CTN

Hello everyone! My husband is at RTC now and will be going to Pensacola for CTN A-school in 2 weeks. We've been getting conflicting reports on exactly how long the school is. Does anyone know for sure? I know they wait a while to class up, but once they start...how long will classes last?

Hi lacie, my son is also in Pcola learning to be a CTN. He arrived there 4/14 and began classes around 5/7, his graduation I think is scheduled for around Oct 12th, provided everything keeps going smoothly...lol  The time to class up varies though but I hope this time line helps. 

Thank you proudmom. I appreciate the information. We have 2 small children and one on the way and we were hoping we could move down there, but it doesn't look like he'll be down there long enough for them to move us. Fingers crossed he finished quickly! Thanks again!

Lacie,

Let's hope your husband has his clearance...the first week will be indoc..then, class-up. Classes run nearly every two weeks and those who have been there (frist come) will get classed up. The course is 26-weeks if there's no hiccups along the way. Nearly 4 of 10 are dropped from the course for academics and personal issues so ensure he stays focused!

Hi! I'm the soon-to-be wife of a CTN recruit. I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the process of moving to be with my sailor for A school. From what I understand, CTN A school is long enough to justify his living with me for the duration. If this is true, what is the procedure of getting me from my current location (California) to Pensacola? Also, will he have to "phase up" before being granted those privileges? If I am able to go, how will the Navy accomodate me while I search for an apartment, if at all? Thank you everyone!

Thank you BrandonDIV267. He graduates this Friday from RTC so I'm hoping we will find out quickly once he gets down there.

Jones - Are you saying that CTN is now a PCS move? (which means the Navy will pay for you to move there?)

I still think he's needs to Phase up, so you will need to go to the base to see him since he can't leave the base.  Understand his school is extremely hard.  Plan on not having much attention during his school.  His focus must remain on school.  Once he gets his orders, then you can go to the local base in your area to get your furniture moved, but you've got to make dang sure you are authorized in his orders to move. 

I didn't think CTN was a PCS move.  What you need to do is call the housing office and see if you qualify for a PCS transfer...

i'd love to hear the outcome of this.  If they can cite a instruction, can you get it so we can post that on this thread?

http://corrystationhousing.com/

Dang it, I never saw the part about her not being married yet. 

I don't think she can do it now....  

Jones - Now here is the 2nd piece of the puzzle.  How much furniture do you have?  The reason I ask if you can afford to pay to either store the items or to ship them yourself.   The Navy, when authorized, will pay you to live anywhere in CONUS.  You could move by yourself to Pensacola at your own expense.  Most people don't do this, but, it's something to think about.  I truly don't think that even if you were already married that the Navy would consider this a PCS move.   I don't think it is....  I hope someone else who is married will clarify this.  

My thought is this, CTN school is hard enough.  It has a huge dropout rate.  Now when you multiply this by having to worry about getting married, getting an apartment, standing duty, studying, and inspections, then you really are hurting the sailor.  While in school you truly don't have a set schedule.  You are playing everything by ear.  So if you still plan on getting married,  don't plan on a big wedding, because it probably won't happen.  The Justice of the Peace would be the only option I would consider...  

Clockard - Thanks for pointing out that she isn't married yet....

Thank you very much ekauwe for sharing! My husband graduates RTC this Friday 8/3 and I have been so anxious to find out for sure. I understand it's a tough school and we will do everything we can to support him and not interfere with his studies. Thank you for your service and good luck to you!

Thank you so much for all the responses. Just to clarify, my fiance is in DEP and we will have our wedding well before his ship date. We have asked the recruiter and as long as we get our papers in within a month of so of his ship date we will be fine. Our wedding is in November and he leaves in January. His attitude towards the whole thing at the moment is that he really wants me there during school, but if he finds it to be too much stress when he's in class I wouldn't add more distractions on by moving out. We'll have to see how he feels once he's immersed in schooling. 

