Some of you may recall a thread a few weeks ago in which Drake (who happens to be my elder brother amongst other things) announced his enlistment in the army. He was encouraged by the response that he recieved and he wanted to keep those interested updated.
He has taken his DLAB test and came out with a 135, needing only 100 to pass, so it looks as though he will be going to language training in about 8 months. Unfortunately he barely missed the physical mark for entering with E-3 status, but with his other scores he hopes to gain the rank quickly.
I’m happy he got what he needed. I hadn’t realized you could now enter at higher than E-1, or is that following basic?
Anyway, he’s going to love Monterey. I was there, as I emailed him, and it’s beautiful. Pricy, but you still don’t have to have a lot of money to enjoy yourself. People watching on the wharf, with a snack, can make a fine day!
I was under the impression that he would have been entering basic with E-3 status, but that could have been a misunderstanding on my part.
He is on his way to Fort Benning, Georgia for basic. He is excited about his second phase of training (I want to call it MOS, but there are so many acronyms that that sounds wrong) which will be in Arizona. He went to ASU there for a while and loved it so he is anxious to live there again for the 19 weeks of training. I imagine, considering his tastes, that he will enjoy California just as much.
Eons ago when I enlisted in the Navy, if you signed up for certain high-demand ratings, you would start bootcamp as E-3 and get E-4 automatically upon successful completion of your specific training. Also, if you had a certain number of college credits, you’d automatically get E-2 or 3. I had enough to get E-2, then signed up for the training and got E-3 a month later. I was E-4 under 6 months. I was motivated in those days…
Best of luck to your brother! I wish I’d known about the language school when I enlisted. But my recruiter had a quota for avionics technicians, and that’s where I wound up. No real regrets, but I love languages.
It is possible to enlist in the Army at up to the rank of E-4, Specialist. The recruiters have a certain number of people that they can enlist each month at a given rank. ASVAB scores, PT scores, and educational credits can be used to decide who gets the higher ranks at time of enlistment. He will be attendind AIT (Advanced Individual Training) after basic. At AIT, he will be awarded his MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) I wish him well at Ft. Benning. I was there six years ago. The training is tough there, but it will serve to keep him motivated and challenged. Remind him to stay away from Victory Drive.
I wish him well and thank him for his service.