I have questions about the DLI and being a CTI and figured Navy Intel would be the best forum to try and have these questions answered.

I DEP'ed in Dec 15th, and had everything cleared and qual'ed so I've been told. I know the Classifier sat with me as we talked about options and scores and he called as he put it 'the CT community' gave them all my information and then told me as long as I pass the DLAB I was accepted to enlist as a CTI. I take the DLAB on the 8th! Nervous and excited. So for the purpose of questioning I'm going to assume I pass and gain that CTI rating. Currently I already speak German but not fluently.

After graduation of RTC, how quickly are new sailors sent over to the DLI. I know the DLI has other branches of military there and it can sometimes be rather full and one might have to wait for a seat to open up. If you do have to wait for a seat, what does the Navy do with you until it becomes available? Does it sometimes run longer for others (Few days - few weeks)? I understand that through out it you will still continue to do PT and have room checks. There's a Mandatory study hall and class is full immersion.

How do the phases work? I've read that phase one, you arn't allowed anything. No civilian clothing, transportation, ect. and it can usually be passed in about a month. After you finish phase one, are you allowed more liberties/less restrictions. As in being able to do things on the weekend, or having your own vehicle? Especially if your program is nearly a year long...I live in California and would love to be able to have my car while attending the DLI for language training. On the sheet I was given from MEPs and the Classifier it says that after Language training, there's more training in TX. Do you graduate from the DLI? How long of a wait is it to the next step/stage of training? After that training you get Orders and first duty station correct?

Thanks for any answers and information you can provide.

If you pass the DLAB and you graduate from boot camp, you can expect to go to DLI immediately after graduation from RTC--within 3-5 days, max.

Once at DLI, I would expect to wait several weeks to get a class assignment and a start date. While you are waiting, you will be assigned to do grounds maintenance or other odd jobs.

The sheet from MEPS is out of date... you will not be sent to Texas, but will be sent to your first duty station for follow-on training.

I can't speak to the phases...its been 10 years and I'm sure things have changed.

Thank you.

They typically room you in barracks correct? Will the person who's your roommate be the same language course, or completely different, or does it all depend on the number of those there.

With other ratings, when you finish with DLI are you given a "Dream Sheet" to fill out for stationing, or is it as I've heard based on the Language you've learned as where you will be going. That becomes your first station/orders for 2+ years, or would you change again?

Being a present depper myself and having a similar scenario, I am interested to hear some of the answers to the questions raised on this thread as well. I'm trying to figure out a time line so that I can get my family business situated. My wife is worried about the timing of everything, which I can understand. The only thing I know is that I leave for boot on 20080508, and that I am to report to the DLI on 20080714. Which appears to be the Monday directly following graduation.
I understand the length of time I'll be there depends on the language, (which, as I understand, I will not get to pick) I was not aware that I wouldn't really be going to Tx. for follow on training, but I did figure those sheets were old. I'm interested to know how long it will be before I'm able to move out of a dorm and into the ORD (more specifically when I can get my family moved out there with me).

You'll have room inspections and group PT (twice a week) the whole time you're at DLI. That was something I really wasn't happy about when I was first told. I mean, I can learn just fine with a messy room, and I PT more effectively by myself, but the Navy is still the best branch about letting their people do what they're at DLI to do, learn the language. From what the OIC tells us, the Navy has the best percentage of graduates out of all the branches because of that.

There is mandatory study hall for about the first 6 weeks (depending on your class), but they recently changed the study hall hours so that they are much more reasonable. They used to be from 6pm-8pm, but now they're only for 1hr right after school.

The phases that you go through are nothing too strict. After you get out of bootcamp, phase 1 will feel like having no rules at all. The phases go by really fast, so I'm not 100% positive on them, but I'll try to remember. You can't be in a personal vehicle in phase 1 or wear civilian clothes. If you go off base you have to have a buddy. Also, you have to be in by 10pm I believe. In phase 2 they do away with all that I think, but you have a midnight curfew. On phase 3 you're basically free to do whatever. No curfew.

Once you get to DLI after boot camp you'll get to fill out a dream sheet with what languages you'd like to learn, but it all comes down to what they have seats available for. I've heard of some people begging for a language that no seats were open for and actually being allowed to wait for the language, but this doesn't happen often. When I got to DLI there were 3 of us coming in and 2 seats open. 1 in Arabic and 1 in Korean. I had the second highest DLAB of the 3 of us. They put the girl with the highest DLAB in Korean because it's the toughest language, me in Arabic, and the other girl had to wait for another seat to open.

Oh, and Navy is the only service not allowed to drink alcohol on base.

Hope this info helps.