Ask A Spook! Cryptologic Questions

[FlyNavy]

Originally Posted by friedsteak

Thanks for your reply. I won't wrap my head around it too much, since it won't be up to me but it sounds like an NIOC gives a wider range of job knowledge? Being a good sailor is definitely higher on my priority list than traveling.

Being at sea (or in the air) is the best way to learn. The more time you spend ashore the more your skills will languish. Unless youre one of those weird linguist folks ;)

[jzhaun]

Originally Posted by CTT1(SW)Griffin

Being at sea (or in the air) is the best way to learn. The more time you spend ashore the more your skills will languish. Unless youre one of those weird linguist folks ;)

Yep, the reverse is true for us. Dirsuppers on long deployments have a much harder time maintaining their languages since many of our resources are only available on shore. I will find a way to deploy at some point though. It's going to happen.

[futuresailorCTN]

I signed a few weeks ago for CTN in the reserve. Would anyone happen to have some insight into what the job entails for reservists? I understand that most of what you do as a reservist is really just training, but are there ever any opportunities to support active duty CT's, federal agencies, etc. on drill weekends? Also, are there ever any opportunities for reserve CTN's to volunteer for deployments or is that mostly handled entirely by the active CT community? I've heard of some Army cyber guys doing this so I'm just wondering for the future.

Okay, one more question (maybe ); What kind of benefit does the reserve have on civilian job marketability? I'm about 3/4 through my comsci degree and I'm hoping to combine that with my reserve experience to eventually land some sort of federal cybersecurity position. Not to say that this is the only reason I'm joining the reserve, I'm just thinking long term.

If any of this has already been answered, just tell me because I'm sure I could have missed it. Thanks everyone!

[FlyNavy]

Got this question in my inbox:

Do CTT's travel a lot?

Is A and C school extremely hard?

Do they do a lot of maintenance or "fixing" with the technology or do they mostly operate it?

Are you likely to be able to get a good first duty station being a CTT? (Italy, Hawaii, or anywhere overseas?)

Does the CTT rate have a large amount of people in it?

=============================================
Travel: I went to 30 countries on 3 continents onboard my first ship. Now that can vary; I was on a small boy that could get into more ports and was also an independent deployer, whereas a Carrier couldn't do that much. But it all depends on the ship and deployment schedule. In a nutshell though, we have the capability to travel a ton.

School: A-school for us is at Corry Station in Pensacola, FL...THE BEST DAMN A-SCHOOL LOCATION IN THE NAVY. You'll start with Entry Level ELINT (known simply as ELE). The hardest part about the class for most people is memorizing things, but practice makes perfect and rarely does someone fail enough to drop. C-school if you're a tech consists of a few more months learning to fix the gear. If you're going to a ship, you'll also go through Shipboard Operations (Shipboard Ops) to learn to operate the AN/SLQ-32 (pronounced Slick-32). Overall, if you qualified for the job then mentally you should be fine.

Maintenance: There is a specific NEC for the school to repair the gear (If your contract is for 6 years, this is you). But what separates us from other rates is that we also operate our equipment. 4 year guys are strictly operators, but you're gonna be helping with the maintenance anyway so don't stress. Your watch station will be in the Combat Information Center (CIC, aka "Combat") manning the SLQ-32. CTT's are responsible for all Electronic Warfare duties onboard as well as Anti-Ship Missile Defense (ASMD). If the ship gets shot at with a missile, it's our job to stop that sh!t; and you have seconds to respond so you better know your sh!t or people die. That dovetails nicely with doing maintenance on the gear as well as operating it, because you get a chance to become a technical expert with your equipment.

Duty Stations: This totally depends on what's going on for the detailer at the specific time you're up for orders. As a first tour Sailor, you really don't get much say in where you go. When it comes time to re-enlist, that's when you get options. As a whole though, CTT's can go basically anywhere in the world. I landed in Florida, but 2 guys went to Japan, 1 to Washington state, 3 to Cali, and a couple to Norfolk. Just depends on the needs of the Navy when you're applying for orders.

Rate size: We're larger than some of the other CT rates, but compared to the rest of the Navy it's a small community. Stay in long enough and you'll start knowing people all over the place. I love our rate and I love the people in it. We all see pretty like minded and like what we do.

/r
CTT1

[FlyNavy]

If you have further questions or need clarification, keep them coming!

/r
CTT1

[FutureSailorBur]

Thank you! I also was wondering how they did your security clearance? Like what does it consist of? Who interviewed you?

[FlyNavy]

Originally Posted by FutureSailorBur

Thank you! I also was wondering how they did your security clearance? Like what does it consist of? Who interviewed you?

Your process will go something like this:

Fill out an SF-86 (typically your recruiter gives you this; you've probably already done it.)

That will head off and get assigned to an investigator who will start doing background checks with law enforcement, credit checks, ect, ect.

Once that's done, they'll start interviewing the folks you listed as contacts (people who know you well) They'll also ask them for contacts and will talk to those people, so you never really know who they're going to meet with when it's all said and done.

At A-school you'll do another interview with some security folks to go over everything.

If you're bound for certain shore duty stations, you'll need to complete a polygraph as well. Don't sweat this one at all, it's EASY. Pretty much "hey....you a spy?". Don't believe all the stupid stories people make up about the FBI or CIA or who ever doing theirs (it's BS).

If you're not heading to one of those sites, you won't need one (this is the most likely case).

Just jump through the hoops and you'll be fine. Doesn't really take much work on your part.

/r
CTT1