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Special Duty
- Thread starter snake020
- Start date
MasterBates
Well-Known Member
We have an old OIC doing that in Pakistan. He speaks whatever flavor of durka-ese they speak fluently, and he applied to a board that came out in a NAVADMIN message.
It isn't that hard, they took me...
Attache and FAO are somewhat different animals, though it depends a bit on the service. Army attaches are usually FAO's but they have the largest and most mature of the FAO programs. Most of the Defense Attaches I met/known/seen are combat arms/unrestricted line officers. A large part of the job of an attache is relating to the miltary leadership of a foreign country, and since most leadership is from their equivilant of combat arms it is natural to have someone like that as an attache.
One thing to keep in mind, with the exception of a few cases, most attaches are pretty far along in their career. It is a second career or a twilight tour for most and it is something that is quite far in the future for a newbie.
Of all people on the board Zab might have the best perspective, since ne probably deals with the attache folks in Chile in his current job.
P.S. Can anyone name the two countries that we have flag officer attaches at in the past few years? I know Rumsfeld was trying to have that changed, though I don't know if he got it done.
I am. I just got accepted to become an FAO.
Flash is right though, FAO and Attache are different entities. The Attaches (Navy) that I've known were both post command fellas, O-6. The assistant Attache is a fomer Sea King pilot who didn't want to transition to 60s.
DLPT scores for Attache are a minor point. If you get that far in your career and they slate you for the billet, you're going no matter what you score. They'll get you up to speed.
and just for the sake of gouge:
If anyone is interested, the requirements to submit a package are detailed on the BUPERS website, as well as NKO. Standard redesignation package, and you have to take the Defense Language Aptitude Battery (even if you've tested out with a language on the DLPT). Most of the people who got in had "extensive" overseas experience (rumor has it deployments and IAs don't "count", which is why PEP is looked on favorably for the program), already speak and have tested out in a language, and have a warfare pin.
This past year about 25% of applicants were accepted across the board for all ranks applying (something like 111 applicants, 25-ish selected).
cheesesteak time
Excellent. I wasn't aware. So, are you still gonna be 1310, with an FAO AQD or is it a complete redesignation?
Total redesignation.
Congrats! That's not an easy program to get selected for. Curious though, why the decision to jump ship and leave the cockpit?
For the Marines, becoming a FAO does not mean a total redesignation. It's an additional MOS. After your initial training and tour as a FAO, you're supposed to alternate between fleet and FAO billets. It will put you off the career beaten path as a pilot, though.
It's 2am, long story story short, I'm in the infamous VP YG 98, with a scary screen rate for DH, where you fly very very little and stab stab stab. I had the option to split and go civ div, or get a free Masters and keep my health care. Like I said, short version.