AECF - FCs and ETs

For families that have a loved one serving the Navy as an FC or an ET. This is the place to share and learn more about their jobs and schools.

For subs - look for the SECF group.
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  • Blondefaith

    Is there a group for CFs?

  • Anti M

    There is no CF rating.  AECF is either ET (electronics technician) or FC (Firecontrolman).   FT is FireControl Technician for subs, taught in Groton, and CT is cryptological technician, taught in Pensacola.  

    More than a little confusing!

  • Anti M

  • Blondefaith

    I meant FC! Sorry

  • CLMNM74

    Help!
    My sailor and his wife are moving to SD soon. This will be his first assignment.
    We are working with Lincoln Military housing in getting them housing, but dont have an exact address for them yet. I am trying to line up preferrable a PODS to ship their home belongings out but am running into a few issues:
    1- We dont have a delivery address yet
    2- It appears that the PODS may not be dropped off at their apartment which means we will have to unpack the PODS at their facility and take to the apartment - but we do not a truck.
    3- So - we rent a truck or haul a trailer... I am not comfortable driving a big truck across country or pulling a trailer. My son has also never done this...
    How do people do this??

    Getting frustrated :(
  • Anti M

    I deleted my other PODS answers.  

    Usually we went with Navy packers, they can hold a shipment for delivery without charge for up to three months.  It used to be a DIY or PPM could make money for the service member, but the Navy has closed those loopholes.  

    My biggest problem with PODS is they are often different franchises, and what is on special for one area will not be for another.  Also, the paperwork must be done just right, or there is no reimbursement. 

    A Navy pack out also means they unpack and take away all the materials and boxes, and the shipment is fully insured.

    You can rent a truck to do the final shuttle of goods from Home Depot.  A lot of work, but doable.

    Has he spoken to PPO (personal property office) about a HHG packout?  Even if he cannot be present, any trusted family member with a POA can oversee and sign for the packing.  

  • Anti M

  • CLMNM74

    Thank you SO much for the information!!!  We have not contracted with a PODS yet.

    I think my sailor originally said he would move himself not realizing all it would require.  I forwarded the information you provided onto him.  I have POA - so I can do whatever is needed.  Thanks again!!! Dont know what I would do without this group!

  • Anti M

    I have had Navy packouts pretty much all my life, as a child, a sailor, and a spouse.  It is a thousand times easier than a DIY, in my opinion.  

    Until about two years ago, they could make a grand or two on a self move.  That is now old information, as the Navy doesn't have extra cash to hand out anymore  

    I hope all goes well!

  • Cathy K

    My son is currently deployed, has not been receiving his mail. Discovered I was sending to the wrong address (base address). Will he eventually get his packages and letters, especially many cards for his birthday? I am so upset. Hoping this all gets forwarded to his ship.

  • Anti M

    He should get it all eventually, although it may take some time.  

  • nicky0922

    Hi everyone! I know there has probably been an answer already posted to this somewhere, but my sailor and I are getting married in Great Lakes in June and we were wondering what the paperwork process is like for a married couple that isn't able to be in the same place to complete all the paperwork as I have to return home after the weekend. We have no idea what to expect! What will happen after we are married as far as paperwork goes? Will the process take longer since I'm in a different state? Any answers help, this site has been a life saver since my fiancée went to bootcamp last August and I figured somebody has been through this on this website. Thanks in advance!
  • Anti M

    He will need a copy of the marriage certificate, and certified copies of your SSN, birth certificate, and driver's license to take to PSD/CPC to enroll you in DEERS/tricare, and to apply for BAH.  Do not leave your originals with him, so you will want to have notarized copies made beforehand.  After he gets your enrolled, and on his page two, he can get a form DD1172 and sign it, then mail it to you.  You can take that to a nearby base or facility and get your ID card.  Google the RAPIDS locator and it will show you where to get an ID card made, doesn't need to be Navy.  Except for waiting for the ID card form, there should not be much of a delay.  He will need to get right on top of doing your paperwork, it is on him to get the time to go do it.  His chain of command should be able to guide him as to where to go and what to do.

