For the second consecutive year, Army Human Resources Command will offer Army lieutenants serving in four overstrength career fields an opportunity to voluntarily apply for transfer into five understrength branches or four functional areas. The new opportunity expands last year's pilot program that limited transfers of only Infantry and Armor lieutenants into three understrength career fields.
This year's Officer Rebranching Program (ORP) is open to those Year Group 22 lieutenants currently serving in the Infantry, Armor, Field Artillery or Engineer branch. The window of opportunity to apply will be available from Jan. 7 through Feb. 17, 2025.
"Last year's pilot program was successful as more than 130 YG21 lieutenants voluntarily transferred from the Infantry and Armor branches into the Adjutant General, Finance and Signal Corps. By offering more options this year we hope to get greater participation and have a greater impact on readiness," said Maj. Thomas F. Mussmann, a readiness analyst for HRC's Force Shaping Directorate.
This cycle, HRC is looking for approximately 300 YG22 lieutenants to transfer into understrength positions in the Adjutant General, Air Defense, Finance, Logistics, Signal Corps, as well as Functional Area 26 (Info Technology Engineer), FA 40 (Space Operations), FA 46 (Public Affairs) and FA 57 (Simulations Operations). Officials stress that each branch has a designated cap on the number allowed to transfer out or into a particular career field.
Rebranching opportunities occur when the Army determines a misalignment exists between manning requirements and available officer inventory. Like branch detailing and the Voluntary Transfer Incentive Program (VTIP), the Officer Rebranching Program seeks to rebalance the Active Component force, Mussmann explained. Unlike VTIP, the ORP occurs a year earlier on the officer's timeline and offers multiple choice transfers.
"The ideal candidate for this program is someone who enjoys the Army but is looking for a change from their current career field. Maybe they're looking for company command time but in a branch with a long wait queue or they didn't get their initial branch of choice upon commissioning. This is a retention tool for those who want to stay and serve rather than to separate and seek opportunities elsewhere," said Maj. Jesse Lansford, a senior marketplace analyst at HRC.
To identify themselves as volunteers, all YG22 infantry, armor, field artillery and engineer officers must log into the IPPS-A portal, locate the TAM Soldier Workcenter within the "Self Service" window and select "Closed Marketplace Preferences" where they will provide their preferencing input for the rebranching process.
To re-branch, officers must place any desired branches above their current branch in the order that they prefer. Officers will be transferred according to their preferences and the availability of allocations within their desired branches. Those selected to change branches will receive their new branch based on their preference and their placement on the National Cadet Order of Merit List from the FY22 branching boards.
To transfer into a functional area, the officer must preference the desired functional area as their number 1 preference. These officers will be pre-screened prior to being accepted.
Officers may change their preferencing as many times as desired up through the end of the preferencing window. The officer's preference at the end of the cycle will be used as their true preferences and cannot be edited after the market closes or undone after rebranching results are published.
Officials stress that no officers will be forced to change branches and of those who participated in the pilot program last year, 57% received their first choice of branch transfer with the remaining 43% selected for their second choice.
"Offering these opportunities allows us to retain individual officers at the beginning of their careers while rebalancing the force for long term readiness. The Army will eventually face shortages at the battalion, brigade, division and corps level if we don't shape the force now," said COL Shay O'Neal, director of HRC's Readiness Division.
Officers approved to transfer will be immediately moved into their new branch or functional area on notification of approval without incurring a permanent change of station (PCS) move. HRC officials anticipate publishing results in early March 2025.
"We're not looking to accelerate the officer's PCS timeline. After transferring, an officer can seek out a post internal move to align themselves with their new branch until it's time to schedule Captain's Career Course with their new branch," Lansford added.
For more information, refer to MILPER Message 25-456 or view the MILPER at: https://www.hrc.army.mil