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10 Responses to 'What rank will you begin at in the Army if you enlist with a professional/law degree?'

1. a_wood80 - June 29th, 2010 at 10:51 pm

   If you’ll have a law degree, I would suggest you look into the direct commissioning program to become a JAG lawyer. If you enlist you’ll do so as an E-4, even with your advanced degree.

2. Cam - June 30th, 2010 at 3:56 am

   NO life officer(Rodney/orificer)!!!

   Get in touch with the your local doc… to get brain removed for duty!!

   PS Come on you thumbs down

   PPS: I bet I cant beat 10+

3. seantherunner - July 2nd, 2010 at 4:53 pm

   You can enlist if you have a four year degree and I know several people that have done so. When you do this the Army can pay off your student loans. One of the benefits of enlisting is that you can get the experience of an enlisted person, and then once you have some years in, go over to the other side of the house and be an officer. Many officers who go straight in are kind of stupid, and doing at least one term as an enlisted person will help to get the stupid out of you. Its hard to explain, and I don’t care how actually smart you are, officers can be pretty dumb. Lets just say that you can’t spell lost without LT.

4. whylekyotee2003 - July 5th, 2010 at 9:13 pm

   If you want to do anything with a law degree in the military, get your commission and then join. If you go in enlisted, your not going to be doing anything with your degree besides running through LOAC in your head as your figuring out who to shoot at…

   Thats my advise, coming from an E-4 in the Air Force…Officer is the way to go, wish I had.

5. k3s793 - July 6th, 2010 at 5:22 am

   I know guys with advanced degrees that are enlisted but I can’t think of one that had at least a masters before enlisting. If you wanted to be a lawyer you could probably get a direct commission. If you want to be enlisted then E4 would be about the best you could get as your advanced degree wouldn’t really be of use, at least not directly.

6. Glory - July 9th, 2010 at 7:46 am

   You will start as an E-4 but you should IMMEDIATELY start your OCS packet

   Since you didn’t take ROTC – this is your best bet!

7. rockandroll58-79 - July 10th, 2010 at 9:42 pm

   Depending on your ranking from college, you could go into the officer’s corps as a captain
   and be assigned to JAG. Check with a US Military Counselor and they should be more qualified to provide you with the Information
   that you seek!!

8. armymedic22 - July 14th, 2010 at 1:30 am

   My suggestion would be DONT. Go in with a direct commision. You will make up the money a lot faster, and you will be a lot happier with your career. If you already have a degree, and a graduate degree at that, it makes absolutely no sense to enlist. Just take a look at the difference in pay.

   This is enlisted pay:

   This is officer pay

   Notice the difference? Im not entirely sure, but you might come in as a CPT as an officer, E-4 at the most enlisted. Even if you only come in as an O-1 though, you are still making a lot more money.

   If you were to retire from the Army at 20 years, you would MOST LIKELY retire at O-5 or higher as an officer. You would be recieving half your base pay, which would be a very nice chunk of change for the rest of your life. If you go enlisted and stay enlisted, you would not be making near as much money once you retire. That, and you really won’t be using your law degree if you come in enlisted.

9. David R - July 15th, 2010 at 10:54 am

   As a JAG with 12 years enlisted experience, I will tell you that I agree with those that said go direct commission. Sean above is correct in that some folks make better officers with the enlisted experience under their belt, BUT, a JAG officer will not be leading troops, will not be doing land navigation, etc. You will be a limited duty officer restricted to legal duties. If you go direct commission, the person that said you’ll start as a Captain is incorrect, you will start as a first lieutenant with 1 year time in grade (the Army gives you three years credit for law school and they equate two of those years as a second lieutenant and one year as a first).

   If you do choose to enlist, you will have some difficulties since no NCO is going to treat you any differently with your education and the Army will not pick up any CLE’s that you may want to keep up to date (if you take the bar before you join). Additionally, you will be around some VERY young kids that have no life experience and that will blow you out of the water. If you do go enlisted, at least be wise and go legal assistant. You’ll probably be put to work on real cases, though, so, in my humble opinion, you should be getting paid for it.

   Good luck with whatever you choose! If you have any specific questions, please feel free to email me.

10. ozyguyos - July 18th, 2010 at 2:01 am

    If you were to enlist in the Military, and you had proof of your degree and skills, you would be enlisted as a captain.

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