  • nicky0922

    Thank you so much Anti M!! I will pass the info off to him and get those copies done
  • Alex's_Mom (Robin)

    Are there any groups for C School in Dam Neck, VA?

  • Allison

    I saw an article about the sea/shore rotation changing for some rates while at the store awhile ago, but I didn't have time to really read it. Does anyone know if/how this is going to impact ETs and/or where I could find the article?
  • ellen0502

    “Deleting inactive members - The ad agency that handles N4M is in the process of updating the site.  If you have not been active since 12/1/15 you will be deleted to make room for new members.  You will be able to re-join.  If you don't want to be deleted you will need to post something to activate your account.  They have already started deleting members.”

  • Navy brat/mom

    My sailor just finished C school! We are ready for this adventure to begin. Watch out fleet here he comes :D
  • Indiboxer

    My son is in C school for FC. He graduated boot camp in July 2015 and he is still in school. When do they find out where they will be stationed?
  • Navy brat/mom

    Mine didn't find out until a few weeks before he graduated College school. Just be patient is all the advice I can give you. Mine graduated on Monday and is now on hold for a few months, even though he knows what ship he is going to.
  • Anti M

    A hold after school is very common, waiting for either order or funding from the command.  They get better liberty rules, and better busy-work chores.  

    Also, the C in C school does not stand for college.  It is simply the old leftover from when the Navy had A, B, C schools.  Now there are no B schools, so it is just A and C.  

  • Jag47

    Looking forward to meeting others and learning more.  My son left for boot camp 12/5/16.  He was supposed to leave 7/5/16 but was postponed.  His job rate is AECF

  • Anti M

    Welcome jag47.  During boot camp your son will learn if he will be an ET (electronics technician) or an FC (firecontrolman), although now they just use NOS codes.  They are both in the advanced electronics field.  I was an ET.

  • Karmit

    Hi I'm new my son left Dec.7th and I just got his box...xoxox miss him like crazy
  • Melissa

    Hello, my SR graduates January 13th, he is FC and will have A School in GL
  • SusanS

    My ET will be heading for C School in Norfolk and Virginia Beach.  Looking for travel/hotel/restaurant tips and recommendations

  • Allison

    Where are you coming from?
  • Klondo

    My daughter left for boot camp Monday 1/9/17 and her rate is AECF. I look forward to finding out whether she will be an FC or ET. I'm still learning how all this works but I'm wading through it with the help of this awesome site.

  • Sam's mom

    My son is leaving in May. His A school will be FC.
  • Aidersmom

    Hello everyone!! My son graduates Friday 1/27. When I got the "I'm a sailor " call yesterday he said that his orders just say combined school. He said he still doesn't know for sure if he is ET or FC. Is this normal??

  • Allison

    Aidersmom, yes it is normal. Either way he'll have to complete ATT, which is the basic information they'll need for either ET or FC A school, and he will probably spend some time on holds, which is just when they work around the barracks cleaning and standing watches. They probably haven't assigned him because they haven't made classes yet and need to look at the numbers and what they need. Some of our friends found out after ATT because it was based off their performance, but most knew by the time they started ATT. 

  • Melissa

    Good morning, my Son graduated 1/13, and is in GL on hold for school. Cleans and does the watch, but he's a lot happier there than boot camp :)
  • Aidersmom

    ohhh good. That is a relief to hear. He did say something about having to wait until March. Would that be for ATT school?

  • Mary, Proud Mom of Nick

    Big news for our FCs...Navy Establishes Four New Ratings
    Story Number: NNS170201-05Release Date: 2/1/2017 11:20:00 AM A A A Email this story to a friend Print this story
    From Chief of Naval Personnel Public Affairs
    WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Navy announced Wednesday the establishment of four new ratings for active duty Sailors, yeoman submarine (YNS), logistics specialist submarine (LSS), culinary specialist submarine (CSS) and fire controlman Aegis (FCA) in NAVADMIN 021/17.

    This realignment was made to improve management of ship manning and personnel inventory for both the Surface and Submarine ratings.

