Ask A Spook! Cryptologic Questions

[Cklansdell2]

Originally Posted by CTT1(SW)Griffin

Not at all. If you do end up on a ship, the classified space you work in is just one of the places you'll be. You'll spend plenty of time out and about the ship; don't sweat it. Really you'll just be in there to do any classified work, stand watch underway, or occasionally do quarters. If anyone tells you that because you do classified work that you'll be holed up somewhere away from the world your whole career, they're full of sh!t.

CTR's can also go many places, of which a ship is just one. Ships, aircrew, subs, shore, and after your 1st tour maybe Special Warfare. So it's possible you'll end up on a boat, sure. But it's also entirely possible you end up going flying, or ride under the waves, or whatever you wanna try and go do.

/r
CTT1

Thank you... I would love to do air crew... Not a fan of being cooped up all the time so I was worried about that

[FlyNavy]

Originally Posted by Cklansdell2

Thank you... I would love to do air crew... Not a fan of being cooped up all the time so I was worried about that

Don't be. You can get out and about as much as you want.

/r
CTT1

[jccjmgc]

CTT1(SW) Griffin -

Great thread with a ton of useful information about the CT community. My son is getting ready to go in after he graduates high school in May, and is trying to decide between CTT AEF, CTT and CTR. His ASVAB scores are high enough for all three, so should be no issues there.

Do you happen to know what the drop/fail rate is for the AEF school? I was a NUKE, and I remember that if you failed out of nuke school you went into the conventional Navy as your rate (MM, ET, EM). Is CTT AEF similar? Is the AEF school anything to worry about?

Also - do the CTT AEF guys get to do the same ops stuff as the CTTs? He wants to also be involved in operating the equipment, and not just repairing. Being a push button E-4 is intriguing from an advancement perspective, but are there any other advantages for being CTT AEF vs. CTT.

Thanks so much!

[FlyNavy]

Originally Posted by jccjmgc

CTT1(SW) Griffin -

Great thread with a ton of useful information about the CT community. My son is getting ready to go in after he graduates high school in May, and is trying to decide between CTT AEF, CTT and CTR. His ASVAB scores are high enough for all three, so should be no issues there.

Do you happen to know what the drop/fail rate is for the AEF school? I was a NUKE, and I remember that if you failed out of nuke school you went into the conventional Navy as your rate (MM, ET, EM). Is CTT AEF similar? Is the AEF school anything to worry about?

Also - do the CTT AEF guys get to do the same ops stuff as the CTTs? He wants to also be involved in operating the equipment, and not just repairing. Being a push button E-4 is intriguing from an advancement perspective, but are there any other advantages for being CTT AEF vs. CTT.

Thanks so much!

Hey there,

I personally don't know anyone who's dropped from the Tech track (AEF CTT's are SLQ-32 techs, so we typically differentiate by calling them techs versus us operators). If the pipeline is still the same at Corry, they will go through A-school first anyway so they should already have a rate before starting the meaty portion of tech training.

Yes the techs absolutely operate the gear. All that extra training they get is in maintaining the gear, but they're still operators regardless. The operators (guys who didn't do the 6y track) will also be doing plenty of maintenance as well, they just won't have the in-depth knowledge the way the techs do.

The AEF track will pretty much guarantee you're going to a ship since those are the only platforms with that system. So keep that in mind as well. Other than that, they usually get enlistment bonuses (this changes yearly though based on manning levels) and have credible skills in electronics.

Really any of those jobs he picks will be great. There really isn't a bad CT job in my opinion. We have one of the best lifestyles in the Navy. Feel free to ask me anything else that comes up!

/r
CTT1

[Joribear]

My son is currently at RTC and I just received my first personal letter from him. He has a contract for CTR and asked me to find out what he'd be doing as a CTR.

We both realize, of course, due to the classified nature of the CTR that the only way he'll EVER know what he'll be doing is when he's actually doing it. He's just worried that his job will just be sitting at a desk with a computer and headphones on all day.

He's always been an "active" kid - the saying "grass doesn't grow under his toes" definitely fits for him. He originally started his path to the Navy for the Nuke program, but found out at MEPS that he has a tritan color deficiency, so that knocked Nuke out and with a 94 ASVAB, he wasn't about to just do "anything" in the Navy!

Any CTR advise I can give this active young man?

[Barbazu]

I'm not a CT, but I worked with them at Corry Station quite a bit. CTR are SIGINT (signals intelligence). They collect, analyze and crack various types of signals. As far as it being a desk job... ummmm... I haven't been with them in the fleet, but what I've seen of them in their actual training it's very computer intensive and tends to take place mostly while sitting. However, there are some awesome possibilities. I know one guy that graduated A school, went aircrew, and attended SERE training. Now that's some exciting stuff! CTRs can also fill billets for special forces, expeditionary warfare, and a host of other things that'll definitely be more suited for someone that doesn't like to sit still.

