that the salary increase he enjoys per additional year of service increases at a much faster rate than the enlisted man. This, on the other hand, is how the Armed Forces seek to attract highly skilled and educated young men to become part of the nation’s fighting force.
The following are the salary bands for enlisted men:
| PAY GRADE | ARMY | NAVY | MARINES | AIR FORCE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| E-1 (less than 2 years to 40+ years of service) $21,420 | Private | Seaman Recruit | Private | Airman, Basic |
| E-2 (less than 2 years to 40+ years of service) $24,008 | Private | Seaman Apprentice | Private First Class | Airman |
| E-3 (less than 2 years to 40+ years of service) $25,247 - $28,462 | Private First Class | Seaman | Lance Corporal | Airman, First Class |
| E-4 (less than 2 years to 40+ years of service) $27,965 - $33,948 | Corporal or Specialist | Petty Officer, 3rd Class | Corporal | Senior Airman |
| E-5 (less than 2 years to 40+ years of service) $30,499 - $43,283 | Sergeant | Petty Officer, 2nd Class | Sergeant | Staff Sergeant |
| E-6 (less than 2 years to 40+ years of service) $33,293 - $51,566 | Staff Sergeant | Petty Officer, 1st Class | Staff Sergeant | Technical Sergeant |
| E-7 (less than 2 years to 40+ years of service) $38,491 - $69,185 | Platoon Sergeant or Sergeant First Class | Chief Petty Officer | Gunnery Sergeant | Master Sergeant |
| E-8 (over 8 to 40+years of service) $55,375 - $78,976 | First Sergeant or Master Sergeant | Senior Chief Petty Officer | First Sergeant or Master Sergeant | Senior Master Sergeant |
| E-9 (over 10 years to 40+ years of service) $67,644 - $105,030 | Command Sergeant Major or Sergeant Major | Master Chief Petty Officer | Sergeant Major or Master Gunnery Sergeant | Chief Master Sergeant |
| *E-9 (over 10 years to 40+ years of service) $67,644 - $105,030 | Sergeant Major of the Army | Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy | Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps | Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force |
Notice that for the first two categories (E1 and E2), basic pay is flat. For enlisted personnel to attain the benefits of an increased rank and salary grade, they need to acquire more training.
The salary bands for officers begin at a much higher level and increases at a faster pace over the years. The pinnacle of an officer’s career, of course, would be to achieve the coveted rank of general.
It takes more than an ability to grunt loudly and shout hooah back at your training instructor to make it in the armed forces. The professional soldiers of today are technologically agile and well-rounded. In fact, out of the more than 1.4 million people on active duty in the U.S. armed forces, at least 200,000 perform science, engineering, and technical roles. There are other roles and specializations in the military, however, that would require a bachelor’s degree (i.e. in biological sciences), a master’s degree (i.e. in a STEM discipline), or even a doctorate degree (i.e. as judge advocate or military doctor). Depending on what branch of service one is planning to join and the specialized role one wants to assume, there are certain traits and skills that one must possess. There are also some indispensable general skills that would apply across all armed service branches.
Unlike civilian roles that are focused on specific skill sets, joining the armed services will require one to meet a number of general qualifications before one’s specific qualifications or skills come into play.
Being primarily a combat organization with the role of defending a country or occupying enemy territory, the military relies primarily on the standard makeup and superiority of the men and women who comprise it.
The basic qualifying attributes that all the branches of service look for in applicants are the following:
Requirements for specific skills will come into play when applying for specific roles within the military. For instance, if one wants to become an Air Force, Navy, or Marines pilot, one must first hold a bachelor’s degree, preferably in the sciences (physics, aerospace engineering, computer science, chemistry). Following this, he or she must undergo and pass a rigorous Class 1 Flying Physical, complete an Officer Commissioning course through a Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program, Branch Officer School, or through the Air Force Academy. A dental hygienist must have at least an associate’s degree and should be licensed in the state where he or she is practicing. Firefighters need only a high school (or equivalent) diploma.
Over and above these skills, some traits might be considered essential for those aspiring to become members of the armed forces:
There are many ways to enter the military service, as earlier mentioned. But a college degree in military science is a cost-effective career path that will put you in command of the military career you are aspiring for.
After earning one’s associate’s degree in military science, one can continue studying to earn a bachelor’s degree in military science in order to get a commission to the armed forces and join the service with a rank of 2nd lieutenant (or equivalent).
In many cases, an associate’s degree in military science can serve as the ‘basic’ portion of the ROTC program, which is the second route to earning a commission to the armed forces. One can enroll in a college that offers ROTC to take the ‘advanced’ portion. Once this has been completed, one qualifies for a commission in the armed services.