    The new ratings will be effective:
    - Sept. 2, 2017, for E-6
    - Oct. 17, 2017, for E-7 through E-9
    - Nov. 28, 2017, for E-1 through E-5

    Sailors serving as Aegis fire controlman and yeoman, logistics specialist, culinary specialist submarine Sailors will be converted to their applicable service ratings by enlisted community managers with no action needed from the member.

    The new ratings are for active duty Sailors and billets and will not be applied to the reserve component. Additionally, there will be no changes to Sea/Shore flow resulting from the new ratings.

    An advancement exam will be created for each new service rating. The first E-7 exam for these ratings will be given in January 2018. For E-4, E-5 and E-6 exams for these new ratings will be given in March 2018.

    More information and complete details can be found in NAVADMIN 021/17 found at www.npc.navy.mil.

    For more news from Chief of Naval Personnel, visit www.navy.mil/local/cnp/.
    Share
  • rx7red

    PIR 2/3/17 for my son.  He was job rating changed from FC to ET. Can any one explain why this happens?

  • Allison

    Airdersmom, sorry! Sometimes I don't get every email update. Yes. That's probably it.
  • Allison

    rx7red it's probably just because of numbers. The jobs require equal asvab scores, so one isn't really better than the other, so the change most likely had nothing to do with performance or anything, although sometimes (rarely from what we saw) people get switched during att because they clearly show a weakness/strength for either ET or FC. Since he qualified for the program, and therefore, both rates, they probably were just trying to balance out class sizes. Plus, there's an abundance of FCs at Great Lakes right now, we made friends with kids who had been there for six months after they completed FC A school.

    For everyone, it's important to note that what your sailor puts as his/her preference in bootcamp is not necessarily the rate they will get in the program. My husband picked FC but was given ET when his orders came out. He was never actually a FC, so there was no switch, he just gave a preference which was verbally accepted at the time and was officially assigned something else.
  • Anti M

    Cheryl, C school for reservists is a big maybe.  However, what ETs and FCs do in the fleet is tied to the C school they attend.  I'd be much more yes than no on this.  So probably.  There are an abundance of C schools for ETs, as they work on a wide variety of electronics.  FCs are much more limited, as there are only so many weapons systems. 

  • CherylG

    Yeah I was thinking they would probably need to go so that they are fully trained, otherwise what happens if they get called up and can't do the job.. IDK guess we'll wait and see.. Thanks for you input!
  • Anti M

    I was an ET, and went to a number of C schools, and not only after A school, but every time I had a PCS.  If he's an ET, then schools range from four weeks up to six months.  Often, they will go to a number of shorter C schools on related gear, in one location.  FC schools are often backed up with long wait periods, so sitting on hold for a few weeks or months could happen too.  

  • Shelley (Doug's Mom)

    My son will go to BC for AECF hoping for the FC rating in March 27, 2017. He's enlisted at 26 years old. Anyone have any thoughts on an older enlistee? There is no specific reason that he decided to enlist other than he felt he wasn't getting anywhere, had zero commitments, and wanted to do something meaningful with his life. Thanks!

  • Allison

    DougsMom RDCs have a love/hate relationship with older recruits. He is more likely to be selected for a recruit leadership position and/or a performance division. It's extra important for him to be fit and memorize his dep packet because they will be much harder on him since he is older because he will be an example for his fellow, younger recruits to look up to. They will definitely expect more from him than the younger recruits. There is many older recruits, but prepare him to be reminded of a lot of high school type drama and a 13 year old boy's sense of humor (from both boys and girls) because a lot of recruits are immature. I actually asked my UC (an RDC not currently pushing boots, this one was in my separations unit when I was medically separated in Dec) about his feelings about older/younger recruits. The biggest plus RDCs give older recruits is they are more responsible and understand what it's like to work hard and never ask why they have to do something during training unlike the recruits fresh out of high school that may or may not have experienced the value of hard work and still have that teen urge for rebellion flowing through them. Basically, it's one less thing they have to hammer into the older recruit. The biggest negative is that older recruits are often set in their ways, meaning they are used to being in charge of their own routines and actions, and many have families, spouse and kids, that will either motivate them to push harder or leave them fumbling through bootcamp because they are more focused on worrying about them than becoming the best Sailor they can be.
  • Bandmom

    My son will be leaving for Great Lakes on April 4, from Des Moines Iowa.  After Boot Camp he will be attending AECF school.  He has a college degree and decided last fall to enlist.  this is all new to me, so will take any advice that you can give.

