AFAT, or Assured Functional Area Transfer, is simply a branch detail program. Since FA40 is a Functional Area, we can't call it Branch Transfer, so we called it a Functional Area Transfer. What makes it Assured? If selected and you sign the contract, you are assured a spot when it comes time to transfer. The contract is only binding to the Army, not to you. If you decide you want to do something else, e.g., stay in your basic branch, VTIP to something else, ReFrad, etc., that is up to you.