An associate’s degree in military science is an excellent choice for those who have an eye on the military service but want to keep their options open. Because the curriculum is diverse, an associate’s degree in military science will give one a good foundation on military subjects while introducing civilian law enforcement topics as well.
A student, therefore, has the option to pursue a career in law enforcement upon receiving one’s associate degree in military science. Since most police departments have the same minimum requirements of a high school diploma or GED, having an associate’s degree should put one in competitive standing among other applicants to the police force.
Entry-level police officer base salary: $40,000/year
Should one decide to pursue one’s career goals in military science, someone with an associate’s degree in military science will be exceeding the minimum academic requirement of a high school diploma or GED.
Entry-level enlisted personnel will receive a salary of $47,407/year.
Once enlisted in the armed forces, one can make his associate’s degree the foundation stone on which to build his or her military career by taking in-service training in specific areas. For instance, one can take information technology classes to eventually become an information technology specialist who can earn an annual salary of $48,900/year. Or better still, one can pursue a bachelor’s degree while in-service—something that thousands of servicemen do, taking advantage of military tuition assistance they are entitled to, military financial aid offered at military-friendly colleges, as well as benefits provided by the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
A bachelor’s degree in military science will be more than sufficient to comply with the requirements for a commission to the armed forces and the officer’s rank that comes with it. The armed forces will accept bachelor’s degrees in any field as the basis for giving a commission. But a bachelor’s degree in military science gives a new recruit an advantage over other applicants. Having taken military subjects, he or she can proceed to more advanced training or be given choice positions over others with more generic college degrees. They will also have a huge initial advantage in terms of starting salary, which will proportionally increase per additional year of service. An O-1 second lieutenant or ensign fresh from college will earn an annual salary of $40,630—twice what his contemporaries, who will be entering the military service as enlisted men, would earn.
Yes, one can be accepted into the military as enlisted personnel on the basis of a General Educational Development Test Certificate, in lieu of a high school diploma.
Understanding the Military: The Institution, the Culture, and the People (2010)
A bachelor’s degree in military science will give one an excellent start in the service but it need not be the end of one’s upward movement in the military organization of choice. The military places importance on the continuing education of its personnel and provides postgraduate education free of charge to exemplary officers in the service. The Naval Postgraduate School and the Air Force Institute of Technology, for instance, support the best of their men and women in earning their master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, acoustics, nanomaterials, oceanography, space systems, climate, laser technology, and other advanced fields. Like their enlisted men counterparts, officers can also take advantage of tuition fee assistance from their branch of service, military financial aid offered at military-friendly colleges, as well as benefits provided by the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
Those with masters and doctoral degrees can assume important roles within their military units, such as information security manager (up to $130,000 per annum), intelligence officer (up to $152,000 per annum), or aerospace engineer (up to $176,000 per annum).
Others choose a diagonal career path and move out of active military service for a period of time to work in government research facilities like the Army Research Laboratory or the Naval Research Laboratory. These well-funded scientific enterprises are the tip of the spear in innovative technologies that benefit not just the military but society at large as well.
Those who have invested in themselves and studied to increase their knowledge and skills during their years of military service can confidently rejoin the private sector should they choose to. Many of the specialized skills taught in the military are applicable to private industries and civilian life as well.
Still, others, after completing their military service contracts, or after retirement, pursue other areas of study and enroll in their new fields of interest prior to rejoining the private sector. Much of the in-service training they received can be credited at other institutions of learning as well, especially those that are military-friendly.
The world is being reshaped by technology and by the knowledge economy. And so is the battleground on which military organizations operate and where wars are fought. The creation of Space Force attests to the reality of these new frontiers. Rather than confining their men to barracks, military organizations are now strongly supporting the aspirations of their best men and women in various technical, technological, and scientific fields. This seems to be a recognition by the military organization that after requiring our young men and women in uniform to give the best years of their lives to the service, the institution also has a responsibility to return them to society as productive citizens, not as battered veterans. After all, military recruiters did promise to empower them so they can “be all that they can be.” One’s aspirations of joining the military service well-prepared for its challenges can best be met by taking an associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree in military science. It also positions one for an upwardly mobile career that will be both fulfilling and well-compensated. But through programs for the continuing education of men and women in uniform, the armed forces are able to give back to families by facilitating the re-entry of these same men and women into society as better, more highly skilled specialists than when they enlisted for service.
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by Imed Bouchrika, Phd
by Imed Bouchrika, Phd
by Imed Bouchrika, Phd
by Imed Bouchrika, Phd
by Imed Bouchrika, Phd
by Imed Bouchrika, Phd