  • Allison

    CherylG, my husband only had one reservist in his class, and he was not given a C school. About a week after graduation, they flew him home to report to his NOSC. He was so upset because he realized he wanted to be active. However, they told him that they may send him later, or if he stays involved at his NOSC (helps out more than once a month, as much as he can and they will allow), he can try to activate in two years and will most likely be sent to a C school and then serve on active duty for the remainder of his contract. He needs to show that he's worth switching to active duty though by showing he's already as involved as he can be with the navy.

    Another option if they don't give him a C school, is talking to the NOSC about opportunities to volunteer to deploy, which may land him in a C school to prepare. This will temporarily activate him, but when he gets home, he will be reservist again.

    There's not really "fully trained" for ET like there are for a few other rates. There's just specialties that you can pick up. A school is all my husband needed to be a rated ET, but they decided they wanted him to be more familiar with satallites and antennas. He's not really learning anything new, he's pretty much just practicing and occasionally gets something a little more in depth. Some of his instructors have been ET and have several specialties while others are actually not ETs at all but have worked on the same systems that are my husband's job to repair.

    The way it was explained to me when I was supposed to be a reservist before getting medically separated, and I don't want this to hurt anyone's feelings because I think reservists are equally valuable, is that you're being basically trained so if the Navy needs you, they have you. You're the B team, so you need to be ready, BUT until (if) that day comes, you're most likely not going to be doing your rate's job. They need you to understand the basics of it, but they don't need you to do it yet. You'll be doing mostly office work and drills, so why spend the money on tons of training that you might never use? Well…I could think of a few reasons, but I understood what he was saying. Again, I think reservists are very important and a HUGE support for our navy, but that's what I was told when negotiating my contract and why I pursued a rate and contract that guaranteed a C school because it was an office job that still needed to be done as a reservist.

    It is unlikely as ET that he will get a C school because there isn't a lot of ET things to be done at a NOSC, but there are many ways to work his way in if he's persistent, or maybe he'll get lucky and your local NOSC happens to
    have equipment that a specialized ET can work on. Also, tell him if the rare unicorn of FTS (Full Time Support) ever comes around, take it, especially since he's ET. It will be his best shot at getting to do his job every day that he actually trained for without having to go active duty.
  • Allison

    I feel like I should clarify. As an ET in C school right now, my husband and his friends we keep in touch with from A school are learning more about how the systems they're repairing work rather than how to repair them. It's helping them understand how to troubleshoot better and repair them more efficiently, but the methods they use are not any different from A school. Mostly, my husband is just learning the "why" part right now. Why does this solution work for this problem? But really, he already knows how to fix it, he just didn't get the in depth of why that fixed it. Towards the end they'll actually learn a few less common problems and solutions specific to their specialty, but most of it is just that why factor. That's what I mean by C school doesn't make an ET fully trained. After A school, they already know how to do their job, but C school just connects some dots. As far as my husband and I understand, only one of our friends is actually learning something totally different in his C school and he isn't allowed to say much about what that is exactly. He just tells us it's really cool lol.
  • CherylG

    Allison thanks for your feedback! He did talk to recruiter about switching before he left but they told him he couldn't and that he can request afterward but could take along time(years) to make the switch. Seems like he won't be trained to do much once he's home. He'll be really bummed out if that's the case.
  • Allison

