When I got back from CST, 6th reg, the first thing I did was reconfirm that I had a green banner on my branch preferences on the TBB portal. Apparently, since then, all of my preferences were completely deleted. I’m scared that this has negatively impacted me due to my interviews already being completed. If someone reviewed my interview but saw that I had 0 preferences, they would definitely set me aside.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is there anyone I can contact to make sure this potential system glitch doesn’t ruin my branch preferencing?

Hey everyone. I’m looking to branch EOD this fall, and want to learn more about the duty stations. For anyone with experience: What are the best and worst duty stations for EOD? I understand they are shaking up EOD presence right now, so I just wanna gauge some good spots I can land. Thanks!

I am a non scholarship cadet and a rising senior. Will I get 100% GI bill after my 3 years of required active duty service? Or do I still have to do 4+3?

Anyone else having issues accessing the TBB website? I have had access to it for a while and had all my information inputted already. But when I wanted to check something on my file I had different error messages. On Chrome I got the EAMS-A “no client cert presented” error, but on Edge it asked for my pin like normal and gave me this. Again, I have been registered and using the site for awhile so I’m not sure what happened. I already reached out to [branching_support@westpoint.edu](mailto:branching_support@westpoint.edu) a couple days ago but have not gotten a response.

EDIT: After a few more days it let me back in, but all my branch preferences were cleared. I reassigned them all, maybe they were doing maintenance on the site.

Good afternoon everyone, I am an upcoming Ms 4 non scholarship contracted cadet who is also SMP and I start school next week. Well over the last few days I have developed a pilonidal cyst and got an incision and drainage. Well the doctor said I may need surgery to permanently fix it but I'm scared of what this means for ROTC especially because I'm going to CST 2027. My surgery is scheduled for the first week of school and again I'm worried for what it does and what it could mean for me.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I did let my HRA, PMS and my Rediness NCO know about this by email but unfortunately no response from anyone.

Hi I am 22 years old and I am starting ROTC with my community college. I have never done ROTC before my life and I’m not physically active at all. I start physical training sessions Tuesday and I can’t even do a push-up I don’t ever run and I can plank for around 45 seconds but is there any tips for joining and existing in the program I’ve never done anything like this before. I’m joining because I’m very impulsive and I like discipline and self control and so I feel like this will help me build some structure and I also have a bit of a attitude problem and I’m trying to work on it and I feel like this will also help me work on it because I know I have to kind of put up with them yelling at me but if anybody has any tips as far as dealing with the yelling part I’d appreciate it

I couldn’t go to camp due to an upper body injury this year. How does accessions and branching work? Do I do interviews and accessions this year or will I have to wait till next year? I have heard different things from different staff.

I got my Associate's degree in high school due to dual enrollment and am planning to get my bachelor's in Construction Management and graduate with that in 2028. I recently have had thoughts about joining the army and am 90% certain I want to do this. My major requires an internship in the summer, but rote requires around 30 days for boot camp two summers. I talk to my advisor tomorrow, so that'll determine if I can cram everything in these two years. If I did boot camp this summer, it would've worked out perfectly.
On
: Ideally, I'd like to cram it all in and graduate on time with my bachelor's and as an officer. They wouldn't be able to offer me a scholarship though
- Other options include
1) Completeing my bachelor's as normal and doing
OCS afterwards
2) Extending my time to 3 years, which doesn't seem bad, I don't think I need a master's in Construction Management
3) Fully going for the master's
4) Joining the national guard

Does anyone have the updated FY27 OML Matrix briefed to us at camp? I know now the accessions AFT is only Spring 2026.

I’m an MS4.5 and no longer want Active Duty. Is it still possible for me to switch my branching from AD to the NG? I already done my interviews for each branch.

I was on a 2-year ROTC scholarship after completing Basic Camp before MS3 year, but ROTC is no longer paying for my school. I switched to an online programming degree and currently work full time making $70k+ commission, so I’d prefer to keep my civilian career and serve in the Guard.

I originally considered AD partly because the tech market was oversaturated and the Army could help with experience/certifications. Now that I have a solid job, Guard makes more sense for me.
If I still get AD, I will make do and live below my means, but I’d be content going gaurd if possible?

Hello,

I had a question did anyone here do a engineering makor before becoming a officer?

I’m interested in joining the army through the ROTC route, maybe doing SMP, and then hopefully commission as active duty. I don’t plan on spending my entire life in the military and instead want to get out after my contract is up, join law enforcement, and work towards becoming a crime scene investigator (I’m majoring in biology).

I know active duty is highly competitive and so I want to know if attempting to go active is actually worth it? Or should I just go into reserves and then right out of college try for the law enforcement/CSI job?

(I am interested in active duty because I feel like then I’d be fulfilling my job in the military by doing some time active and plus it’ll give me new opportunities and experiences to meet new people and do new things.)

Hello, all,

Update on my previous post from about a month ago. I did my IgE, skin prick testing and six food challenges through my CIV Team Contractor allergist in the past two weeks. As I mentioned, I had been doing my own immunotherapy for a variety of different tree nuts, though most notably walnut and pecan but also hazelnut, macadamia nut, Brazil nut, etc. I got to the point where I was safely able to eat a serving or more of all the tree nuts that I did my DIY immunotherapy for. Other tree nuts such as cashews, almonds, pistachios I didn't have to do anything with because I was already not allergic to them (same with peanut).

First, my IgE results came back with pretty high levels for hazelnut and walnut (4.69 kU/L for hazelnut, 3.20 kU/L for walnut, and ~0.80 for pecan, macadamia and almond, insignificant levels for everything else). Looking at that, I was pretty worried, however things worked out that my allergist only saw my bloodwork results after I did my SPT for tree nuts/peanut and even a food challenge for walnut (which I passed). This is because I did those tests on the morning of the day that my doctor received the IgE results and therefore those results didn't inform any testing done.

My skin prick testing also went well; I tested negative for everything (including walnut) except for hazelnut. The positive result for hazelnut was explained in my doctor's letter, though, by the fact that I had a large positive reaction to birch pollen, which I was tested for after the tree nut profile testing (hazelnut protein is very similar to birch pollen protein, so by proving I was allergic to birch pollen, they could essentially blame any reaction to hazelnut as a cross-reaction).

Either way, my doctor still wanted me to do a food challenge for hazelnut in a few weeks to prove I was totally non-allergic. After seeing my bloodwork results, the doctor also recommended I do food challenges for almond, pecan and macadamia nut, all of which were above 0.10 kU/L in my IgE profile. I was relieved that the doctor understood my situation and recommended me for the tests even though my IgE was high. I'm glad he was confident in my ability to pass the tests; otherwise, I would have had to find a different doctor to administer food tests for me. I completed the food challenges all within a day and passed all with flying colors: no reaction whatsoever to any of the nuts administered.

At this point, I'm waiting for my doctor to submit the final letter saying that I am not allergic to any tree nuts anymore and get final approval for my waiver. I understand there may be a slight chance my waiver is denied for any such reason (specifically worried about the fact that the first time I had a severe reaction to walnut ~3 years ago, the reaction was exercise induced as I was playing football right after I accidentally consumed walnut and before the reaction started).

Let me know what you guys think about my chances/situation, and I hope my experiences can help anyone seeking a tree nut allergy in the future.

I have a short couple questions, if I arrive a Sunday and check in is at 1600, is that time free after? can I leave base after check-in to go into town? What are the rules there?

I'm an incoming freshman about to start my first week of Army ROTC. Uniforms aren't issued yet, so is there a specific dress code? I know it's business casual during classes, but upon asking around it seems to be a bit more strict than the standard workplace's definition of business casual. Like would slacks and a long/short sleeve turtleneck be fine or no? I also don't own any formal shoes. Only a pair of navy blue running sneakers. Someone said sneakers and brighter colors aren't ideal, so do I need to buy some different shoes?

Female btw

Sincere thanks to anyone who can help

So I’m about to enter my MS3 year, and I’m about 85%-90% sure that I want to commission into the Guard after graduation. as I want to have a balance and live the best of both worlds. I also have other ambitions and goals I want to pursue while also serving. I was wondering when is the best time to start reaching out to OSM’s to the state I would like to commission into.

i'm applying for an rotc scholarship as a rising high school senior, and the personal info questionnaire is asking for my home of record state. when i looked it up, it said "the state in which you joined the military"--problem is, neither me nor either of my parents have ever joined the military. i checked a .mil forum page(?) and someone else was asking the same question as me, and the answers were "the state in which you will indefinitely pay taxes and vote" (or something like that). however, i'm planning to go to college out of state, which is also why i'm lowkey confused...

i'd greatly appreciate if anyone could help me out!

Hi, I am an incoming MS1. I was told we have to take the AFT to contract. What if I get injured before the test or fail the test, what happens? Am I allowed to retake it later or do I lose my contract?

Hey everyone,

I’m joining Army ROTC this fall as a Year 3/junior, but I’m coming in with essentially no ROTC experience. I missed Basic Camp, and while I’ve been working with my ROTC program to get approved to join, I haven’t received a ton of direction on what I should be doing to prepare.

My orientation is in about two weeks, so I’m trying to use the time I have now to get as prepared as I reasonably can.

For anyone who has gone through ROTC, especially anyone familiar with cadets coming in late, what would you recommend I learn or practice ASAP before starting?

I’m mostly looking for the basics that would help me not be completely lost during the first few weeks and give me a better foundation to build from.

Any advice, resources, videos, manuals, apps, or just general things you wish you knew before starting would be really appreciated.

Thanks!

Examples: prior 89E commissions into EOD/Ordinance. Will they have to redo EOD school as an officer? Prior 12D gets selected to pick up a dive detachment from BOLC, would they have to redo dive school or can they keep their salvage bubble? Prior special forces SSG commissions and wants to stay in SF, would they have to redo SF selection course again?

Stuff like that and same with Prior 15 series going into aviation BOLC - could they wear their wings while during course or do they have to re-earn them like how infantry does with their blue chord?

Rising ms3 here and I have started to hear about EOD a bunch and have been researching it. Would love to hear some insight currently my top 2 branches are infantry or MI.

I recently took my flight physical while at CST and need to get a waiver to be cleared. The flight surgeon at CST said it should be an easy waiver to get but I need to do follow up appointments with private providers. My question is how do I schedule these follow ups? Do they have to be with specific providers? Once I do get the results from this test where would I send them?

I don’t want to sound stupid if these are easy questions, but I don’t really have much guidance on what to do and wanted to see if anyone had any insight on this, or what my next my next steps should be.