Ekauwe, do you know which phase the sailors are allowed to live with their dependents? Also, do they accomodate the wives while they are apartment searching? Thank you for clarifying that it is in fact a PCS school. 

ekauwe - great info!  I knew it bordered at the cut off.  Glad to see it's a PCS move.  Per Jones question, if she already has plans of going to Pensacola, and if she doesn't have much stuff, do you think she should move there while he's in boot camp, then have the Navy move her stuff once he gets there?  That way she has already got all the stuff set up.  It seems like that would be less worry on the sailors part.

Jones - Congrats on you soon-to-be marrage.  

I'm going to throw this out there.  I'm not sure if it affects you or not.  But I've seen some deppers get kicked out of the Navy because they marry someone that already has children.  By doing this, you exceed the maximum  kids the Navy authorizes when you 1st join.  So, if you do have kids, you may want to think about waiting until after he becomes active duty.  Then it doesn't matter.  

Again, I don't know if this affect you or not, just wanted you to be aware of it. 

Craig- I'm not sure if the Navy will pay to put me up in a hotel or something while I apartment hunt if my sailor isn't even in school yet. We're not worried about the dependent count, no children here. Thank you though, it is good information to know for those who do have children. 

Ekauwe, that was very helpful. Thanks for sharing! Hopefully he'll phase up quickly. 

Since the schooling is now PCS, does anybody know if that mean the navy will pay for us to move our belongings?

Jones - Are you saying to do a DITY move?  If it's a PCS move, then the Navy will pay for it.  

Thanks Craig. I'm not entirely sure what I should do at this point. He will be in Pensacola at school and I will be in California. Right now, I'm willing to pay to shop our car and to fly myself out instead of driving there. But, I would want the Navy to move our belongings if possible. 

JonesToBe: As long as you're on his Page2, they will pay to move you. My husband just got there and we will be moving shortly. I will keep you updated as I find out exactly what is paid for but my understanding id they DO put you in temp housing until something opens up.

Thanks lacie and good luck :) Please do keep me updated. I would really appreciate it!

Proudmom,

 My son has been at ft. Meade about 16 months. He was on hold for around 4 months doing honor guard duty while waiting for his final clearance. The base is Army but has a Navy area. It's the biggest cryptology base and has the best opportunities to do different things in the CTN rate. It took about 9 months for my son to get BHA. Not really sure what the rules are now about rate and gettingBHA. There is alot to do in the area. The base is very close to Baltimore and not far from Washington. You can go less than 2 hours west for snow skiing or mountain hiking on the Appalachian Trail. Or about 2 hours east to the beach.

My son who was in Spec Ops training really likes his job and the civilians he works with regularly. He's learning a ton of stuff that will serve him well in a career out of the Navy.

clockard and prov2324mom is there anyway my son can connect with your sons for some more info on Fort Meade and what sort of work he may be doing.  I know there is stuff we can't know so maybe they can discuss it themselves.

Theoretically, the NIOC chain of command should have been informed when your son received orders to come up here and set up a sponsor for him.  Unfortunately, it doesn't always work as well as we would like, so as my mom said, he should bug the Navy admin down there to get things rolling.

My son is leaving on deployment soon and I am wondering about tax time, does he file from over there? He has set up so all his bills are being automatically paid, works out that his lease is up about the same time so he will not have to pay rent while gone (he will be homeless when he gets back though). I think he has thought of everything but the taxes.

My daughter called from boot camp today and unfortunately we missed her call. She called to say CTN is overmanned and she was told she needs to reclassifiy and was calling to ask for our input. This is heart breaking for her I know after being in DEP since last September with CTN as her rating of choice. What's going on with this rating? I'm a retired CTNC and it's very difficult for me to encourage others to enlist when potential sailors are treated this way....with two weeks left to graduate??

Momoffour my son has been on deployment during tax time and basically they all file their taxes when they get back. I think that they have 30 days from the time they get back to get them filed.  They do not need to file for an extension.  If I remember correctly there is a box they check or something for them to indicate they have been deployed. My son is not CTN but IT.

