AECF ET A school and beyond

Comment

Comment by Larry Jenuwine on September 1, 2010 at 5:57am

Petty office Newell - Thanks for the insight. Talked to John last night as we are heading down to visit for the holiday weekend. He is excited to get on to the next part of his training. You did meet him and we still laugh about the the way you described his jaw dropping when you mentioned my name. We were excited when John told us he will have made E3 by the time we get to Great Lakes.
Nick - I'm not sure if John has filled out his wish list yet or not. Will find out on Friday. Can't wait to see him again.

Comment by ET1(SW) Anthony S. Newell on August 31, 2010 at 9:43pm

All,

There are in fact many C schools available for the ET rating. Communication equipment, RADAR's and navigation equipment. These are the three basic categories however, there are other specialties not covered by these that we as ET's are responsible for out in the fleet. Locations vary but are mostly in highly populated areas of Naval forces. Durations also vary depending on the intricacies of the equipment your sailors will be trained on. Here at ET "A", we teach the fundamentals of the troubleshooting process and how to use the primary resources to do so (technical manuals). We also teach them the tools that they can utilize the rest of their careers as the future leaders of the Navy. That being said, the A school environment is designed as a stepping stone for these sailors. I am sure many of you have heard of the difficult living conditions your sailors have experienced here in Great Lakes. That is by design of course, we cannot realistically take all of a person's known freedoms away for 2 months of recruit training and then give them too many privileges immediately. The C school environment is much more appealing in that respect. Your sailors will have completed their initial entry level training and will go on to specialize. What they will discover is that they now will be treated like actual adults, responsible for their own action. "Show up for school, show up for watch and obey the laws of the UCMJ." Good luck to all your sailors as they make their way through our curriculum. I am sure I have met many of your sailors however; I would not know them by their first names. As none of your last names stand out to me, that must mean that they are doing well here and are well on their way to completing ET A on time and finally getting off this base to experience, in my opinion, the greatest job in the world.

Respectfully,
ET1(SW) Anthony S. Newell
LPO ET"A" School

Comment by NavyDads Admin, Tim on August 31, 2010 at 7:39pm

When Trevor was nearing the end of A-school he got what was called soft orders, didn't have a departure date or anything. It was at a time when the sailors were being told that the Navy wasn't going to be able to move them for a while as they were waiting money from the government. A week later he had his hard orders and was given a departure date for C-school. A lot of it depends on (A saying you will get to know all to well) "THE NEEDS OF THE NAVY" they can pull money from thin air when they have spaces to fill in the fleet.

Comment by Nick Maccarone on August 31, 2010 at 7:25pm

That may be good news. I think it all depends on how soon they get orders

Comment by NavyDads Admin, Tim on August 31, 2010 at 7:07pm

Joshua, Bob Nick and anyone else who might be curious. I as being a father that has an ET that is out into the fleet can tell you that C-school may not be as long as you might think. Trevor is a ET in Satellite Communications. Trevore started his A-school in January of 09' when he got out of A-school May of 09' was to report to C-school in San Diego by June 27th for first day of class. C-school was out the 16th of November 09'. Trevor left the 26th of November to catch up with the U.S.S. Rentz as it was out on deployment at the time.

Comment by Nick Maccarone on August 31, 2010 at 6:14pm

Larry, our boys must be in the same class because Pat will be done mid Sept. also. He seems to think even if he gets orders, he will likely be at GL until the first of the year. Orders are coming faster but he really doesn't know. They filled out their wish lists about 2 weeks ago but classes don't end until Sept. We heard that one ET went to Virginia for C school and then on the Pearl Harbor to be with the SEALS.

Comment by Bob Kline on August 31, 2010 at 2:09pm

Those are great questions Joshua. I too, have found it difficult to find out much about what goes on at C school, how long it takes and even where. My guess is that much of this info is shrouded in mystery due to OPSEC concerns. After all, these are secret and top secret systems our kids are learning about.

I think we can deduce the following from what we do know. C school must last at least as long as A school, probably even longer, since ETs have to sign up for a six year hitch as opposed to the usual four year commitment the other sailors have to put in because of the extensive training involved in their rating.

I suspect that much depends on which specific system the ET decides to develop expertise in (or is told that she will develop expertise in) and available billets. I am only guessing here, but I imagine that some C schools probably run for as few as six months while others may require as many as 18 months to achieve competency.

I also think, based on our A school experience, much also depends on how long it takes for a particular group to "class up". Rosie sat around for what seemed like forever waiting for her A school to class up. Once they got going, however, it was off to the races!

As for where, I believe that the two main training locations are Norfolk, Virginia and San Diego, California. I have also heard that training for certain systems also occurs in Pensacola, Florida.

I have no reason to believe that the training regimen in C school is any different than it is in A school with the exception that I believe that C school may be more "hands on" than A school is. Again, this is pure conjecture on my part as I have no actual experience.

If I am able to learn anything more I will be sure to share it here,

Comment by Joshua Crane on August 31, 2010 at 1:36pm

Hi everybody. I was just looking for some info on how long C school is for ET. You would not believe how difficult it is to get this info on the web or from a recruiter. I have deduced, from many conflicting figures, that A school is about 6-8 months. The chief at my recruiting office said training is almost two years, so is C school a year long? Any figure would be helpful. Also, is C school the same sort of college type of life style like A school just more specialized? Thanks guys.

Comment by Larry Jenuwine on August 27, 2010 at 6:10am

Way to go Rosie! John should be done with A school mid September. He believes that he will then be on hold till the end of the year. My wife and I are going to Great Lakes to spend Labor Day weekend with him. Really hard to believe that he has been gone almost a year already. It seems liike yesterday I fought back the tears saying goodbye when we dropped him off to head out for boot.

Comment by NavyDads Admin, Tim on August 26, 2010 at 9:15pm

Congrats to Rosie. Trevor as on nights too when he was in a school in great lakes.

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