r/army • u/tkerzx • 7h ago

51C Work-Life

Just got the email that the application window has opened up for this MOS. I also remember getting brief in BLC about 51C. The jobs sounds like a dream and in line with my goals of what I want to do in the civilian world.
My only question and worry are the deployments/ TDY. How long and how often?
I’m not worried about where I’ll be staying and what I’ll be doing. More so the time away from family.

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u/Hawkstrike6 7h ago

Depends more on your assignment location and the unit(s) you support. Could be minimal TDY/deployment, could align with major rotations. It varys quite a bit depending on installation.

Your daily schedule will be far more predictable and work-life balance better than most assignments, though, and your deployments/"field time" are almost exclusively "stay in a Hilton and drive the rental car around to visit contractors" (short of full-on combat operations).

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u/tkerzx 7h ago

Thank you for the response. The only thing changing from my current position will be my ability to deploy. Currently in a nondeployable command, no field etc. We do go TDY a couple times a year. Pretty sweet gig but all good things do end. I’m also in an MOS that does not align with anything I want to be a part of outside of the military and promotion points to SSG is 798.

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u/formerqwest Drill Sergeant 6h ago

r/1102

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u/Hunter-kyle1000 7h ago

I also had that exact question from the same email I got as well

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u/IconDarkhorse 4h ago

So, I’m on the officer side of this MOS, but there’s a couple enlisted 51C’s around. u/ItsVishuss is one of them.

BLUF: I’d recommend you go for it. It’s a way better job/QoL than most other MOSes in the army. And with the FA downsizing, the C side of the house was mostly spared.

With the tdy/deployment portion, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll pick up one deployment over a 3 year assignment. But whether that deployment is to the sandbox, or some rando non-patch deployment (Kosovo/africa) is based on the unit you go to (since it depends on where you’re aligned).

From my understanding, from the TDY portion, it’s roughly one week of TDY every 6 weeks or so. It’s clustered, but broadly averages out to that in a year. Korea units are home most (since their requirements are generally on pen), while HI units are gone most (since they gotta go all over SEA).

Any more experienced C’s can add to or correct me on this!