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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Olgar Shiverstone" data-source="post: 5526500" data-attributes="member: 5868">Perhaps true in the (Ch)Air Force (<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />), but not in the Army, where all officers below the rank of Brigadier General have a primary branch specialty in which they spend the majority of their careers.  They may occasionally take a job in a "branch immaterial" position (example: ROTC instructor), but the path to promotion generally lies with having a lot of branch-specific time, especially for command and key/developmental jobs.Army officers do change branches, most often at two points in their careers.  The first is at about the captain promotion point.  Some branches have a lot of captains and very few lieutenants, so they "loan out" their LTs to get them field experience for 2-4 years before the officer revert to their basic branch.  For example, it's fairly common to have a Military Intelligence officer who is "detailed" to Infantry or Armor for four years (and will wear IN/AR brass during that time, and serve in IN/AR troop assignments), then revert to being an MI officer at the end of the detail.The second point is at Functional Area designation, typically done at the 5-year point in the officer's career.  The officer selects/requests/gets forced into a "secondary specialty" or functional area (like Operations Research, Foreign Area Officer, or Acquisition).  After "branch qualification" as a captain (typically successful company command, but that depend on the branch), the officer may choose to follow the functional area for the rest of his/her career, or instead remain in the Operations career field in the basic branch.  In both cases the officer does retain the "basic branch" and continues to wear the brass and regimental affiliation of the early career.  The process ensures that the Army's technical specialist officers -- the functional areas -- have a good grounding in how the Army functions from their company grade time, but can still be competitive for promotion with their peers.General officers, of course, lose all branch affiliation once promoted.True, both with basic combat skills and more so assuming the Army officer in question started in a combat arms branch.For gaming terms I'd really recommend a skill- rather than class-based system to replicate military MOS and background.  If you use classes, I'd keep them broad, and reflect specialties with skills and feat proficiencies.  Officers could be a class themselves, a "prestige class" choice, or simply a designation gained by taking the "Leadership" feat (though if you go the latter route, I'd recommend it apply to both commissioned officers and NCOs).  Note that officer leadership is focused on the collective and leadership & integration of multiple units and capabilities; NCO leadership is focused on individuals.  In the typical RPG setting, which is essentially squad based, you may want to minimize rank differences to maximize "realism" since otherwise it will be hard to portray the different leadership specialties (outside of the special operations scenarios, that is).Other game thoughts:- An example of a skill application might be "Marksmanship", where skill points increase hit proficiency.- A base class might be "Soldier" where a prestige class might be a specific MOS (like 19D Cavalry Scout)- Feats might replicate specific skills (Airborne: Str 11, Dex 13, Qualified to make static line parachute jumps with no risk of failure) or experiences (Recruiter: served as a military recruiter, gains Bluff and Diplomacy class skills; +5 to Bluff and Diplomacy checks).- Olgar (= active Army field grade officer, Soldier 6/Tanker4/Scout2/Technician4 with Airborne & Recruiter feats)</blockquote>

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