![]() Together with his wife and son, they have endured deployment after deployment. This is no easy feat, but is particularly hard for someone who has been married his whole career. In his just five years of operational service, Chris has deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan, missing four of those five Christmases at home. Quite a bit may be considered an understatement. The linguists are enablers, and as such, they deploy more frequently and are away from home quite a bit, Chris said. "We don't fit into a normal (Air Expeditionary Force) deployment cycle," he said. Because their career field is in high demand, linguists see a lot of deployment time, and not necessarily on a systematic basis. Linguist's unique capabilities allow them to directly support coalition forces by providing an airborne scout, increasing their situational awareness and in turn enhancing their capability to complete the mission. "It's extremely rewarding to know that we're providing support to our ground troops that helps ensure their safety and successful completion of their mission." "Having a chance to do our job and knowing that it matters, makes the deployments easier to manage," Chris said. For this reason, Airmen like him continuously rotate in and out of the U.S. Unlike many career fields, linguists are unique in the fact that their job on the Rivet Joint can only be accomplished while deployed. The enlisted aviator flew and deployed often because of his unique ability as a linguist on the RC-135 Rivet Joint. While deployed, it was not uncommon for Chris to fly daily operational sorties over extended periods of time. Since the beginning of his operational career, Chris said, "I haven't stopped deploying."Īnd he couldn't be closer to the truth, as he recently served a tour here at the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing. After two years of technical training as a linguist, he was assigned to his first operational flying squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. The Nashville, Tenn., native joined the military in 2006, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, who was an Army artilleryman during the Korean War. Chris has spent nearly 735 days deployed flying more than 2,000 hours with more than 400 combat sorties. Serving as a career enlisted aviator on the RC-135 Rivet Joint, Staff Sgt. ![]() Seven deployments in five years is a feat not many Airmen can claim. These stories focus on a single Airman, highlighting their Air Force story.) (This feature is part of the " Through Airmen's Eyes" series on AF.mil. ![]() 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs.You could end up on a mission that has you working nonstop or you could end up somewhere that barely has anything to do. It's also very dependent on where you get stationed, what language you get, and what the world looks like at the time you're working. About half the people seem to hate it, about 1/4 don't hate it but don't love it. You'll just avoid stuff like room inspections and random middle of the night drug searches.ĥ.) There's no real answer here. You'll still have military responsibilities, PT, formations, etc. There is no "base housing", its near base and you can obviously get apartments too. Eventually you'll be able to move off base. Do extra training, become a subject matter expect for your language and go for the job you want.Ĥ.) You'll spend a few weeks or a month in the dorms, regardless. If you sit there 4 years and do the bare minimum, you're gonna struggle to get a job. Monday through Friday, Friday through Tuesday, Wednesday through Saturday, 4 on 3 off, 3 on 4 off, 2 on 2 off.ģ.) Yes, but don't expect to just be handed a job. I've worked anywhere from midnight shifts, to midshifts, day shifts. Over all rating of your experience in the job or experiences you have gathered from people in that job.ġ.) Ground linguist work largely depends on where you're stationed, what language you have. Has anyone had experience with being married and being in DLI? From what I understand, since it is such a long tech school you are able to live off base with your spouse but I have seen some conflicting information. Do ground linguists deploy as regularly as airborne?ĭo you feel that the skills learned on the job and in DLI are easily transferable to other government jobs such as FBI, CIA, etc? What are the differences between Airborne and Ground? From what I gather, Airborne will obviously fly much more but other than this fact, the differences seem gray. Information on the internet on this job and personal experiences are very slim and so I have a few questions that I am hoping can be answered here.Īre there any current or previous AF linguists that can share their experiences in the actual job itself? How did you like it? What was the general day-to-day? I have passed the Asvab, Dlab, and MEPS, and am essentially waiting on a ship out date. I have recently accepted a job in the Air Force as a Cryptologic Linguist.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |