I will be completing FC A school in a month or so, and I was wondering what sort of C school there are and what are some of the better ones. I understand due to OPSEC you might not be able to go into detail, but Im curious on what life will be like for certain systems and how the schools generally are. Also, Im curious which ones are look favorably upon for advancement and which ones will benefit me in a civilian career if I do decide to get out once my 6 years are up.

Very broadly you can divide FCs into AEGIS and non-Aegis. AEGIS techs are assigned to CGs and DDGs and work with the display equipment (consoles in combat), AEGIS computers or the newer ACNT blocks (interconnects everything, crunches the data), SPY-1D radar (eye on the sky) and the FCS illuminators (terminal guidance for SM-2s). Most of your work day will be performing maintenance on said equipment, and compared to many other divisions on the ship, your life will be very good.

Most non-AEGIS technicians aren't as limited as where you can go. Obviously tomahawk technicians are limited to surface ships that use tomahawk (surface to surface strike missile). But you also have display techs for carriers, gun techs for frigates (76mm), RAM missiles (I believe) are also a non-AEGIS FC NEC, and can be equipped on just about anything, same with CIWS (Both deal with anti-missile defense, with CIWS having an upgrade to engage surface ships).

As an AEGIS technician, I am very partial to the community, but honestly just pick the one that sounds right for you. Remember it is always needs of the Navy, so you'll pick from whatever list they give you.

As for after your enlistment, generally unless you're an instructor or contractor you will not be doing the same thing in the civilian world. However technical skills you learn will be very valuable, I saw a FC2 SPY-1D radar technician leave to work for a wind farm company to troubleshoot their equipment. So basically just go with whatever piques your interest, and see how it turns out.

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