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Cryptologic Warfare Officer Initial Duty Stations

CWO_change said:
Colorado is growing in importance and was recently changed from an O5 command to an O6 command. Your odds are probably better than if you asked this question a decade ago, but still not great, especially compared to one of the big four NIOC locations.
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Thank you! I’m hoping to get Colorado!

My list will be
Colorado
Georgia
Hawaii
Maryland
Texas
 
Treelover2019 said:
Thank you! I’m hoping to get Colorado!

My list will be
Colorado
Georgia
Hawaii
Maryland
Texas
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how the detailers work preference sheets for folks at OCS today, but keep in mind that I was not able to even select Colorado when I was at OCS over a decade ago. None of the 1810s in my class were, though one of us (a prior) was ultimately sent there. Maybe things will have changed, though. In any case, I'm sure it can't hurt to make that preference known when the time comes.
 
Hello, while waiting to ship out to OCS I've been thinking about long term career plans since I don't intend to five n dive. I am most interested in subsurface DISRUP opportunities, but I also understand there's progression leading up to that point. Asking around, I've been told Hawaii and Fort Meade pushes their JOs through their quals (pin and tactical tour) on the quicker side, which can also segway into potential DISRUP teams. Has anyone done something similar? Are there other locations that are also good picks for this?

I'm also curious what do you guys think about immediately going for your tactical tour once you get your pin and not spending the entire 3 year allotment. I understand it's to fill in more tours so it looks good to the board when the time comes to progress. I'm interested in how that went for those who've had/done a similar plan.

I know this is super far ahead and overhead planning but thinking about this kind of stuff gets me pretty excited. It also reassures me that I have an actual plan instead of winging it, no matter how far ahead and vague it is.
 
jumper10492 said:
Hello, while waiting to ship out to OCS I've been thinking about long term career plans since I don't intend to five n dive. I am most interested in subsurface DISRUP opportunities, but I also understand there's progression leading up to that point. Asking around, I've been told Hawaii and Fort Meade pushes their JOs through their quals (pin and tactical tour) on the quicker side, which can also segway into potential DISRUP teams. Has anyone done something similar? Are there other locations that are also good picks for this?

I'm also curious what do you guys think about immediately going for your tactical tour once you get your pin and not spending the entire 3 year allotment. I understand it's to fill in more tours so it looks good to the board when the time comes to progress. I'm interested in how that went for those who've had/done a similar plan.

I know this is super far ahead and overhead planning but thinking about this kind of stuff gets me pretty excited. It also reassures me that I have an actual plan instead of winging it, no matter how far ahead and vague it is.
Click to expand...

I was going to ask why don't you look into doing DIRSUP your first tour, but something you wrote made me take a look at a listing of the direct support officers at NIOC PAC today and no one there is a new accession officer. Everyone I looked into is either a first tour officer (prior enlisted) or second tour officer (at least) and everyone seems to have their IWO pin. If this is how things are, that's a welcome change and something that the community had been talking about moving to when I was a DSO.

The submarine community has long requested this, but we weren't always in a position to do so. I can tell you know that you get more respect (and, thus, are able to more effectively do your job) if you are warfare qualified and preferably not an ENS out on these missions. And this is coming from someone who did DIRSUP subs as an new accession ENS/LTjg when that was the standard rank that was sent out alone and unafraid to support missions. That said, in the event that you can still request DIRSUP subs as a new accession officer, there are still benefits to doing so.

Regarding DIRSUP subs duty stations, your only options are Hawaii (NIOC PAC), Georgia (NIOC Georgia), and Fort Meade (CWMA-61).

Can't answer how quickly Hawaii and Fort Meade are pushing JOs through their CWO and IWO quals today (you won't get a tactical AQD unless you PCS afloat, do DIRSUP, or work with specwar) today and will have to rely on someone closer to those commands now, but as a general matter if you're in a national billet the detailers will pull you to do a tactical tour as soon as possible after you qualify IWO (barring any extenuating circumstances). What I will say is that you probably don't want to wait too long to get your pin regardless as doing so can put you into a tough position if all of the good second tour (DIRSUP or otherwise) have already been snapped up by first tour officers who qualified before you. I
 
CWO_change said:
I was going to ask why don't you look into doing DIRSUP your first tour, but something you wrote made me take a look at a listing of the direct support officers at NIOC PAC today and no one there is a new accession officer. Everyone I looked into is either a first tour officer (prior enlisted) or second tour officer (at least) and everyone seems to have their IWO pin. If this is how things are, that's a welcome change and something that the community had been talking about moving to when I was a DSO.

The submarine community has long requested this, but we weren't always in a position to do so. I can tell you know that you get more respect (and, thus, are able to more effectively do your job) if you are warfare qualified and preferably not an ENS out on these missions. And this is coming from someone who did DIRSUP subs as an new accession ENS/LTjg when that was the standard rank that was sent out alone and unafraid to support missions. That said, in the event that you can still request DIRSUP subs as a new accession officer, there are still benefits to doing so.

Regarding DIRSUP subs duty stations, your only options are Hawaii (NIOC PAC), Georgia (NIOC Georgia), and Fort Meade (CWMA-61).

Can't answer how quickly Hawaii and Fort Meade are pushing JOs through their CWO and IWO quals today (you won't get a tactical AQD unless you PCS afloat, do DIRSUP, or work with specwar) today and will have to rely on someone closer to those commands now, but as a general matter if you're in a national billet the detailers will pull you to do a tactical tour as soon as possible after you qualify IWO (barring any extenuating circumstances). What I will say is that you probably don't want to wait too long to get your pin regardless as doing so can put you into a tough position if all of the good second tour (DIRSUP or otherwise) have already been snapped up by first tour officers who qualified before you. I
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What would be considered a “good” DIRSUP or other second tour? Is this just based on location?
 
Cool Waves said:
What would be considered a “good” DIRSUP or other second tour? Is this just based on location?
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For me, that question comes down to a few things: location, overall quality of life, mission, and/or opportunities for career progression, each of which people will value differently. Can't talk about mission on this platform except to say that mission will be different based on where you're deployed out of. For DIRSUP, generally speaking NIOC HI (CTF 1070) supports ops out in Seventh Fleet, CWG-6/CWMA-61 (CTF-1060) supports ops out in Sixth Fleet, and NIOC Georgia (CTF-1050) supports ops out in Fifth Fleet.

While I still encourage folks to look into DIRSUP opportunities as a first tour if available (notwithstanding what I wrote earlier), second tour quality of life will be noticeably better IMO. You should already have your warfare pin and other basic qualifications, which is significant pressure off your back.

I chose NIOC HI as my first duty station, which enabled me to do DIRSUP subs out of there, based solely on location, to include both the warmer weather factor and the point about higher BAH (and COLA) in Hawaii. But that may matter little to people who don't want to be so far away from loved ones on the mainland, etc.

Note, I apply the same considerations to any tour.
 
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