So all I hear about Gordon is that it sucks. Where you a transition when you were there are IET? I am a single solider currently live offpost and are about to move to Gordon for school in may what can I expect when I get there?

I was raised there and it does not suck. Plenty to do.

It blew. I was stuck there for AIT. But, then again it depends what you are into.

It is what you make of it. I am a MOS-I at Gordon and am halfway through my 25s training. It's not all bad but there are definitely times when I really can't wait to get out of here and into the regular army. I also have the luxury of living off post with my wife and kids, so that helps.

If you keep your nose clean and do what you are supposed to do the time will go by quick.

quote:

Originally posted by Jblindy:
It is what you make of it. I am a MOS-I at Gordon and am halfway through my 25s training. It's not all bad but there are definitely times when I really can't wait to get out of here and into the regular army. I also have the luxury of living off post with my wife and kids, so that helps.

If you keep your nose clean and do what you are supposed to do the time will go by quick.

Tell me everything you know as of yet, I reenlisted to reclass and have a class date January 2010 with a graduation date in june 2010. I'm guessing you are a first term (aka finished basic then went to ait)? If so do you have any "permanent party" reclass guys in your class? Do they get mixed in with the regular students or do they just show up to pt in the morning and go home at 1700? What is the schedule like? 0500 pt? 0900-1700 class?

what is the class like? do you mainly just read about stuff in books or are there hands on terminals? any equipment in a motor pool to work with? How many people to a class? How long is your classes ait supposed to last (how many weeks)?

if I think of more I'll add it later.

Really wish this place had a private message or email option.

quote:

Tell me everything you know as of yet, I reenlisted to reclass and have a class date January 2010 with a graduation date in june 2010. I'm guessing you are a first term (aka finished basic then went to ait)? If so do you have any "permanent party" reclass guys in your class? Do they get mixed in with the regular students or do they just show up to pt in the morning and go home at 1700? What is the schedule like? 0500 pt? 0900-1700 class?

what is the class like? do you mainly just read about stuff in books or are there hands on terminals? any equipment in a motor pool to work with? How many people to a class? How long is your classes ait supposed to last (how many weeks)?

Yes, you are correct, I completed basic at Benning and shipped here on November 7 and was here for 2 months before I started class. It was very overcrowded when I got here. My class didn't start until Jan. 5. It's not so bad right now but from all indications the rush is going to start hitting here in a few weeks. I know the winter cycles from Benning are going to begin showing up here in a few weeks. I say this just to warn you that even though you are projected to begin training in January, it isn't a guarantee.

There is a Sgt in my class that is reclassing to 25s from 44b. I believe he arrived here around the same time I did, so it was a few months before he got into class as well. While you are on inactive status, you will have to show up every morning for tac detail, which for you mos t soldiers is a cake walk. The privates get stuck with all the labor.

There are 14 to a class. There are some classes that have no mos t's and there are others that have 3 or 4. The mos t's are not allowed to associate with the iet soldiers outside of the classroom. Your pt is performed with your company away from the mos i soldiers.

When you get here you will be assigned to 551 Alpha company which is all mos t. When I first got here the mos t's were housed by the school house which is about a mile from our barracks, but there is some extensive renovation going on in the barracks next to ours and from the looks of it they are going to be for the mos t's.

As far as schedule goes, that all depends on what shift you get. Here's how it breaks down. You will be notified when to show up at the school house at which time you will be assigned to one of three classes. The first week of class is what is called sbet which is a basic introduction into electronics, all three classes take this training together. At the end of the week you take a test and your shift will be determined by whichever class scored the highest gpa. The highest scoring class will most always pick the swing shift. The shifts go like this. Days do p.t. from 0500-0600 and class goes from 0800-1600. Swings and mids conduct their p.t. from 0900-1000 with the swings going to class from 1630-2330 and the mids going to class from 2400-0600.

After sbet you have 12 weeks of common core which is split into four annexes of three weeks. After common core the classes will be split into either tactical or strategic which is another 12 weeks, at this point your shift could also possibly change, if you were a day you could possibly go to a swing or mid schedule. The classroom time consists of work at your own pace quizzes and death by power point lectures followed by a final quiz for every annex.

I am in my last annex of common core and I can tell you all we do is classroom work. As far as what the tacsat or the strat classes do, I have no idea as we are not allowed to talk about the classroom activities outside of the classroom.

