Ask A Spook! Cryptologic Questions

[jody13]

My daughter leaves Sept 8 also. She's a ctt

[FlyNavy]

Jody, first off to your daughter; good choice ;) haha (I'll admit I'm kind of partial to us T branchers)

FutureSPOOK32; Your time at A-school will be different depending on what branch of CT you are going into (CTT, CTR, ect). You can always check on places like usmilitary.about.com and they can give you a rough estimate of length. Add on to that a few weeks for being in holding (before you class/badge up). Let me know what branch of CT you're going into and I can give you a rough idea of what your A-School will be like.

/r
CTT1

[FlyNavy]

I forgot to add that Corry Station in Pensacola is probably the best A-School location in the entire Navy haha So there's that to look forward to as well!

[futureSPOOK32]

I'll be a CTR, I visited Correy station a few weeks back and it seemed really nice, I think I'll really enjoy my time outside the classroom. Also their recreational facilities are awesome.

[lilyputian]

CTT1 Griffin,

First off thank you for offering up your knowledge and experience to us future sailors. It's much appreciated.

I was wondering if you have any input on CTI. My friend said it was a horrible job and that you're locked in a room by yourself because it's so Top Secret, but it sounds to me like she might be exaggerating just a wee bit. Do you have any thoughts on that?

(Also are you related to a Tony Griffin who was also in the Navy, by any chance, who just got married to a woman with the first initial of K.?)

Thanks again,
Future Sailor Hwang

[FlyNavy]

Hwang,

Anytime! I love helping out future Spooks.

CTI's are the Navy's linguists. You have to take the DLAB to qualify ahead of time, so just a heads up there. But you'll be spending alot of time working in the intelligence field overall as well as being the language expert for whatever mission you're working on.

After Boot Camp you'll head to A-School in Monterey, CA. They are the only CT branch that doesn't go to Pensacola. During your time there you'll be learning whatever language you choose (Farsi, Chinese, Russian, Urdu, ect) Really it depends on the language on how long you're there for. The harder the language obviously the longer you'll have to stay there. But by the end of it you should be able to read, write, and speak whatever you went there for.

As for assignments, the vast majority of CTI's go to NIOCs (Navy Information Operations Command). I'm sure you've noticed that didn't start with "USS" haha So as you can tell, most of your time will be spent on shore duty assignments. There are some opportunities for linguists to get on Aircrew or direct support to ships or subs as well though, if your looking for something more adventurous.

As for being "locked in a room" due to our work being classified, that is not at all accurate. We DO work in classified facilities that have very strict security policies, but you would be working with almost every other CT branch as well as other services. Every CT branch does highly classified work, but once your inside the secure facility, typically it's not toooo segregated. The only time you would be moved off separate somewhere would be if you're working a pretty sensitive mission (and that is pretty rare and usually requires alot of experience before you would get moved there). If you do end up taking orders for Aircrew or as direct support to ships or subs, that would be one of the times you're segregated from most folks. Mostly just due to the fact that your workspace needs a security clearance that most of the other people there won't have. But outside of your workspace, you would be with the rest of the crew.

Hope that sheds some light on CTI! It's a pretty rewarding job if you like getting into a specific culture and it does offer some really cool opportunities if you're willing to go after them.

/r
CTT1

[FlyNavy]

Also, no I'm not related to a Tony haha

[JoeSpook]

I just passed my DLAB with a 128 and switched from a MC contract to CTI, which is what I originally wanted. Thank you for all of this info! I have one quick question, as someone who is new to all of this:

Originally Posted by CTT1(SW)Griffin

There are some opportunities for linguists to get on Aircrew or direct support to ships or subs as well though, if your looking for something more adventurous.

Can you elaborate on this? From my understanding, direct support means flying out to a ship or sub to do some work for a few weeks, then transferring to another ship or getting sent back home. I've also been warned that I could be sent out with a group of Marines as an interpreter, based on my language.

How do out-of-office missions work? Is that what you refer to as "billets?" Do you sign up for particular missions or DIRSUP activity on an individual basis? I'm just trying to piece it all together.

Again, thank you!