Information for new navy mom w/son who chose intelligence C.I.??

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Permalink Reply by Kristy Childers on November 30, 2008 at 8:00am

My daughter graduated from bootcamp in Oct, is in Va Beach, she is a reservist, and this is my first posting. I do not know much, but Morgan states, keeping your mouth shut and just doing your job and minding your own business is best. She really appreciated letters from anyone, they got her through. Tell everyone to write, as this next 8 weeks will be demanding, exhausting and oh, they doc $ out for thier uniforms, don't be surprised by this, also they were given food allowance at airport, they doc this too. They learn to be responisble to themselves, it is great. But now she is in school, her first experience wasn't great, saw cockroaches in cafeteria, and their rooms are like small dorms, very small. Every thing sent has to be certified mail, and she is just learning ranks and officials right now. Some IS go to Florida for school as well. But now she has made friends, and is fine. The enlisted usually stay state side or go to other countries for data basing and encripting information from war zones and other places, the reservists, I understand, after c school will end up in places like Afghanistan, when she called, I thought I was going to get sick, she said it may be 15-18 mos tour, but IS usually stay in safe places for full enlistment. I am learning as I go, if I am misinformed, please, anyone help me too.

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Permalink Reply by Mom to 2 Sailors on November 30, 2008 at 6:26pm

Hi Wendy - One of my two Navy sons is in this field as well. Both of my Navy boys were fine with boot camp and got through everything great. No issues at all. They have both been in the Navy now for a little over 6 years. My intell guy has loved what he does - whatever that is :) and has seen quite a bit of the world. After boot camp they will get into their schooling for what they will do in their Navy career. My son has had lots of different kinds of training as your sailor will - and as it has progressed they keep adding to his training. So depending upon where he ends up and if he is land. sea or air based - will make a difference in what training he gets. It is a great field and will serve him well his entire life. Feel free to ask more - Kathy

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Permalink Reply by Laura(Jeremy's Mom) on November 30, 2008 at 7:06pm

Hi, Wendy! My name is Laura. My son is also IS. He is normally stationed in DC but is in Italy right now on assignment. I don't know what it is he actually does but I do know that he is enjoying it. He is getting to see parts of the world that he wouldn't have had the opportunity to see if not for the Navy. I know it is hard not knowing. All I can tell you is that no news is good news. He will be taking good care of. Just pray for him and yourself and God will see you through. I will pray for you also.
God Bless,
Laura

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Permalink Reply by Ellen on December 1, 2008 at 11:01am

Hi, Wendy --
I agree that getting through boot camp is job #1. After that, my son Jim went to A and C school in Virginia Beach. It is important to do as well as you can during school. Not everyone passes - his A school class started with about 23 kids and 14 finished, and his C school class started with 15 kids and 7 finished. These numbers might not be exact, but you get the idea. Also, toward the end of their A school, they turn in their "dream sheet". The sailor puts his top 5 job preferences and his top 5 locations where he'd like to serve.
Here is a link that explains some of the different jobs:


IS-3910 Naval Imagery Interpreter (APPLIES TO: IS)

IS-3912 Naval Special Warfare (NSW) Intelligence Specialist (APPLIES TO: IS)

IS-3923 Strike Planning Applications (APPLIES TO: IS)

IS-3924 Operational Intelligence (OPINTEL) Analyst (APPLIES TO: IS)

When the jobs are being assigned, class rank is taken into consideration. Whoever finishes at the top of the class gets to have their preferences matched to the available jobs first, and on down the line.

My son is attached to a NATO Intelligence Fusion Center in England.....but, like everyone else said, he's pretty vague about what he actually does! Before the sailor can be put in a job, he has to be issued a security clearance.

TOP SECRET: Applied to information or material the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security.

In addition to the above, some classified information is so sensitive that even the extra protection measures applied to Top Secret information are not sufficient. This information is known as "Sensitive Compartmented Information" (SCI) or Special Access Programs (SAP), and one needs special "SCI Access" or SAP approval to be given access to this information.

