I spoke to my recruiter today and told him that I for sure wanted CTI. I also would like to go to training ASAP. He told me most likely if I enlisted in the next week or two that I wouldn't go until January or February.
Is this correct? I was under the impression that CTI was heavily undermanned and that new enlistees were getting shipped out fairly fast.
Depends. True, we can't get enough linguists. That's a fact. But the school is so long that they generally try to time your departure for boot camp so that you'll make it to a school opening. Often this means waiting several months. Most CTI-wannabes sit around in DEP for just as long as you will. The timing is far from perfect, but they try.
BTW, altho the rate is undermanned, the school is NOT. It is very crowded, and every class fills up. There are 2 reasons for this - 1 is that the drop-out rate is very high, so a large portion do not make it to the fleet. The other also is that this is a joint command - all service branches have people in classes here, not just the Navy, so we have to share classroom slots with them. Almost half of the base is Air Force.
This job can be very rewarding, and the school is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. If you truly want it, you've gotta be willing to wait.
