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Originally posted by NFC04:
Well I thought I would breakdown AIT for anyone interested or thinking about 13D as a MOS. I graduated AIT 20Nov07 as an honor grad. and thought maybe this will help some people. I went to basic at Ft. Sill at well(E 1/19), so this is just my experience. I'm not sure how the first couple days work with people traveling. This may get long because it's just my thoughts and what I experienced. So read if you want....

13 D AIT-7 weeks and 1-4 days long...

First 4 or 5 days Once you get to AIT in Ft. Sill you be at B 1/78th, you will most likely be reporting on a Sunday. You will go through briefings and filling out paper work...all the fun stuff. That first day, you will also be assigned a bay in Bravo Battery(3rd Plt. Spartans!). Within the first couple of days you will take your first PT test. This is an important one because if you don't pass you won't be going on pass during the weekends. You will also find out whether or not you will be starting class. Class sizes can only have a max of 15 soldiers. National Guard, Prior Service, and Reserve priority so if you are Active Army you might have to wait a week to start class. If you do get held over, you will be doing detail all day. If you have class you will be going to get your books and supplies, and the first class you will have is a commo. class where you will learn about the Singcars Radio System. I wasn't test over this but I heard other classes were. This class will last for a couple days.

Week 1+-OK so your done with the commo class and you make it to Manual Gunnery part of 13 D AIT(Charts and Darts, Sticks, etc). The first week you will learn all about charts and darts. PAY ATTENTION! in class take notes! These classes are not hard and aren't designed for you to fail, but if you don't pay attention, you will fail. You have to be very precise with your plotting and measurements. Practice, Practice, Practice. After the first 4 days of this you will have your test in charts and darts, if you fail it, you will take the test again, the next morning around 5am. You fail that you are recycled to the next class...so don't fail. Classes were usually around 8am-4ish(i think I can't really remember) You come back around noon for lunch then head back.

Week 2+ -Now you move on to the sticks portion. The first two weeks of 13D are supposedly the toughest. Once again pay attention and take notes. The work is very easy and the instructors are excellent and break it down to where a child could understand. Just take your time and make correct measurements.

Weeks 3-5Weeks 3-5 -You start working with the AFATDS programs on the computer. You learn about the geometries, fire missions and a bunch of other good stuff. The best advice I can give here is once again, just pay attention and follow along. Never stop taking notes and learn as much as you can. You have two test over this period. One in geometries and then an actual MOS Qualification test. Most people I talked to thought these tests were a lot easier that manual gunnery.

Week 6-Field Week. I won't lie and when I did this for AIT and thought it was very pointless. We did nothing related to our MOS. You pretty much go out into the field set up your tent. My class was also with the 13P class, and we did raids on the 13F. We qualified with our m16s on one of those video ranges. We worked on clearing rooms, and urban warfare. This was actually pretty fun, you work with the 13Fs and get turns being OPFOR. You may have the chance to do some combatives. Either way expect to get little sleep. After the field you come back and clean, clean, clean, and clean, your weapons and turn in any equipment.

Week 7- Graduation. Nothing big, pretty much, walk across get your diploma.

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Life in the bays is all right if you pass that PT Test, then you get to use your electronics at night and get to go on pass. It seemed like we were always having formation every couple of hours, and those seemed to last anywhere from 30mins to 2hours. Get used to standing around... there is still PT in the mornings, fire guard, CQ all that good stuff. Lock your locker! Stuff gets stolen all the time around there... anywhere from bags to computers.

To get your pass for the weekend your platoon is usually cleaning and getting and duties that needed to be done during the day. If your chief/DS approves you usually sign out around 12-2pm Saturday and free to go. You usually report back around 5pm on Sunday.

Here is a nice promo video the Army put out about the 13D job : [URL]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5PBHR-mcNk[/URL]

If you have any questions or comments just let me know. I'm sure I forgot some things, because I typed this in a hurry but thought some people may enjoy

Class 01-08- BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Arrrrrrrtilleryyyyy!