I copied that information from the same website. I thought that process was a little nerve-wracking because lots of people called me and told me that the FBI had contacted them about Jim. They are very thorough in their background checks!

Hope some of this info helps, Wendy. Help your son get through boot camp, then encourage him to work hard in school. Jim said that the main difficulty was that they covered the material pretty quickly, so you can't get behind. He received 23 college credits for the work he did in A and C school, though, which I thought was really great! Ellen

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Permalink Reply by Alice Lorenzen on December 1, 2008 at 1:55pm

Hi Wendy,
My son is a CTI. Go the the groups tab of this website and search for the CTI group. They have a section on the different ratings that explains it all. Each has a different school, training etc and he will tell you later what he is. But your son is lucky to get one of these jobs. Everyone is right, he has to get through basic first, then he gets the training. They break him down then build him up. Lots of chatty letters about things going on helps, but remember, no boxes of cookies, it only gets them in trouble. It is a growing time for him, but he will never be sorry for this opportunity. Prayers to you too because it is a letting go time for you. Because of the security of CT's you won't get to know much information about what he does from day to day, trust you have raised him to know right from wrong and that he knows how to use the knowledge he was and will learn. Alice

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Permalink Reply by Tanya on December 2, 2008 at 12:19pm

My best friend is in CTI school right now.. Not Many people get into it and its a very hard program, her schooling is like 2 years. I will ask her some questions for you if you would like.. She said it is very difficult tho.. She also made mention that there is only 4 people including her in her class..

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Permalink Reply by Tanya on December 3, 2008 at 10:57am

I believe now that I think about it that she is in CI, not CTI. I'll ask her later i'll text her.

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Permalink Reply by Cait Benjamin on December 2, 2008 at 3:55pm

my boyfriend in currently in A school to be an intelligence specialist. Not sure if that's what you are talking about. He wont start learning intelligence stuff until after grad from bootcamp. The A and C school are in Dam Neck va

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Permalink Reply by Tanya on December 3, 2008 at 10:50am

My friends school is in Monterey Cali. Im sure they are going for diff. things.

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Permalink Reply by Mary (Chris' mom) on December 2, 2008 at 10:17pm

Hi! My son is going into IS. He left for GL on the 13th and will PIR Jan. 09th. He is Div 059, ship 11. I am thinking he will go to Dam Neck with your son Wendy. That may be why your son had to go early. My son may have to go to THU? for a week or so waiting for your son and some others to graduate so they can all go. I'm not sure just how that works but I've heard from another mom who's son had to go to Temporary Holding Unit that it was worse than boot camp. Maybe they send the guys already PIR'ed on to school to wait for the others to get there if it is only for a week or two. Have you gotten your form letter yet? If not you will most likely get it within the next day or so. It will have his division number written on it and then you can go to the RTC website and look by the end of this week or next to see his graduation date. Feel free to email me.

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Permalink Reply by Tanya on December 3, 2008 at 10:56am

are you talking about waiting to go to their A school from BC? My hubby was on hold a few days before he left for CT. They stay in their barracks at BC for a day or 2, then they transfer to a different bldg. They have to keep the recruits seperate from the new sailors. I forget what my hubby said they did, but I don't think its that bad no where near as bad as BC b/c they are sailors and not recruits anymore. Only thing with my hubbys holding he said that the day after they graduated some kid said he was making a 5 min phone call and took like 10-15 mins and ruined the phone calls for the rest of the hold for everyone while they were still in the Barracks at the RTC. He said it wasnt as bad tho, yet again he didnt really get ito any trouble and kept his mouth shut throughout the whole BC so maybe thats another reason it wasnt as bad for him.

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Permalink Reply by Mary (Chris' mom) on December 3, 2008 at 10:58pm

Tanya, Thanks, that makes me feel a bit better. K's mom said he had to be there for almost 3 weeks, if I remember correctly. Maybe being separated from some of the folks he had made friends with just intensified his feeling that it was worse than bc.

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