IS Rate/A-School

[mb11g]

Originally Posted by navy_girl718

hello. My DEP date is 20140521 and i ship out on 20141027. My current rate is PACT SN but my recruiter just put in a DAR for me to get IS which is what i originally wanted. I was wondering what A school in VA Beach is like? Also i know that orders are based on how well you do in school but i wanted to know where IS are typically stationed? I would like to stay in the VA area.


Thanks
Future Sailor Bryan

So how A school works, really depends who the chief is an how the instructors are. If I was you I would sort of lay low and not get into any trouble, theres plenty of time to go out on the weekends if your squared away on your work. Fall behind and don't even think about it. How it works is for A school you take tests and briefs and you are graded on them, briefs can vary depending on instructor. There is a large mix between active and reserves because there is a big crunch for reservists. Overall its not to difficult I was 1st in my class for A school. You get to pick orders on class rank depending on the chief but thats how it was when I was there. Orders are random so really you want more active than reserves so I had a choice between 19 orders from Japan to DC and everywhere in between. A mix of what we got was Japan, SD, Miami, DC, Georgia, Jacksonville, Illinois, Europe, and ships in between. Overall just get first in your class and worry about orders when they come. As you will see when it gets closer and closer people change and try to convince you of what to do. Its not bad I enjoyed it, went out a lot but was on top of work. A school has a lot of drama at the barracks and marching and all the little BS they put you through. They will even tell you there, if you do something don't get caught. Duty was relaxed there usually you could work out a deal to get out of it somehow or another. If you are nice with your duty section leaders you can even get your name off the duty section if you play your cards right! Overall looking forward to a return after this duty station.