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Comment by elliluvs on February 12, 2016 at 6:08pm

I was at work sorry! but DNavy answered it fairly well! it's very much luck of the draw as to it you get shore surface sub or aircrew though. The best words of encouragement are that the shore duty will DRASTICALLY improve their skills and when they are up for their next set of orders instead of having the pressure of being new and not knowing how things work they will be calm and clear headed. Shore duty is a bit boring and mundane but some times it gets fun. and it's always fun to look forward to the next adventure. That being said try to pep them up if they don't get dirsup (the deploying billets) their first tour. CTR does have a higher chance of being stationed on ships though so if thats what he wants that would be the better thing to stay with. either way the perks and skills learned are well worth the ct community!

Comment by Babs on February 12, 2016 at 5:17pm

For those with Sailors soon to be at DLI...their days and nights are completely taken. The classes are rigorous and they are required to do at least 4 hours of homework. Very little time to breathe. I didn't pressure Andrew to call me, just sent him food, snacks, etc. Our roles as parents change and I didn't want him to be worrying about me. Andrew said it was the hardest 16 months of his life. With that said, I am so proud of him (and his brother in the USMC). Fair winds to all our sons, daughters and other loved ones!

Comment by LaurieS(Ship12/Div 204) on February 12, 2016 at 4:40pm

Wow, DNavyFamily, well said!  I normally just "lurk" and learn, but had to thank you for the posts!  Bravo Zulu!

Comment by DNavyFamily on February 12, 2016 at 4:08pm

Thank you too for your support and for your new CTI's service.  He will be safe- safer than all the stats for 18-25 year old civilians, regardless of gender that die on our highways. In Texas alone, over 3,800 people died on Texas highways in 2015 ALONE and most were young.    Our kids/loved ones in the service have a staggeringly, massively low rate of injury or fatalities.  They are more responsible, have safety literally beat into their heads non-stop.   It's just when a service member does get hurt, it gets more press.   So, even if forward deployed, or even in a combat zone, our soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen are so well trained, so well supported, have vastly superior assets and firepower and technology, that they will be safe and sound.   Your prayers need to be for your neighbors and their kids- they are the ones that have horribly high rates of injury and death.  When it comes down to it and our kids, the only ones who really need to worry about injury and death are in fact our enemies- not being all gung ho or Toby Keith here- it's another statistic.  When ISIS or Taliban for example engage US forces, it goes, very, very, very badly for the enemy.  In almost any engagement.  Part of that is thankful due to YOUR CTI who will be out there monitoring the bad guys to keep the people on the ground and in the air safe.  Bless you and all the other CTIs and families here- you'll never know just how much the matter and how many lives and assets they protect proactively due to their skills.  Protect their confidentiality and practice good opsec- promise me that. 

Comment by Babs on February 12, 2016 at 3:58pm

Thanks so much for that interesting read; my Sailor is a newly-minted CTI. I am so excited for his future. I just hope and pray he stays safe, along with all of his Military brothers and sisters.

Comment by DNavyFamily on February 12, 2016 at 11:23am

Fyi- 'yard periods' are when a ship comes back from a major deployment and regardless of rate, even officer or enlisted, everyone works on the ship.  You might be a dental technician or a aerographer (weather man) or a mess cook- EVERYONE cleans the ship, chips, paints, stands watch, fire watches, and so forth.  Plus the ship has to come and go a lot to test engines and systems- it can be monotonous.  CTI's and CTO's HAVE to stay sharp and keep those skills up and need to either be back at their primary base (Ft. Gordon for example) doing language labs, staying immersed, or going to a listening station or deploying.  You can't take a month of to work on a ship and be a CTI.  Also the best way to stay active and deployed is to keep your language skills sharp.  That's where the action is.  Again, I was not a CTI but we have a CTI2B and I worked directly with them on almost every deployment and many were friends. I actually encouraged my CTI2B to go CTI over my vs my past (IS) and officer (1630) paths.   CTIs can go into the State Department, international trade, consulting firms, banking, international shipping firms, fashion (yes- fashion!) teach the language at a small college or university (without the need for a Ph.D. at a major university), travel, and so forth.  CTI is fantastic.

Comment by DNavyFamily on February 12, 2016 at 11:12am

Good morning Fuzzy,  I was not a CT but I deployed with CTI's on smaller combatants, subs, and also on two carriers.  CTIs do deploy but are never ship's company.  In other words, they are often assigned to go on an exercise or major deployment but are rarely part of the formal crew.  The downside of that it's almost impossible to go through all the classes required to get a surface or sub warfare pin.  I think I recall only one CTI or CTO get that and it was on a long, long seven month deployment.  The upside is that your CTI2B won't have to be in the shipyards or what have you after deployments.  They need CTI's to be on gear or deployed to keep those skills up.  If your CTI2B is in really good shape and has decent vision, aircrew is a great option- not a lot of billets but can have far more time to get an aviation warfare pin or stay deployed, getting out there and staying busy.  In any event, deployments depend on demand for a language in a particular theater or deployment area- that's no secret.  The recruiter may have been needing to fill a CTI shortage quota, but remind yourself and your CTI2B that if he didn't have the potential, they wouldn't have asked him to go CTI.  It's usually the other way around someone asking to be CTI so if your son was encouraged to go for it, that's a nice kudo to him and well done for you on raising a great young man.

Comment by Babs on February 11, 2016 at 2:00pm

Not trying to be a naysayer, but I just want to give you a realistic picture. Even on the extended times off, he was studying. His language was 16 months. I missed which language your fiance' is; hopefully it'll be a shorter amount of time...

Comment by Babs on February 11, 2016 at 1:57pm

Hi! Coming into this late but your CTI will be studying non-stop. My son just graduated and it was the hardest challenge he ever faced. I'm talking about classes all day then at least, 4 hours of homework at night. Quite a mental challenge.

Comment by Desiree on February 11, 2016 at 1:29pm

We made the mistake of flying into and out of midway, mostly all flights go out through O'hare. We were able to stop by O'hare early morning before we had to head to Midway for our flight out, it wasnt a huge inconvenience just a tad bit more driving, but it was worth it.

As for having family in Monterey totally changes everything lol. if i had family there, i definitely would have moved out there with them, especially with having an RN job. Also, yes seeing my sailor even once a week would have sufficed. And if you are resilient enough (which it sounds like you are), making friends in that city is easy to do and there is always something fun to do in that town.

I would say the most important and fortunate part about our journey so far has been that we grew up so much as individuals while maintaining a strong relationship as a couple, and especially with distance between us.

Sounds like since you guys are on the right track. I predict that you are more than capable of making a sound decision. =) I promise that optimism and a positive attitude will make your experience with the navy an adventurous experience.

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