can u keep your officer rank if u transfer to anouther countries military

emmaa34

New Member
Just wondering. Would you be able to keep your officer rank if you were a:

1. Lieutenant in the Australian army wanting to transfer to the US army?

2. Captain in the Australian army wanting to transfer to the US marines?

3. Captain in the Australian army wanting to transfer to the British army?


Would the results be the same if a women wanted to make the same transfer?

Please! any information would help :) :jump2
Thank-you!!
 
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Todjaeger

Potstirrer
just wondering, would you be able to keep your officer rank if you were a:

1. Lieutenant in the Australian army wanting to transfer to the US army.

2. Captain in the Australian army wanting to transfer to the US marines.

3. Captain in the Australian army wanting to transfer to the British army.


Would the results be the same if a women wanted to make the same transfer.

Please! any information would help :) :jump2
Thank-you!!
In the first two cases, very unlikely. AFAIK there is an oath of allegiance in order to serve in the US military (standard for most armed forces in fact) with the caveat that officers have to be US citizens. Unless the person had been a dual citizen (Australia and US) and had not been stripped of US citizenship due to service as an officer in a foreign military, then the person could potentially be allowed to become an officer in a US force. Otherwise the person would need to become a US citizen prior to being allowed to become an officer, but someone who is not a US citizen seeking to become a US citizen is a process which can take several years, if the person belongs to a category of interest to the US. Otherwise the process can take a decade and requires sponsorship by a US citizen.

Please note, service with a US unit as part of an exchange programme is different.

As for transfers between Commonwealth nations, they are typically possible, though usually with some reduction in rank, depending on skill set and the demands of the various nations' services.

-Cheers
 

Gremlin29

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
You can not transfer your rank to US armed forces. If you qualify to be an officer, you can enter that way but, you will be coming in at entry level rank ie 2nd LT. Doctors are a bit different, IIRC they enter as Captains but their initial training is very short and only covers coutresies and customs and that sort of thing.

The US military is otherwise very open and non-discriminatory. I just met an officer that finished flight training in the Longbow. This individual is Iranian and has only lived in the US for 9 years.
 

StephenBierce

New Member
[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exchange_officer"]Exchange officer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

This system has been in place for decades, but is considered "temporary" duty, for one tour or less, depending on circumstances and the nations involved.
 

Vanguard

New Member
As mentioned Commonwealth nation exchanges can work, in your given example it is unlikely for a regular officer (i.e. infantry) as Britain has far to many of its own people at the moment and would only recruit like that in special cases unless you can get a position there with an agreement to return to the Australian Army at a later date/rank. In the opposite case though it is very regular as Australian officer production is somewhat reduced at the moment from what it could ideally be, although I do believe the Army is not as badly affected as the other branches, so soldiers from Britain, Canada and New Zealand are regularly brought across.
 

Raven22

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
In the opposite case though it is very regular as Australian officer production is somewhat reduced at the moment from what it could ideally be, although I do believe the Army is not as badly affected as the other branches, so soldiers from Britain, Canada and New Zealand are regularly brought across.
There's nothing wrong with the throughput of officers in the Australian Army. Class sizes at RMC are actually going down from their peak in 2006-2008, as growth has been met. The number of ASWOCs has been dramatically reduced as well. Lateral transfers were actually suspended for about 18 months due to high retention rates. Lateral recruitment by Australia has very rarely been about making up numbers, but simply recruiting people with skills in high demand.
 
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