Ask A Spook! Cryptologic Questions

[FlyNavy]

Originally Posted by CELKali

Long ass post, I apologize, but I figure it'd best to get all questions in one post than twenty.

Howdy, I'm 22 years old, been to college and back, and have decided to join the Navy after having a horrible time trying to find a job in my chosen field (film). I went through MEPS a few weeks ago, came out with a Seaman Pact (long, frustrating story), wherein my former Navy brother told me to get back in there and get a real rate.
A day later, I took my brother and my parents in to my recruiter, ready to fight for the right to get an actual rate on my contract, with a list of rates I qualified for and that I wanted. Things in CT were at the top because I figured I wouldn't get them since they weren't open at MEPS the day previous and they were 'dream jobs'.
Before I could even get a word in, the recruiter says, "I know you want to say some things, but first let me tell you what I found that I think will be the perfect fit for you, it's in CT...." And I was dumbfounded. There was an opening for the CTR path, my #1 choice! He made a bunch of phone calls around the States and found someone who was falling out of the field while in DEPS. It's not all done and signed just yet, but the rate is basically mine. Needless to say, I'm metaphorically in love with my recruiter.

Now, because I wasn't anticipating this, at all, I neglected to put my first two jobs (working at two different McDonald's) on the NASIS, since both recruiters told me they weren't important (one was from almost eight years ago, the other didn't last a year; wasn't fired from either). I read a thread on the CTR subboard about a kid having to repeatedly call home from RTC getting all the info from his jobs and everyday life that he didn't know off hand for the SSBI.

- Am I going to need to know the info (specific start and end dates) of these two jobs for the SSBI? And does the SSBI do a medical history background check, or is it the same 'medical history' as MEPS (were you ever depressed/suicidal/in the ER, etc- no? Good, anyways....)? I'm getting slightly nervous that I might have forgotten something, or skipped over something I didn't think was near important. Speaking of...

- My grandmother is German (married a Marine), am I going to have to know her history (as far as becoming a US citizen), or is it irrelevant since she's not immediate family?

- Also, I'm unmarried, completely single, and not planning on getting in any sort of relationship anytime soon. Would I be able to have my first station somewhere outside the US? My recruiter told me that top of the class gets first pick on where they want to be stationed (as was the genuine case with him 17 years ago), but I've since read that this is kinda sorta bullshit, and much like my former Marine bother (I have two older brothers), they'll put you where they need you (he did end up in Hawaii, but I'm not nearly as interested in a tropical 'paradise', but somewhere by an actual ocean would be nice considering this is the Navy). But if the latter statement is true, are my chances of being stationed abroad still relatively high?

- As for A-School liberty, my sister is getting married in October (2016), and I'd have been out of RTC for three months by then. I'm her Maid of Honor, and was wondering if I'd be able to make the wedding, if only for two days. It's on a weekend. I know you get 2.5 days/m of PTO, but does that start while in A-School, or only when you're out and with the fleet? My backup plan, should I not be able to make it, is record a video of my speech and send it to them, but I'd much rather be there in person.

- One last question, my student debt is currently on forbearance. Not for any legal reasons, but because I don't make enough money/m to pay it. I attempted to pay it for the first few months, but didn't have enough left over to be able to live. I plan on making a one month payment before I go to RTC and then place it on forbearance again. Once I get out of RTC, I plan on taking an allotment of my pay each month and placing into my student debt payments, and hopefully won't even have to do forbearance again. But will that be an issue up front?

I've always had an interest in intelligence, and CTR seems my best fit, especially considering that it's a 'floater' path, as in you're proficient in a number of things and go where you're needed and don't hang around after the job's done, which is me to a T. So I'm very excited about this rate and want everything to go as smoothly as possible. (As a side note, I'm a fan of The Blacklist and am fairly certain Red was a CTR after all the shit I've read on it :P)

Thanks for making this thread, too. I'm having a hard time finding info on the CTR path. There's loads of info on CTTs, CTIs, even CTMs, but it's hard to find much on CTR that isn't the same info over and over again.

Investigations: Yes, get that information if at all possible. An SSBI goes back 10 years, so if it falls in that scope, just go ahead and get it. If they end up not wanting it, then whatever, but it's waaay harder to get it after the fact. So just make it easier on yourself now and get it. As for medical history, no; the SSBI isn't concerned with your medical history outside of things like mental issues that might cause a security concern. IE if you had high blood pressure or something, nobody cares. Things we would care about would be histories of drug abuse, mental issues, suicidal tenancies, that kind of stuff that would make being in this job a no-go. Also of note is that they don't go digging up medical records or anything; this would come into play if someone they were interviewing about you brought it up. Then obviously they would need to follow up. But as a whole they don't go digging for your old doctors visits.

Wedding: During your training at A-school you won't be allowed to miss any training days. If this event falls on a weekend and you can prove that you'll be back on time then they might consider it, but being gone during a work day is going to be a hard no. As it comes up, speak with your chain of command and if there's some wiggle room they might be able to work with you. Staying on the side of caution though, if you're at a training command then just expect to be unavailable for things that don't involve training. It sucks but it's just part of life. If they let you go it'll be an exception and not the norm.

Loans: Debt is the single biggest issue in obtaining a clearance. The vast majority of espionage cases involved debt in money-for-secrets kind of deals. HOWEVER, things like student loans, car loans, etc, are considered normal things and don't raise big red flags if you're staying on top of them. If you've got records for your payments and have a solid payment plan in place then I wouldn't expect any issues from that. Just be mature and responsible with paying them and you'll be just fine. The debt that gets people in trouble is like gambling debt or just a craaaap ton of debt that you reasonably shouldn't have gotten into in the first place. Ya dig?


On mb11g's comment: Being top of your class at Corry Station won't have much if any bearing on your selection of orders. First tour Sailors are typically what we call "needs of the Navy" and are assigned where they are needed. CT's especially because there are so few of us and so many places we're needed, we just don't have the luxury to let the new guys cherry pick what they want. So expect your orders to be assigned to you versus being able to pick. Don't listen to what people in other rates have to say on the subject, as they have nothing to do with what happens in the CT community. (Not knocking you mb11, just speaking in general terms)

/r
CTT1