If you want to get into the fight with as much firepower as possible, but you hate to hump in doing so, you might like this MOS. The armor officer needs to think and react quickly. You have to like getting dirty and enjoy working with one of the most technologically advanced vehicles in the world.

Due to the speed of the M1A1 tank (40 mph on unimproved terrain) the armor officer must think in the terms of kilometers and not the next 100 meters. Because of the characteristics that tanks bring to the MAGTF, the armor officer is an expert in combined arms tactics. He is very familiar with other MOSs and their contribution to the combined arms fight. Some say, one M1A1 with its armor protected 120mm main gun, two M240G machine guns, and a .50 caliber machine gun bring more direct firepower to the battlefield than a whole infantry company. The experience of driving and firing an M1A1 tank is "overpowering." The Marine lieutenant first arriving to the fleet will have the opportunity to lead four of these awesome beasts. It’s like SULE II; however, your fire teams are now 68 tons of death-delivering steel monsters.

After completing TBS, you will report to Fort Knox, Kentucky. There you will attend a 17-week course, the Armor Officer Basic Course (AOBC). If selected, you could possibly stay 3 more weeks to attend the Scout Leader’s Course. There are 10 AOB courses available per year and extended waiting periods are unlikely.

Fort Knox, Kentucky, is known as the "Home of Armor." This United States Army Post is home to the Army’s Armor School that provides training to enlisted and armor officers of the United States Army and Marine Corps. The Marine Corps Detachment, Fort Knox, supports Marines attending all schools at the Armor Center. The schools include Marine taught, MOS training for enlisted Marine tankers and tank mechanics arriving from MCT and career courses for Marine enlisted tank and mechanic NCOs. The Armor Officer Basic course and Scout Leader’s course provides instruction for newly commissioned officers. The Armor Advanced Career Course provides career level PME for captains. With approximately 45 permanent party Marines and approximately 120 enlisted and officer students on hand at a time, the Marine Detachment provides a wealth of Marine knowledge to supplement the Marine officers training at AOBC. Every course has a Marine instructor available to give the Marine perspective.

Once you complete training at Fort Knox, you can expect to be stationed at either of the two active duty tank battalions: the 1st Marine Division at 29 Palms, California, or with the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The tank officer will be assigned a platoon consisting of 15 Marines and 4 tanks. As platoon leader you will be responsible for everything your platoon does and does not do. As you will learn, there is little difference from how you were taught to run an infantry platoon at TBS. However, maintenance of your vehicles is a high priority, and you will become very familiar with the Marine Corps maintenance system. Typical time spent as a tank platoon leader is 14 months. Both West Coast and East Coast MEUs are taking tank platoons on 6-month deployments. If selected, you could be the armor expert for the MEU commander on such a float.

Further leadership opportunities include company executive officer and battalion staff billets. Typical length of an armor officer’s first tour is 28 months. Normally, a lieutenant completing his time as platoon commander will be selected to be a company executive officer. As XO, you will be further engrossed with the maintenance system and the training plan for the company. Furthermore, as XO, you are the Fire Support Team Leader for the company and still have your own tank to fight. Typical time spent as an XO is approximately 14 months. Any remaining time in the battalion can be expected to be spent in some headquarters billet like the S-3A, S-4A and possibly others. If selected, after completing the platoon commander billet, you could become platoon leader for the battalion’s scout platoon. You would work for the Headquarters company while in garrison and for the battalion commander while in the field. Another billet available to lieutenants who have completed their platoon commander billet is the platoon commander for the battalion TOW platoon. This position also falls under the Headquarters company.

Armor officers are unrestricted line officers and can usually be assigned anywhere. Most will be assigned to B-billets such as recruiting, the drill field, or TBS or AOB instructor. An option for some is to apply for a supplementary MOS tour and receive a secondary MOS, such as logistics, intelligence, or public affairs.

• Marine Corps Detachment, Fort Knox http://ftknoxusmc-emh16.army.mil
• 2nd Sqdn, 16th Cav Regt, Armor School

  http://knoxwww.army.mil/school/16cav/216/216cav.htm
• FM 17-15 "Tank Platoon"
• MCWP 3-12 "Marine Tank Employment"
• "Tank Aces" by Ralph Zumbro

This unique MOS requires high speed tactical knowledge from a leader willing to grow as a combined arms expert. The firepower, shock effect and maneuverability of the M1A1 provides an experience that only a select few Marines will have. The true reward of the 1802 MOS is leading the combat ready Marines that make the steel beasts truly dangerous

The Assault Amphibian Vehicle (AAV) Officer MOS is one the most unique in the United States Marine Corps and unlike any other MOS within the United States military. If you want to work with a weapons system that gives the Marine Corps a unique capability and is soon to become one of the most technologically advanced weapons systems of the 21^st Century, you want to be an Assault Amphibian Officer.

