View Full Version : C/3/20: Looking for feedback
QP's,
I am currently hoping to join C/3/20 after I ets and move back to the South East coast.
Before going back to the Q, but after I arrive to the unit, will I be able to get any schools? Nothing wild, my main idea would be something like USASOC JM for the sake of having a fresh JM. I should be going to 82ab JM shortly.
Is there a language lab/testing facility in the area? I'll need to refresh, but my formal spanish grammar is still retained pretty well. I think I could score 333 with some more time to refresh.
I was selected as an 18E with Arabic. If I was able to test out of Spanish, would group allow me to take another language?
How willing is the command to allow me to push for deploying to support another team?
I guess the most important question is whether or not there will be a slot on a team for me in this area when I ets? The south is preferred, but FL is my only major factor.
Thanks
Surgicalcric
11-30-2010, 20:39
1.) Before going back to the Q, but after I arrive to the unit, will I be able to get any schools? Nothing wild, my main idea would be something like USASOC JM for the sake of having a fresh JM. I should be going to 82ab JM shortly.
2.) Is there a language lab/testing facility in the area? I'll need to refresh, but my formal spanish grammar is still retained pretty well. I think I could score 333 with some more time to refresh.
3.) I was selected as an 18E with Arabic. If I was able to test out of Spanish, would group allow me to take another language?
4.) How willing is the command to allow me to push for deploying to support another team?
5.) I guess the most important question is whether or not there will be a slot on a team for me in this area when I ets? The south is preferred, but FL is my only major factor.
C co is currently busy taking care of business but I will attempt to answer those questions which I know the answer to.
1.) If you graduate the 82nd SLJM course you will not be attending the USASOC course just because... Furthermore, your focus should be on attending the SFQC (25 meter target) schools will take a back seat until you are done. NGSF is only allocated X number of seats in Y class; until you are on a team those will go to team guys (unless you are in the right place/right time.)
2.) There isn't a language lab in the area, but there is a contract with a language school in Altemonte Springs, FL to do language refreshers. Your ability to attend will depend on several factors.
3.) Being that you will be attending the SFQC to fill the needs of a specific group/bn the answer will depend on what you want to do and whether or not they want you in the course for another 6 months. There have been guys test out of a language and take another during the SFQC conversely there have also been guys test then be told no on taking another language in the SFQC.
4.) NGSF guys deploy with other NG battalion's/groups with every rotation. The only time I am aware of guys being told no is when a guy wants to volunteer to go with someone else and it cuts into either PMT or the deployment of the guy's parent unit.
5.) There will always be slots on teams. Dont worry about that.
There is plenty of info here for you to read. The search button is your friend.
Crip
A lot of good advice, I'm really looking forward to getting into the BN. I'm gonna be able to go to school full time at scc out here for two semester while I'm still active. I'm focusing on Latin American studies, and I'm also enrolled in another school online, but don't like mentioning affiliation because its so liberal..
I'm hoping that since this is something I could do for the rest of my life, but wouldn't want to do on active duty for the rest of my life, that SFNG is the perfect balance for me.
D9 (RIP)
12-11-2010, 16:30
There will always be slots on teams. As Crip said, you need to focus on the 25M target. You'll get a JM refresher if you need it afterwards if you finish the SFQC and make it to C Co.
We have a good company. There is not a team in the company I would not want to be on, and wherever you wind up in C Co you'll have good leadership and seniors around to make sure you're on track.
One thing that the battalion, and Group for that matter, is trying to get away from is guys strap-hanging with other battalions. It sounds like a good move for an eager guy, but in reality at this stage in the game it's hurting the teams.
Before all of this kicked off I can see where guys preferred that the new guys in the unit took a deployment with another unit - because there wasn't a deep base of guys in the units with SF combat deployments. Those days are over. There's an abundance of SF combat experience on the teams, but guys never work together. So your leadership never has a chance to assess the team (because the team that goes to SFAUC together is just a hodge-podge of 24 guys off 4 different teams who happened to not be deployed with other people when the unit did AT).
Bottom line, NG teams don't get enough time together as it is. PMT is not enough time to work out all the kinks. I'm fortunate to be on a team right now that DID spend a lot of time together before the deployment. Our sister team on the firebase was assembled during PMT. They are a good team, but they really lack the sense of friendship and history that we have, and it affects their team dynamic in a bad way. We had our differences once upon a time too, but it all got washed out a while back.
So I would focus on getting with a company and then going with them when they go. You're going to enjoy your team time more, IMO, than if you bounce around to different units like an SF gypsy. If you're coming to C Co, then you're coming to a great company. We'll be back in the mix before you know it. If it were me, knowing what I know now, I'd avoid strap hanging. I'm not saying it's terrible, but there's a lot to be said to going downrange with a team when you've already got a year of history with the guys even if it is drilling. It makes a real difference.
We have a contracted language refresher course (3 weeks) in Orlando. It's a great course. You can do it in whatever language you want. I am a Q-course arabic guy and I'm currently getting paid in Spanish. It's not a problem, but you've got to get through the course first.
Now get back to focusing on how you're going to get through the Q-Course.
Leozinho
12-11-2010, 17:42
So I would focus on getting with a company and then going with them when they go. You're going to enjoy your team time more, IMO, than if you bounce around to different units like an SF gypsy. If you're coming to C Co, then you're coming to a great company. We'll be back in the mix before you know it. If it were me, knowing what I know now, I'd avoid strap hanging. I'm not saying it's terrible, but there's a lot to be said to going downrange with a team when you've already got a year of history with the guys even if it is drilling. It makes a real difference.
That's very good advice from D9. Not long after graduating, I transfered to a unit halfway across the country because I was in a hurry to deploy and ended up on a team with a couple more strap-hangers. It all worked out in the end, but it was touch and go for a while whether the team was going to come together. If I had had a little more patience and stayed in my original company, my old team probably would have been a better fit for me.
There will always be slots on teams...
Yep - the B-team! :D
I concur with the rest too, given my limited NG experience.
D9 (RIP)
12-12-2010, 16:54
Yep - the B-team! :D
I concur with the rest too, given my limited NG experience.
Well, that actually brings up another good point. Guys who late mob with units other than their own stand a good chance of being on the B-Team, depending on the unit's supply of organic qualified guys. I know there are a lot of very good guys here with us now who showed up before the deployment and are at the AOB.
There's nothing wrong with going with the AOB from a long-term, career point of view, but it may not be what guys have in mind coming out of the course.
I've seen it backfire where a guy takes a deployment with another unit, winds up in a support role or on a last-minute thrown together team, then comes back to his unit, joins them during PMT, and gets stuck on the B-team because the teams were full. As deployments dry up and become fewer and farther between, there are going to be more and more guys volunteering to go (we saw that phenomenon on this mob). That means the teams fill up quickly and a lot of guys may wind up mob'ing to fill "nice-to-have" slots on the AOB. Food for thought.
Downrange experience is good, no matter how you slice it. But it's not necessarily the best route. If you haven't even gone to Q yet, you're still a year away from even thinking about it. That means if you come to C/3/20 you will probably graduate without too long before we go again. So I would think that through a little more.
HTH.