U.S. Air Force Cryptologic Language Analyst Training Pipeline

[@sotel]

2 years of pipepline training summed up in about 2 minutes. For aircrew, this is not including the initial training for a specific aircraft and on the job training. It took me 3 years and 4 months before I was fully capable of being a basic airborne cryptologic language analyst. It doesn't stop there though, you're always training to get to the next level!

[@DWEthiopia]

Awesome stuff! Thanks for sharing. Do you think you can provide your email address. I really am very intrigued with this opportunity and would love to talk to someone who is doing the job right now to see if I have what it takes to do it. Thank you for sharing!

[@Maliceking]

DW Ethiopia I second this. This is hopefully my future job in the next coming months.

[@lanimurry5798]

Sotello so is it only airborne that goes through SERE? I’d love to know because I ship out on April 16th

[@Little.Chef.Kitchen]

@@lanimurry5798 Airborne goes through SERE because they have the highest risk of being shot down and captured. On top of that, not every airborne AFSC has the same SERE training. Some are longer than others. And there might be a few other non-airborne AFSCs that do SERE training as well. You'll just have to look into your specific one. Good luck! Your first few weeks are gonna suck, but just keep looking forward to graduation. It's one of the best moments in your life when you get tapped out by your family!

[@lanimurry5798]

Jack Meiner thank you! And ah, I see but I doubt that I will have to worry about SERE bc I’m too short to be airborne lol

[@thomasdudones6551]

Did this job from 1969 thru 1972, Airborne. Back then, training for Russian language was at the East European Language Institute at Syracuse University. After Basic finished, then 10 months of Russian, 3 months at Goodfellow, another couple months for the airborne portion at Goodfellow, Altitude chamber testing, SERE training at Fairchild, small arms training and Arctic Survival training at Eielson, Fairbanks Alaska. Then OJT, riding "side saddle" for several months to learn the specifics of the targeted areas. All in all it was two years before I was fully qualified for flight duty. Flew missions out of Eielson in Alaska and with TDYs at Mildenhall RAF base, in the UK, and Cobra Ball missions from Shemya. It's an interesting & challenging career. My only gripe was the slow promotion rate - mechanics and MPs with same time in service were at least a stripe or more ahead of guys in our field.

[@raymondfallon7429]

1970 - 1974 Mandarin DLICWC (Monterey). Instead of Arctic I got Jungle out of Clark. (btw, as an MA how did you avoid Jungle survival in 1969? Kidding). Have you been back to San Angelo? It was no oasis in 1971, but in 2013 the whole town is... even less of an oasis. Don't want to get in trouble with the Chamber of Commerce.

[@chestermarcol3831]

Joined the USAF in 11/84 20833C after basic at Lackland, spent all of 1985 at DLI in Monterey, CA (Czech and Slovak) then 6 months or so in San Angelo TX, and then to Augsburg, Germany. After that, it took about 6 months before I could test (and pass) qualification exam to actually do the job. So over 2 years from the time I left for Basic. By that time I only had 2 years left on my enlistment LOL IIRC, the re-enlistment bonus was about 28,000 dollars. I declined.

[@mhutton11]

this is what i want...ahhh prayersss

[@raymondfallon7429]

They showed a guy with an M16 (IDK - maybe an M4 now?) and no one in the USAF saw one of those except in "break glass in case of emergency" back in 1970. Not after basic, anyway.

[@chestermarcol3831]

When I was in basic, we went to the range ONE day. and IIRC the M16's had 22 inserts in them LOL

[@ida4587]

Amazing job!

[@rcruzy21]

What does their work schedule look like? How many days a week and how long are their shifts?

[@thomasdudones6551]

Ground ops was pretty regular, five days a week normally, though there was shift work - days, mids and night duty. Airborne crew duty could vary - maybe fly once every two weeks, or, if you wanted to, you might get 3 flights in a week. There was a mandatory "off time" after a flight...24 hours? Flight crew received "hazardous duty" pay also.

[@chestermarcol3831]

When I was stationed in Germany, we did three days on and three off. 12 hour shifts, and we alternated between Days (06:00 to 18:00 hours), three days off, and then MIds (18:00 to 06:00)

[@juank4439]

ground crew better safer than airborne?

[@thomasdudones6551]

Safer? Sure. But less adventuresome as well. Every time you went into that pre-flight briefing you knew things were serious, you were going out on a mission and the enemy knew who you were and what you were there for. It could get a bit hairy on some flights - came back from one mission with only a single engine still working on the RC135. It could be exciting as well - seeing Soviet fighters flying along and the pilots waving was cool or watching the sunrise as you flew over the polar ice cap. Missions back then (1970-72) could be up to 20 hours with two in-flight refuelings. It was definitely for the more adventuresome person.

[@Gawain-l7r]

@@thomasdudones6551 great reply 😀

[@coffeedrilo]

How much shorter is the training time for a ground cryptologic linguist?

[@goatgames_8641]

The training time for a linguist depends on your language. Different language categories require longer training times. For example, Spanish is 9 months whereas Chinese is 64 weeks. So a basic timeline for a linguist would be: BMT - 8 weeks *Aircrew fundamentals- 1 month DLI - 9 months to 64 weeks Goodfellow - 4 months *SERE - 1 month IQT ~ 3 months MQT ~ 2 months I can't say exactly how long IQT/MQT are for ground linguists since I am not one. * indicates training that Airborne are required to do, whereas ground linguists would not be required. Does that help answer your question?

[@MrTriniman3000]

Do you get to choose the languages to learn? Also do you have the opportunity to be in the field more than office? Thanks

[@thomasdudones6551]

@@MrTriniman3000 This is way back in the 1970s, but then the answer was, no - no choice of language. We had a guy in our Russian class who had a Masters degree in French and spoke it fluently, but they sent him to learn Russian. It's whatever they need at the time that determined what language you were assigned.

[@chestermarcol3831]

Anyone remember the name of that little Irish Pub down the Hill, right off the Presidio? Anyone else still crave a Compagno's sandwich? LOL

[@efraincastaneda6196]

Shoutout san angleo!

[@Jazz-nr7nk]

I'm a little confused, do ground linguists do SERE Training as well?

[@WafflesNPotholes]

No. They dont have the danger of crash landing in a hostile country.

[@WafflesNPotholes]

@Jack Stucki Drone simulator: Hardcore Mode

[@WafflesNPotholes]

@Jack Stucki I noticed that! This will be the death of youtube

[@rideordietheyretring2tranx382]

...but is it gay enough?