Hwang,
Anytime! I love helping out future Spooks.
CTI's are the Navy's linguists. You have to take the DLAB to qualify ahead of time, so just a heads up there. But you'll be spending alot of time working in the intelligence field overall as well as being the language expert for whatever mission you're working on.
After Boot Camp you'll head to A-School in Monterey, CA. They are the only CT branch that doesn't go to Pensacola. During your time there you'll be learning whatever language you choose (Farsi, Chinese, Russian, Urdu, ect) Really it depends on the language on how long you're there for. The harder the language obviously the longer you'll have to stay there. But by the end of it you should be able to read, write, and speak whatever you went there for.
As for assignments, the vast majority of CTI's go to NIOCs (Navy Information Operations Command). I'm sure you've noticed that didn't start with "USS" haha So as you can tell, most of your time will be spent on shore duty assignments. There are some opportunities for linguists to get on Aircrew or direct support to ships or subs as well though, if your looking for something more adventurous.
As for being "locked in a room" due to our work being classified, that is not at all accurate. We DO work in classified facilities that have very strict security policies, but you would be working with almost every other CT branch as well as other services. Every CT branch does highly classified work, but once your inside the secure facility, typically it's not toooo segregated. The only time you would be moved off separate somewhere would be if you're working a pretty sensitive mission (and that is pretty rare and usually requires alot of experience before you would get moved there). If you do end up taking orders for Aircrew or as direct support to ships or subs, that would be one of the times you're segregated from most folks. Mostly just due to the fact that your workspace needs a security clearance that most of the other people there won't have. But outside of your workspace, you would be with the rest of the crew.
Hope that sheds some light on CTI! It's a pretty rewarding job if you like getting into a specific culture and it does offer some really cool opportunities if you're willing to go after them.
/r
CTT1
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