Comments on: What jobs in the military involve being a strategist or tactician?

By: Wayne

Wayne — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 10:32:13 +0000

Don’t bother trying to find out because you will never get there if all you care about is games when it comes to war. War is not a game, nor is strategic or tactical planning.

On topic, Generals and Politicians handle the strategic side of war. It takes usually 25-30 years of experience AT LEAST to reach these positions.

NCO’s and Officers handle the small unit tactics. NCO’s take a few years, Officers can take a few years or good results in certain military colleges. Wayne

By: tjbutler45

tjbutler45 — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 01:22:57 +0000

Your kind of off the mark here.

General and Flag Officers deal with STRATEGY. It normally takes 25 to 30 years of service to reach those grades.

Tactics is performed at the small unit (Squad - Battalion) level. In order to make tactical decisions, an NCO or Officer has to work his way up through the ranks.

You cannot just join the military and assume the role of “strategist” or “tactician”. There is no specific MOS (job) for it. It takes years of experience and knowledge.

Video Games most definitely do not count.

By the way, Intelligence Analyst do NOT make any tactical decisions. They provide intel for the people that do. It is the difference between a Commander and Staff. tjbutler45

By: arunmadav2013

arunmadav2013 — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:04:34 +0000

You have to work your way up the chain of command. Even if you enter the Military as an officer, you most likely won’t be doing that kind of stuff, you’ll be a PART of the plan/strategy/tactics before you get to make them. I used to be like you, believed I was good at that kind of stuff and it was suited for me. The liaison officer I talked to told me what I was kinda expecting to hear. He said EVERYONE thinks the same way, that they can be an “arm chair general” that works behind the scenes doing the planning right when they enter the Military. Needless to say, me, you and everyone else who thought that initially was dead wrong. You have to prove yourself where the action goes on first, either in the front lines or in the deck of an aircraft carrier BEFORE you get to plan those things. That way you will know the weight of the decisions you are making.

If your heart is really into that kind of stuff, you can become a civilian “Intelligence Analyst”, but you probably won’t be doing any strategy or tactics. They have Intelligence Officers in the Military to. They collect information, they present it, they even offer advice but they don’t do actual planning and strategy, that’s only a fraction of their work. So if you are hoping to even come close to that WITHOUT waiting for thirty years to be a General, an Intelligence Analyst is the closest you’ll get.
Of course, the other option is working up the chain of command, going through all of the action before planning it. No pain, no gain.

Remember this answer is based on what a Liaison Officer told me, I take his word seriously. If you are aspiring to do the kind of work you want to do, you cannot expect to find a place where you’ll be able to do that right off the bat in the Military. arunmadav2013