I'm not a grade school teacher, I'm a 28-year old teaching assistant at a university where I'm finishing my PhD. Yes, I do have an MA and, yes, I have done research overseas for long periods of time. But I still consider myself a teacher and in many ways a grade school teacher probably has put in more time learning about pedagogy and getting certified than I ever have. And in terms of leading people, I think that's exactly what teachers do. I can't think of any civilian job that better complements the role of an intelligence officer: analyze, synthesize, and contextualize complex information to large groups of non-specialists. Teachers do this everyday in the classroom. That's the argument I made at my board interview and the one I put in my letter. I guess someone bought it.
I read this forum and I see so many people get caught up in what will make the perfect package. I don't have the answer to that, because most of the profiles that are presented here are very different from my own and I honestly didn't think my academic background would have been competitive. But, I self-identify as a teacher and I believe in that label regardless of my other accomplishments. I'd like to think it even played a role in my getting selected. Just going to the mat for fellow educators, that's all.
And after all, this guy turned out to be a pretty good officer: