The answer to his question is REENLIST FOR IT, otherwise quit whining and have a nice day.

"He that hath no stomach for this fight, let him depart"

What you will get is a dogpile!!!!

All the way, sir!!!

I'll keep the rest of my thoughts until I can find my Purple Crayons to write it out in a manner he'll understand.

"He that hath no stomach for this fight, let him depart"

The short answer is that the only way to get the assignment you want is for branch to cut orders for you.  Otherwise you have to take the risk.  You get orders for Ft. Benning or Ft. Polk and take PCS leave enroute.  You get a hotel room on post at least a couple of days before your leave ends and make an appointment to see the unit CSM.  Be on time for your appointment and tell him you want to be assigned to the unit.

Getting your assignment at Benning(I assume you want 1-507th) may be more difficult.  Even if you get the 1-507th you are only likely to spend a minimum amount of time with them since branch is looking for you to go on the trail.  Expect after a year or so to be on orders for Sand Hill.

Experienced NCOs are always needed in the 1-509th.  As long as there is a slot open in your MOS and pay grade the CSM will likely be glad to get you orders for the Battalion.  Be aware of the life cycle of the 10th Mountain's 4th Brigade.  Good luck.

One other thing, if you do get Ft. Polk and branch gives you orders as an OC you probably will not get that changed as I believe that has priority.

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American GI.  One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

"History teaches that when you become indifferent and lose the will to fight someone who has the will to fight will take over." COLONEL BULL SIMONS

I am not a genius but I can walk and chew gum at the same time, does that count?

I am not a smart ass, but my ass smarts if I sit at my puter too long, does that count?

RJ

Even this isn't really guaranteed to work.  I called Branch (MI) about 4 months before I was due to PCS out of Korea in 1992 and asked where my next duty station would be (I had been offered a chance to "homestead" at Fort Ord when I PCSd from Lewis in '91 but turned it down.)  The branch manager looked at my file and said "are you airborne?"  I said "Yes" and he said "hey, Sarge, if you're airborne, you know you're going to Bragg, right?"  I said I didn't have any problem with that (though I would have preferred to return to Lewis since I really liked it there) but preferred to be assigned to a SOF unit. 

At that time 5th Group had moved from Bragg to Campbell and the only SF groups at Bragg were the 7th and the newly activated 3rd Group.  In '91 7th Group was still reveling in the glory days of Panama, El Salvador and Honduras and was the group to be in if you wanted to go on cool TDYs and great training.  3rd Group was focused on Africa and as the "new kid on the block" didn't get any of the primo missions. 

So I was thrilled about two months later when I got pinpoint orders to 7th Group.  I even got the hotel room a couple of days before my reporting date and went in and met with the 7th Group CSM whose name - I kid you not - was "Rambo." 

So after meeting with him and expressing my excitement about being assigned to 7th Group, I went ahead and reported to the 19th Repple Depple.  And after 2 days of processing, my final orders came out - assigning me to 3rd Group! 

I tried to contact the CSM to see if he could change them, but he couldn't.  3rd Group was hurting for people and I was in a critical MOS.  So off I went to 3rd Group and was further assigned to the not-yet-activated 3rd Battalion. 

Now, in retrospect, I have to say my assignement to 3rd Group was a good thing.  I got in on the "ground floor" of a new unit, right at the time when we were expanding and changing our mission. 

If the Army had things like "plank owners" (Navy Term:  A sailor who is assigned to a ship when that ship is commissioned is called a "plank owner" of that ship for the rest of his career) I would be a "plank owner" of 3rd Battalion, 3rd SFG since I was in the unit when it was formally activated in October of 1992. 

So, I guess what I'm saying is a little caution is called for when trying to affect unit assignment.  The Army is always going to have the ultimate say.