Once you've graduated class there is a period of inactivity, usually about a week, before you go to capstone, which is a field exercise on a fob where all the graduating 25 series get together to put into action what they have learned over the past months. Generally one of the mos t's is given the "Student First Sergeant" rank and other mos t's are given squad leader positions.

But after the fob it's still not over, you then have an additional 3 weeks of training on new equipment.

How long is it? Well, classroom time, counting the fob, is 26 weeks, but then you have to factor in all the known and unknown downtime plus the additional 3 weeks of training. I probably won't get out of here till mid or late August. I got here in November so that puts my time here at Fort Gordon to 9 months and possibly longer than that.

seems like a cakewalk...so its kind of like my ait where you were in "secret" classes but everything you were learning is easily found on google?

Do you have any guys in your class/company/whatever that are married? From the length of the class it seems like I should be allowed to have my wife follow along. Only thing is she will be leaving about 3 months after I do...but thats a whole different subject that I can easily learn here.


edit:
Also I've been talkin to commo guys in my BN and they said that prior service have a good chance to going to the follow on training (think its called 1C?). I know you cant really BS with these guys but can you see if you can find out from anyone?

I'm married and have moved my family here. Because of the length of training, sierra's are authorized to move their families here to Gordon.

If you do move your family here check out Springhouse Apt's, it's where I live and it's very nice and in a great location about 10 minutes from Gate 1, and 5 minutes from the mall. The rent for a 3 bedroom is $859/mo. There is another complex right next to us called Traditions of Augusta that is really nice as well.

1 charlie is a skill identifier. I didn't mention it before because I didn't want to throw too much info out at once.

After common core the classes are divided into strategic or tactical. You won't know what you are until after you finish common core.

If you are put into a tactical class then you will not have the chance to go "1 chuck". 1 chuck is only offered to the strategic guys because the strat training meshes with the 1C training.

About halfway through strat the 1C guys will come and visit the class and offer the higher scoring students a chance to go 1C. You have the choice to accept or decline. The only catch is, your class graduation date has to coincide with whether or not there are slots available for 1C. For instance, my class is just outside of the window, even though I am in the top 4 of my class, I will not get offered the chance, nor will the Sgt., who has the 2nd highest gpa. However, the class just behind us will graduate within the specific window of opportunity. They have already been briefed by the 1C guys and will most likely have a few picked from their class to have the option of going 1 chuck.

My question is:

How is it decided whether you go strategic or tactical? and who makes this decision? Approximately what percentage are sent strategic/tactical... i know it must change with the need.

I'm reclassing to 25s and i really want strategic, would calling the branch manager up and asking for a strategic assignment from the get go do me any good? Is there anything i can do to influence getting strategic?

thanks in advance

quote:

Originally posted by fallacyz3r0:
My question is:

How is it decided whether you go strategic or tactical? and who makes this decision? Approximately what percentage are sent strategic/tactical... i know it must change with the need.

I'm reclassing to 25s and i really want strategic, would calling the branch manager up and asking for a strategic assignment from the get go do me any good? Is there anything i can do to influence getting strategic?

thanks in advance

I'm not sure what dictates whether you will go strategic or tactical. The logical assumption would be you get placed according to your assignment, but in my experience that's not how it works. I just finished common core 3 weeks ago. There were 13 in my class and 3 of us were assigned to Yongson, South Korea. I had the 4th highest gpa in my class, the other two that were assigned to Yongson were 1st and 3rd, with the 2nd highest gpa being an mos-t. I was the only one out of my class that went strategic. So grades or location don't play a role on what path you will take. I also know of 3 guys in my company who went all the way through the tactical course only to be told that they now needed to complete the strategic course as well. Why? I have no idea. As we've always been told, it's the needs of the army that dictates.

yeah, figures... i guess that's just the way the cookie crumbles in the army....

do you thing me being airborne will effect anything at all?

Going airborne you have only one choice Tactical.

Was a 1C for almost 8 years, I can answer any questions you might have about it, at least how it was when I went thru in 2001, but not much has changed. Most of these points are still valid but don't quote me.
-The Sierras who graduate close to the time of the 1C course starting are the ones who will have a much better chance of "pipelining" into the course.
-They normally only take E4 or below to maximize retention.
-GPA doesn't usually matter, as long as you're doing moderately well and haven't failed too many exams


If you have any other questions, feel free to email me directly at warriorpoet575@yahoo.com.

Id be happy to answer any you might have regarding duty locations, job details, etc