RobynS lots of room in IT.

Does anybody know what's going on with the CTN rate? Everyone has been saying it's full and that people are being forced to reclassify. I have a CTN depper, so I'm wondering if this will be the case when he ships in mid January. Is this about the fiscal year or will it continue into 2013?

I don't know, Jones.  I've been trying to find out something, but getting nowhere.  My son's recruiter hasn't heard anything about it.  My son graduates boot camp next week and so far they haven't mentioned reclassifying.

My son arrived at Corry yesterday so I assume all is going as planned.  Jones, I would suggest your depper gets what he wants in writing, but still have a "Plan B" in case it doesn't happen.  My son signed on for 6 years to get his A and C school "guaranteed."  If they didn't give him what he wanted he had the option to leave the Navy.

Thank you for your responses everyone. I feel a lot better knowing they have accepted new people to Corry. He is signed for 6 years and has been guaranteed his position. He discussed alternative rates just in case, but we're now more confident that all will go as planned. How is Corry treating your son, spookmom? My depper is pretty nervous about the schooling, but I know he'll do great. His brain is just wired like a CTN's would need to be. Hope all is well with everyone and their sailors.

JonesToBe, my son is doing just fine.  He's been a little bored waiting to class up, but he's supposed to start class Monday if he can get his security badge that morning.

Spookmom, that's great! Hopefully it all works out and he'll get to class up asap. The nice thing that I've heard about Corry is that you class up and phase up quickly. Apparently because of the demographics of the CT's they are given a bit more freedom than at other A schools. I have about three months until I PCS to Pensacola. I really can't wait to see how everything goes!

Momoffour, glad to hear you got to skype with your sailor. I've heard how CTN schooling is very tough, but he seems to be in good spirits talking about their abundance of cookies. :)

Ha ha clockard, I know it's gonna be a busy 6 months.

momoffour, isn't skype great?!  I skyped with my son on Thanksgiving.  I'm really looking forward to seeing him on Christmas!  clockard, he says their leave won't actually be approved until a week before.  Is there any reason why it would not be approved?

No one in my son's group has been approved yet, but they told him they should hear something soon and rarely does anyone get denied.

morning all. i know i have seen it before, but am at a loss remembering where. is there an area i can go to with links to what the sailors need to study for the E-5 CTN test? thanks for any assistance provided. sammy

have not, clockard. indeed he does have the material provided by the command, but i recall additional information posted here as special tips to be sure and pass on. that is what i am referring to/looking for.

The up-to-date BIB's for the test's are found on NKO. Not all the material can be disclosed here because some of the material is classified. But, a listing of what is needed to be studied can be seen here:

http://www.navybmr.com/CTN/PO2.html

my sailor (e-4) is encouraged by the chief results today! lots made rank :o) meaning more slots opening for those next in line. congratulations to the newly promoted!!!!

Hello Everyone! So nice to be a part of this group!! I do have a question, but a little background first. My husband entered the Navy undesginated. He graduated from boot camp in June last year. We moved from South Carolina to San Diego, 2 months later he went on an 8 month deployment! Phew! Finally he was able to strike for CTN, the job he wanted! My husband entered the Navy a little late in life. He is 30 now and we have been married for almost 6 years and have one child. He is working on clearance pw now, and soon it will be a waiting game for A&C school. I have 2 questions: How long is school? And is it long enough for us to move with him? If anyone has questions about boot camp, or deployment, or anything.. feel free to ask! :) Thanks! 

Hi Tracy,

 When my son attended JCAC in Nov 2010 it was about 6 months long and tough. He had a buddy in class who was married and coming from undes that lived off base with his wife so I'm sure it will be the same for you. I'm sure with your husbands maturity he will be fine but just be prepared for lots of studying . My son heard that the course has changed a bit and is not quite as hard. Some things they have to learn when they get to their first command. That's not easy either though. Even with the difficulty it's a great rate for the future. Good luck to your husband.