How to Reclassify Military Police to Military Intelligence

Reclassifying your Army job may be as easy as completing some paperwork.

Not every soldier loves the first military job they choose. For this reason, the military lets soldiers who meet certain requirements and qualifications reenlist into a new military job. Each military branch keeps a list of jobs it needs to fill for that fiscal year. So long as the soldier qualifies for reclassification, and is not leaving an already manpower-critical career field, reclassifying from one job to another can just be a matter of paperwork.

Things You'll Need

• Form 4187

Instructions

1. Ensure the Military Occupation Specialty you wish to enter has open slots for you. Look at the in/out calls for the particular MOS you desire to determine whether they have openings for you.

2. If the MOS does have open slots for someone of your rank and year group, contact Human Resources Command's enlisted retention and reclassification branch. If you are within 24 months of the end of your current enlistment contract, you will be allowed to reclassify with reenlistment.

3. Ensure that your MOS is not understaffed itself, as you will most likely be denied a reclassification from your chain of command if it is.

4. Fill out DA form 4187 requesting a reclassification and submit through your chain of command.

Tips & Warnings

• Look up the promotion statistics for the MOS you wish to enlist into. Some MOS's may have promotion chains that are better and faster than your current MOS, or slower, more crowded promotion ladders.

• Note that since an MOS requires both additional retraining and another reenlistment, it is unlikely that you will be able to choose a third MOS should you not like the second one.

References

• U.S. Army: DA Form 4187; Personnel Action
• "Army Times"; Looking to Change Your MOS?; Jim Tice; Feb. 2009