Australian Army Officer entrance method

[TheBlurryOne]

Next year, upon the completion of my final year of school, i hope to begin my career as an officer in the Australian army. Ideally i would like to be an infantry officer. However I've heard quite informally that officers who join through ADFA rather than Duntroon aren't regarded quite as highly. That it is only the those who join through Duntroon that one day go on to become generals. Is there any truth in this? If so, would it be worth someone like myself who has no other ambitions in life but to become an officer, knocking back the possible offer of enlistment to ADFA?
Thanks

 

[Raven22]

Mate, you're a bit muddled up. All Army officers go through Duntroon, regardless of whether they attend ADFA or not. The only difference is those who go straight to Duntroon (Direct Entry) do 18 months of training at RMC, while those that come from ADFA will only do 12 months at RMC (they do the equivalent of the first six months of training during their three years at ADFA).

Any talk of ADFA grads being 'looked down on' is a load of tosh. By the time you are six months out of training no one will care less whether you attended ADFA or not. I doubt most soldiers would even really know the difference, let alone care. As long as you are competent, your soldiers will hold you in high regard.

The only real decision you need to make is whether you want a degree or not. If you want to make the Army a career, you will need a degree or you won't be competitive past captain. If you want a degree, you might as well go to ADFA and get a free degree, while being paid (its about $45 000 a year these days). The only real reason not to go to ADFA is if you want the whole liberal civilian university experience instead of the more structured environment as ADFA.

The more important decision you need to make though is about corps - the cavalry is far superior to the infantry...

 

[Kirkzzy]

The only real decision you need to make is whether you want a degree or not. If you want to make the Army a career, you will need a degree or you won't be competitive past captain. If you want a degree, you might as well go to ADFA and get a free degree, while being paid (its about $45 000 a year these days). The only real reason not to go to ADFA is if you want the whole liberal civilian university experience instead of the more structured environment as ADFA.

Damn that's hard.. pay to do Uni or... get paid about 50k a year to go to uni (a more disciplined and structured one at that). Like I mean the second option sounds awesome, get paid for education but man... missing on the uni years would be tough... Forget the parties

 

[Aussie Digger]

Next year, upon the completion of my final year of school, i hope to begin my career as an officer in the Australian army. Ideally i would like to be an infantry officer. However I've heard quite informally that officers who join through ADFA rather than Duntroon aren't regarded quite as highly. That it is only the those who join through Duntroon that one day go on to become generals. Is there any truth in this? If so, would it be worth someone like myself who has no other ambitions in life but to become an officer, knocking back the possible offer of enlistment to ADFA?
Thanks

Yep, what Raven22 said. To become an officer you are going to RMC no matter which path you take to get there.

A piece of advice though. Get a non-military related degree. A degree in a non-military related area will serve you well in all walks of life, not just wthin the Army. The Army will teach you how to be a soldier and a leader. Let the University teach you something you can use in, but also elsewhere than the Army.

Learning how to lead a platoon (or a troop) is all well and good and either the ADFA or RMC path will teach you that, but what if you can't do that for whatever some day? What are you going to fall back on?

 

[Abraham Gubler]

Damn that's hard.. pay to do Uni or... get paid about 50k a year to go to uni (a more disciplined and structured one at that). Like I mean the second option sounds awesome, get paid for education but man... missing on the uni years would be tough... Forget the parties

LOL. I don't think anyone at ADFA misses out on parties...

If you are thinking long term career wise then ADFA is the best bet. You can also study a target language as part of your degree which is required now for promotion over Major level.

 

[Raven22]

A piece of advice though. Get a non-military related degree. A degree in a non-military related area will serve you well in all walks of life, not just wthin the Army.

There's really no such thing as a 'military related' degree. The degrees offered at ADFA are science, arts, engineering and business degrees, which mirror pretty much exactly the courses offered at other campuses of the University of New South Wales (which is what ADFA is of course). The only real difference is that the choice of available majors and electives is pretty narrow and relevant to the job (ie, you are much more likely to be doing, say, Asia Pacific security studies rather than basket weaving appreciation as an elective).

At the end of the day, the degree that hangs on the wall will be a UNSW degree just like any other.