Army seeks 300 ground combat lieutenants to transfer to support jobs

The Army is looking for 300 lieutenants to voluntarily transfer from four ground combat arms branches to five understrength branches: adjutant general, air defense, finance, logistics and signal corps.

In January, the service sought 250 infantry or armor lieutenants to move over to adjutant general, finance or signal corps to address a misalignment between officer inventory and Army manning requirements, Army Times previously reported.

Now, facing similar challenges, the service is expanding its effort, seeking an additional 300 lieutenants from year group 2022 to transfer out of infantry, armor, artillery and engineer branches, according to a release.

“Last year’s pilot program was successful as more than 130 [year group 2021] lieutenants voluntarily transferred from the Infantry and Armor branches into the Adjutant General, Finance and Signal Corps. By offering more options this year we hope to get greater participation and have a greater impact on readiness,” said Maj. Thomas Mussmann, a readiness analyst for Army Human Resources Command’s Force Shaping Directorate.

When the Army finds a misalignment exists between manning requirements and available officer inventory, the service opens voluntary transfers to “rebalance” the active duty Army, Mussmann said.

“The Army will eventually face shortages at the battalion, brigade, division and corps level if we don’t shape the force now,” said Col. Shay O’Neal, director of HRC’s Readiness Division.

In addition to the five understrength branches, the Army is also looking for transfers into four functional area jobs, including information technology engineer, space operations, public affairs and simulations operations.

Potential volunteers for branch and functional area transfers may apply between Jan. 7 and Feb. 17, 2025, according to the release.

“The ideal candidate for this program is someone who enjoys the Army but is looking for a change from their current career field,” said Maj. Jesse Lansford, a senior marketplace analyst at Army Human Resources Command. “Maybe they’re looking for company command time but in a branch with a long wait queue or they didn’t get their initial branch of choice upon commissioning.”

No officers will be forced to change branches, officials said.

To identify themselves as interested volunteers, infantry, armor, field artillery and engineer officers from year group 2022 must log into the Integrated Personnel and Pay System portal, locate the [Talent Management] Soldier Work Center within the “Self Service” window and select “Closed Marketplace Preferences” where they will provide their preferencing input for the rebranching process, according to the release.

Officers who want to rebranch must put their desired branch above their current branch in their preference order.

The branch placement will depend on the officer’s preference and their placement on the national cadet order of merit list from the fiscal 2022 branching boards, according to the release.

In the early 2024 rebranching, for example, 57% received their first choice, while the remaining 43% received their second choice.

If an officer is transferring into one of the functional areas of need, they must put the desired functional area as their top preference.

Those approved for transfer will not incur a permanent change of station move with the transfer.

HRC is slated to release results of the transfer option in early March 2025.