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The Complete Guide to Becoming An Infantry Officer
What you'll really do, earn, and face as an infantry officer - and how to decide if it's the right call for you.
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: What Does a Infantry Officer Actually Do?
You're probably reading this because you've seen the movies where the infantry officer leads a daring charge, shouts something motivational, and saves the day. That's not false exactly, but it's not the whole picture either. The infantry officer is first and foremost a leader of soldiers, but the job is far more administrative and organizational than the recruiting posters suggest. If you're seriously considering this career, you need to know what the daily grind actually looks like, not just the five minutes of adrenaline that come during a field exercise or a deployment.
Let's start with the core of the job. An infantry officer is a platoon leader for the first two years or so after commissioning. A platoon is roughly 40 soldiers, organized into three or four squads of nine to twelve people each. You are responsible for everything those soldiers do, both in training and in combat. That means you plan their training schedule, you make sure they're physically fit, you ensure their equipment is maintained, and you answer for their actions when they screw up. In a firefight, you decide where the squads move, when they lay down suppressive fire, and when they pull back. But here's the thing: most of your time is not spent in firefights. It's spent in planning, coordinating, and managing.
Consider a typical training cycle. Every year, a light infantry unit will spend several months preparing for a major rotation at a training