The AAV platoon is tasked with transporting an infantry company from amphibious shipping to the shore and supporting the infantry scheme of maneuver through mechanized movement and direct fire support. If you are interested in a MOS that combines mechanized and armored warfare with amphibious operations and the unique challenges associated with both forms of warfare, then you would enjoy the 1803 MOS. In addition, new challenges in development of doctrine and applying the concepts in Operational Maneuver From The Sea (OMFTS) and Ship To Objective Maneuver (STOM) with the soon-to-be produced Advanced Assault Amphibian Vehicle (AAAV) will face the AAV officers of the near future. By 2005 the first platoon of the most technologically advanced and sophisticated armored vehicle in the United States inventory, the AAAV, will be fielded. Production of the AAAV will continue until 2012 with a total of 1013 vehicles placed in the Marine Corps inventory. If you are interested you must fill two prerequisites. First, because this is a combat arms MOS, you must be a male Marine. Second, since you will spend much time on the ocean in an armored vehicle, you must have a 1^st Class swim qualification.

The Assault Amphibian Officer is trained after TBS at the Assault Amphibian School Battalion located aboard Camp Pendleton, California. The school teaches the 10-week Amphibian Officer course twice a year in January and in July. You may, therefore, report to your permanent duty station from TBS for on the job training before reporting to the school. Should you be assigned to the school directly from TBS, you will attend on TAD orders unless your final duty station will be at Camp Pendleton. As a result, you will not be allowed to move you family to Camp Pendleton for the training unless your final duty station is on board Camp Pendleton. The course covers basic operations of the vehicle, gunnery, mechanized formations and operations, amphibious operations and tactical employment of the AAV platoon.

After the school you will be assigned as a platoon commander in one of two battalions in the operating forces. The 3^rd AA Bn (Assault Amphibian Battalion) is located at Camp Pendleton and the 2^nd Assault Amphibian Battalion is located at Camp Lejeune. As a platoon commander you will be responsible for the training, employment and maintenance of a platoon consisting of 12 to 14 AAVs and 45 Marines. In either battalion you should be prepared to deploy fairly quickly once reporting aboard. If you should be assigned to 3^rd AA Bn you will deploy! The battalion supports the 11^th, 13^th and 15^th MEUs (Marine Expeditionary Unit) with one AAV platoon each. In addition, they support the 31^st MEU in Okinawa with a platoon. Those platoons that do not go on float will deploy to Okinawa as part of the Unit Deployment Program (UDP). There you will augment Combat Assault Battalion (CAB) (the renamed 1^st AA Bn), which is part of the 3^rd Marine Division. If you are assigned to the 2^nd AA Bn, you will also probably deploy. The 2^nd AA Bn supports the 22^nd, 24^th and 26^th MEUs with a platoon each. In addition, it provides platoons or companies for NATO exercises in Norway, and supports the UNITAS program, which requires shorter 3-4 month floats to South America. In either battalion you will train and deploy on a regular basis.

As a platoon commander you will spend between 18 months and 2 years with your platoon. Your daily routine is spent with your platoon doing routine maintenance on the AAVs, training your platoon or preparing for deployment. In addition you will spend time supporting the infantry at CAX and other exercises held at 29 Palms. During this time you will become very familiar with infantry tactics and armored tactics, and will conduct extensive operations with the Navy. In addition, you will develop a working knowledge of maintenance management, the supply systems and the extensive logistics system required to operate large numbers of armored vehicles in the field. Upon completing a deployment and having gained experience as a platoon commander, you will usually become a company executive officer for around a year before transferring.

After 3 years in the operating forces you will be generally transferred to a B-billet. Normally your B-billet will be recruiting duty or as a series commander at one of the MCRDs. However, in recent years there have been increasing openings in the MSG Bn and various billets at Quantico for those 1803 lieutenants who are interested. In addition, most reserve lieutenants are currently augmented in the 1803 MOS. Very few officers are currently asked to conduct a lateral move into another MOS. After the B-billet you will then go to one of two career level schools, AWS or the Advanced Armor Course at Fort Knox, Kentucky. After school, you will then be sent to the fleet for a tour as a company commander. Your company command tour will last approximately 2 years. After your company command tour you will probably be looking at promotion to major. Initially, upon selection to major, you will work at the AAV battalion staff level. After approximately one year on the staff you will then move on to a second B-billet.

The Assault Amphibian School will soon have a web site with scheduling and course information as well as information on the MOS as a whole. When it is completed, it will be accessible through the links page at the HQMC or the Camp Pendleton web sites. In addition, MCWP 3-13 (AAV Operations) is awaiting signature and should be published by summer 2000. It has information on the use of AAVs in offensive and defensive mechanized operations, amphibious operations, operations other than war, and the logistical and maintenance planning factors involved in all of these operations.

Very few MOSs require tactical knowledge of infantry, mechanized and amphibious operations, knowledge of embarkation, and a close working relationship with the Navy combined with need for an intimate understanding of maintenance, supply and logistics just to do your basic mission. No matter what coast or battalion you go to, the 1803 MOS will provide personal and professional leadership challenges in the field, in garrison, and deployed overseas.