• Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?

    Go here:

    Edit Account Details and Profile

FY 2021 DCO Intel Board, Early Prep

J

Jacobthemarine

New Member
Hello everyone,

First time posting today. I am at an early stage putting a package together for 2021 intel board. I say 2021, because I am not yet a US citizen, but will be soon in CY 2020, in time for 2021 board.

I would like to share my background and get y'alls 2 cents on my my chances. I would also appreciate it if you can tell me what are my strengths/weaknesses.

Age: 32
Gender: M
Ethnicity: Asian American
Military Experience: E4 Corporal in USMC reserve (4 years in so far). MOS: 0311 rifleman. 1 deployment to Helmand, Afghanistan.
Military Recognitions: Combat Action Ribbon, and other service/deployment ribbons related to Afghanistan.
Education Background: BS in Finance/Accounting from top 50 school. MBA from an Ivy League school
Professional Experience: Prior to MBA, 5 years in Big 4 consulting work (e.g. Deloitte, EY, KPMG & pwc) Post MBA, top 3 consulting firm (e.g. McKinsey, BCG & Bain)
Recommendations: a) Marine O4 HUMINT officer, deployed to helmand together. b) Company CO/XO Marine O4. c) Navy Supply O5, personal friend/civilian colleague
Language: DLPT Korean reading 4, listening 4

If you think there is a gap in my experience, I would love to hear your recommendations on how to improve my chances.

Thank you guys in advance!
 
FormerRecruitingGuru

FormerRecruitingGuru

Making Recruiting Great Again
Jacobthemarine said:
If you think there is a gap in my experience, I would love to hear your recommendations on how to improve my chances.

Thank you guys in advance!
Click to expand...

What actual Intel experience do you have? DCO programs require some sort of relevant civilian and/or military experience in order to qualify. 5 years experience is usually the min through competitive applicants have 10+ years experience in Intel.

Being that you have an MBA and work in the business field I would recommend you consider Supply DCO.
 
T

Trapt

Member
What sort of consulting are you doing? Depending on that, it might fulfill what RecruitingGuru is talking about. I work in corporate insurance -- so functionally corporate/healthcare risk analysis, which the board viewed as a relevant work experience. If you've been at M/B/B, then I'm guessing you may have done something similar?
 
J

Jacobthemarine

New Member
Trapt,

Congratulations on your recent selection! And, thank you for your valuable insight based on your recruiting experience.

You have an excellent point about highlighting relevant experience for the board. I haven't participated much in healthcare (payer/provider) sector, but I think my financial services sector experience might be relevant. I would highlight my projects in anti-money laundering, sanctions enforcement/monitoring, and assessing sovereign risks. I will seek more government-related projects down the road in 2020 as I am exploring the DCO process.

Regarding supply route, I am not considering it for the moment. I enjoyed talking with and working with (though limited few occasions) with USMC intel officers in advisor capacity in country. When dissected in detail, I realize my professional experience seems more aligned with intelligence than supply. Hope the board sees it the same way in 2021 :)

A separate question: in USMC, combat action ribbon (CAR) is somewhat of a rarity now that we are not doing as much fighting as we used to. Would this little blue yellow and red ribbon help in DCO intel process? I imagine it might be rare for DCO intel candidate to have one?

Thank you both for the input! Look forward to everyone else's 2 cents as well.

And Happy New Year!
 
T

Trapt

Member
Jacobthemarine said:
You have an excellent point about highlighting relevant experience for the board. I haven't participated much in healthcare (payer/provider) sector, but I think my financial services sector experience might be relevant. I would highlight my projects in anti-money laundering, sanctions enforcement/monitoring, and assessing sovereign risks. I will seek more government-related projects down the road in 2020 as I am exploring the DCO process.
Click to expand...

For me, it was much less about the sector, and more about the process -- so think of how the outline of a consulting case study goes, how you work like that in your job, and then how it changes how you approach a problem -- if that makes sense?


And thanks!
 
FormerRecruitingGuru

FormerRecruitingGuru

Making Recruiting Great Again
Jacobthemarine said:
A separate question: in USMC, combat action ribbon (CAR) is somewhat of a rarity now that we are not doing as much fighting as we used to. Would this little blue yellow and red ribbon help in DCO intel process? I imagine it might be rare for DCO intel candidate to have one?
Click to expand...