    Bandmom,

    Advice for your son: if his height allows it, don't be first in line for anything during P-Days! How you act during P-Days determines whether he will spend his first five days getting screamed at or just occasionally yelled at, and the first people in line will always mess up because the RDCs do this ten times a night, almost every night, so they'll think they said things they never did and then yell at recruits for not following instructions. Also, remind him that whatever people say to him in P-Days, they say it to everyone. I came in in the morning with only three other people because I was local at the time, and when the recruits for the day started showing up, we were already finished with most things and sitting coping the sailors creed and general orders for hours. Every group I watched go by, I heard the exact same series of comments meant to scare recruits and make them question everything. The point of P-Days isn't just to get admin stuff done, it's also to try to break you and see if you're ready for this. If he can get through that first week, he can get through the rest of bootcamp. Next, don't look anyone in the eye, make sure he has his thousand yard stare down, always keep his head up in it's natural position, and just don't talk to anyone until after taps, it's just not worth it. Lack of military bearing when he shows up will be his worst enemy, so have him work on it with his recruiter now. The people who watch him during P-Days will not be his RDCs, but they will tell them everything. My chief knew more about me than I felt like I did about myself on the day he showed up, granted I was going to be his yeoman, but I never really chatted with the RDCs before him because that's just not what you do. Another thing, the threats RDCs make are real. I can't tell you how many kids in my division thought they were untouchable. They can ASMO (set back) people for insubordination if nothing else, and yes, they can get kicked out of the navy just for not listening, it happened eventually to four men in my division after they continued to not listen when they were set back in training. They are not under any state laws and they have no rights except those outlined in the UCMJ. Of course, they are protected in many ways and their dignity will always be preserved, but their chain of command really is their law now. Also, the DEP packet is a little out of date. He needs to memorize the FULL chain of command, have him google it. They will shave his head no matter what during P-Days, and if he's not great at shaving, even if he has hardly any facial hair, have him practice getting it done quickly every day because he will have to do it as part of his morning routine, which is about 15 minutes to get showered, shaved (males) or fix hair (females), rack made, teeth brushed, and at attention on the toe line. Sounds easy, but try doing it with 83 other girls (or boys in his case), 13 sinks, and 10 showers. 2-3 oranges with every meal will keep him healthy enough. If he sees hand sanatizer on the wall, use it every time he walks by, but on a desk, don't try it. Wash hands or sanatize after "clean compartment." Also, whenever he has the opportunity during clean compartment or some down time, ask the forward hold PO (this will make sense when he gets there) for a Clorox wipe and wipe down his rack. Help clean the head! We got yelled at so much for not helping in the head enough. It's truly everyone's responsibility.

    Advice for you: lots of letters (recruits live for mail and phone calls after a certain point) and get yourself a long term project to work on a little every day and distract you in those harder times. I used to send my husband basketball updates because it's his favorite sport to watch. When I was in, my husband sent me funny motivational pictures to keep in my drawer, and when I got seperated, he sent me funny memes from the internet to help relieve some of my disappointment.
  • Allison

    Bandmom, that's another thing. Make sure he understands that quitting does not mean going home. I can't tell you how many girls walked into my unit thinking they'd be out in a couple days. I knew what it was before I arrived because I had to do paperwork with my RDC for a girl from my division that went before me, so I was devastated they day I had to pack up my things in front of my whole division and go. It will sound really tempting sometimes because he'll hear rumors about watching movies and calling home more often, but I only met one girl who actually felt like it was still worth it by the time she went home a month later. It's not the worst place to end up in bootcamp if an injury or anything happens, but I always want to warn people that if you just think you can't do this, do it anyway because seperations is not worth it and there's much better things ahead after graduation. The Navy is NOT bootcamp, and it won't get better for at least another month after you quit because you don't just get to give your uniform back and go home. If he has any doubts, he needs to call his recruiter before he gets on the bus at MEPS. After that, if he has any doubts, my advice to him is just finish. It does get better, the RDCs get nicer, and there's a ton of benefits and opportunities on the way if you can just give it some time.
  • Allison

    Sorry. I know I'm a frequent poster of long posts. I tend to "nuke" things and feel like I need to explain it all. I'm big at overthinking it. Anyway, CherylG, have no fear. ET A School is long and very detailed. He'll earn a lot of useful credentials that can help qualify him for some good civilian jobs and he'll earn quite a few credits depending on what college he wants to attend if he's going that route. He'll get more training than he'll know what to do with in the civilian world.
  • CherylG

    I appreciate the long responses, it answered a few of the questions I still had! Thanks again!!