How to become a US Army Infantry Officer

by Travis Allen · January 31, 2017

While there is a considerable amount of information available on how to become a member of America’s special operations forces, what often remains a mystery to those outside the military is how all those commissioned officers wound up leading these elite warriors, or at least absorbing the blame when things go wrong.

While there are great programs that allow civilians to essentially process directly into US Army Special Forces or the Navy SEALs, officers who wish to serve in these units have a less direct, and less sexy, route to take.

About Travis Allen

is a former US Army Infantry Officer. While a Platoon Leader in Afghanistan, he was part of a joint Special Forces/Infantry team conducting Village Stability Operations in Kandahar Province. Travis graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point in 2010.

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Mustang Voodoo1
I could be remembering wrong (and if the case, I apologize) but when I was with 2ID 1/506 Camp Greaves South Korea, our CO had submitted his packet (for lack of a better or more like forget the correct term) for SFAS. Granted this was circa 1992, is what you described something that has since 1992, become SOP?
Mustang Voodoo1
Are you confusing Ranger School for RASP2?
Mustang Voodoo1
To be an Infantry Officer (11B) has been scaled down to the safe delivery of 4 POG Butterbars who have been forever listed as MIA on the Land Nav course at Benning ;-)
Dylan K
SF dreams. There are multiple windows for officers to try out for Ranger Regiment.
Sean C
I was planning on spending some time as an Infantry officer after doing ROTC through grad school and then moving on to Military Intelligence. This article could not have come at a better time.