Boards don’t care what awards/ribbons you have. Simply what you’ve been doing work-wise that translates over to DCO Intel (or other career paths).
 
bubblehead

bubblehead

Registered Member
Contributor
Jacobthemarine said:
Age: 32
Gender: M
Ethnicity: Asian American
Military Experience: E4 Corporal in USMC reserve (4 years in so far). MOS: 0311 rifleman. 1 deployment to Helmand, Afghanistan.
Military Recognitions: Combat Action Ribbon, and other service/deployment ribbons related to Afghanistan.
Education Background: BS in Finance/Accounting from top 50 school. MBA from an Ivy League school
Professional Experience: Prior to MBA, 5 years in Big 4 consulting work (e.g. Deloitte, EY, KPMG & pwc) Post MBA, top 3 consulting firm (e.g. McKinsey, BCG & Bain)
Recommendations: a) Marine O4 HUMINT officer, deployed to helmand together. b) Company CO/XO Marine O4. c) Navy Supply O5, personal friend/civilian colleague
Language: DLPT Korean reading 4, listening 4
Click to expand...

Here is what I would do...

With a DLPT of 4/4 in Korean, you should strongly consider enlisting as a CTI. Korean is an extremely difficult language and the DLI instructors for Korean are known to be very, very demanding.

Since you are still relatively young, you could put in a 4 or 5 years as a CTI then apply for DCO CW (Cryptologic Warfare). If I were you I would not waste my time applying for DCO Intel. You will be extremely underwhelmed.

Despite what recruiters tell you about language skills being a competitive advantage as a DCO Intel applicant, there is no way in hell that you will ever use your language skills as an Intel Officer. As in below zero. I know Reserve Intel officers who are fluent in Mandarin, Russian and Arabic/Farsi. Guess what they do with their language skills in the Reserve as DCO Intel folks? Nothing.

The only challenge I see for you Enlisting as a CTI is getting a TS/SCI which will include renouncing your non-US citizenship and relinquish your non-US passport(s).

On another note and despite the nonsense, as a non-military person, you can hold dual-citizenship and associated passports. It's something to consider. When you do become a dual citizen (your new US citizenship and your original) and are "dual doc'd" (holding a US passport and the passport of one or more passports from other countries) as we say, you will be highly marketable in the private sector, especially with your stated pedigree.

You really have to decide if you want to spend the next 16 years in the Reserve and, if so, what you want to get out of it (ie, retirement, service, etc.)
 
Last edited:
J

Jacobthemarine

New Member
Thank you recruitingguru and bubblehead for your replies.

Regarding CAR, its good to know that the board do see above/beyond the rack divide as they do in the Corps. I am happy to hear that I would be evaluated based on merit.

Thank you for sharing about Cryptologic Warfare field. I have to admit, I do not know or understand much about this field coming from infantry. I will be reading about this more in 2020. I also appreciate your comment about TS/SCI as a foreign born, soon to be naturalized citizen.

I'm actually curious about how you (bubblehead) came to think that intel is "extremely underwhelming" while CW would be rewarding. I would appreciate it if you could expand on your thoughts a bit. Either here, or over direct message.

Thanks again!
 
fieldrat

fieldrat

Fully Qualified 1815
@Jacobthemarine, based on the stats you provided, you are not super qualified for CW. That's not to say that you can't/shouldn't apply; just that you may have a significant uphill battle ahead of you should you be selected for 1815. Even with 20 years of significant practical experience (practitioner, collegiate-level teaching, labs, personal projects), I still 'muddled' through my quals. That's not to say your experience will be a carbon copy. I'm only providing context.

INTEL types present cohesive information to decision makers. CW types are the ones responsible for the 'go get the data' piece of the pie. Talk to your USMC 26xx series brethren/sisteren. They can clue you in.
 
J

Jacobthemarine

New Member
fieldrat, thanks for your input! the context you provided from personal experience was awesome! It saved me time googling/researching something that I be irrelevant in.
 
bubblehead

bubblehead

Registered Member
Contributor
Jacobthemarine said:
fieldrat, thanks for your input! the context you provided from personal experience was awesome! It saved me time googling/researching something that I be irrelevant in.
Click to expand...
Like I said, Enlist as a CTI and after a few years in that you would be competitive, IMHO.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top