CTR, in my opinion, is one of the most badass rates in the Navy. And some of the greatest people, too. I made a ton of CTR friends at Corry. It's a good rate. And could be quite lucrative if he decides to get out and go work for a contractor. That TS/SCI is highly sought after, and SIGINT is a crucial role for national security.

[Joribear]

Originally Posted by Barbazu

I'm not a CT, but I worked with them at Corry Station quite a bit. CTR are SIGINT (signals intelligence). They collect, analyze and crack various types of signals. As far as it being a desk job... ummmm... I haven't been with them in the fleet, but what I've seen of them in their actual training it's very computer intensive and tends to take place mostly while sitting. However, there are some awesome possibilities. I know one guy that graduated A school, went aircrew, and attended SERE training. Now that's some exciting stuff! CTRs can also fill billets for special forces, expeditionary warfare, and a host of other things that'll definitely be more suited for someone that doesn't like to sit still.

CTR, in my opinion, is one of the most badass rates in the Navy. And some of the greatest people, too. I made a ton of CTR friends at Corry. It's a good rate. And could be quite lucrative if he decides to get out and go work for a contractor. That TS/SCI is highly sought after, and SIGINT is a crucial role for national security.

Thank you for your input on the CTRs you've known!

[FlyNavy]

Originally Posted by Joribear

My son is currently at RTC and I just received my first personal letter from him. He has a contract for CTR and asked me to find out what he'd be doing as a CTR.

We both realize, of course, due to the classified nature of the CTR that the only way he'll EVER know what he'll be doing is when he's actually doing it. He's just worried that his job will just be sitting at a desk with a computer and headphones on all day.

He's always been an "active" kid - the saying "grass doesn't grow under his toes" definitely fits for him. He originally started his path to the Navy for the Nuke program, but found out at MEPS that he has a tritan color deficiency, so that knocked Nuke out and with a 94 ASVAB, he wasn't about to just do "anything" in the Navy!

Any CTR advise I can give this active young man?

Hey there! So first off, congrats to your son on joining not only the world's finest Navy, but one of the best communities within it! (I might be a little biased there haha)

So CTR's have a ton of versatility in their jobs. You could find yourself anywhere from a ship, shore duty at NSA, aircrew (although that's going away somewhat soon for the most part), special warfare, and even submarines. If the Navy is involved in it, there's a role for CTRs somewhere in it. Suffice to say that really whatever your son wants to get into, there's an opportunity for that.

**Some duties do require you to have completed your first tour however; special warfare being one of them.**

Job duties wise, CTRs are experts in COMINT (COMmunications INTelligence). Now that can take many different forms, so I won't get into the nitty gritty here. But suffice to say that he'll be doing some extremely important stuff in terms of national security work. He should be pretty excited; our community (CT's) are one of the few where you get to make such an important contribution right off the bat.

Let me know if you have specific questions. Or, if either of you want to ask me something directly or just chat I can get you some contact info.

/r
CTT1

[Joribear]

Originally Posted by CTT1(SW)Griffin

Hey there! So first off, congrats to your son on joining not only the world's finest Navy, but one of the best communities within it! (I might be a little biased there haha)

So CTR's have a ton of versatility in their jobs. You could find yourself anywhere from a ship, shore duty at NSA, aircrew (although that's going away somewhat soon for the most part), special warfare, and even submarines. If the Navy is involved in it, there's a role for CTRs somewhere in it. Suffice to say that really whatever your son wants to get into, there's an opportunity for that.

**Some duties do require you to have completed your first tour however; special warfare being one of them.**

Job duties wise, CTRs are experts in COMINT (COMmunications INTelligence). Now that can take many different forms, so I won't get into the nitty gritty here. But suffice to say that he'll be doing some extremely important stuff in terms of national security work. He should be pretty excited; our community (CT's) are one of the few where you get to make such an important contribution right off the bat.

Let me know if you have specific questions. Or, if either of you want to ask me something directly or just chat I can get you some contact info.

/r
CTT1

Thanks so much! I know he's planning on going to sub school after A school - if aircrew is going away sometime soon, would you recommend him going that route first and then sub school?

He's a bit of an adrenaline junkie (ok, not a bit, a LOT), so I completely expect him to do his first tour and then try to get in with special warfare. He is a "take the world by storm" kind of kid and always has been - we're lucky he didn't end up in trouble with the law growing up! LOL

To give you an idea as to how active he is, he graduated salutatorian with Varsity letters in basketball, track, band, choir, cheerleading (joined cheer because he thought it would be funny, ended up going to London with it...), scholastics, plus was involved in scouts, Civil Air Patrol and community theater. The two phone calls and three letters his brother and I have gotten from him while at RTC all carry the same theme: "I'm bored and ready to graduate A school and start bing a REAL sailor!" WTH gets bored at boot camp? Oh yeah, my kid!!
*Edited to add*
He's in division 919, doing drum line (quads), has been RPO (until he had his wisdom teeth out), AROC and "forward - something" (he said it had something to do with organization of supplies?), so he's picking up extra stuff to do while at boot & is still bored!