Navy Cryptology

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Comment by Phil Shannon on April 18, 2016 at 8:13am

I'm going to find some pics from the USS America LHA-6 yearbook that shows some CTT's at work, including my sailor :) David K is correct, this rate offers advancement opportunities for sure. My daughter is coming up on 4 years now since she shipped out to Great Lakes. Currently she is CTT2 (Petty Officer 2nd class) and has been for quite some time. She loves what she is doing, she is a plankholder on the LHA-6. In Oct 2014 I was fortunate enough to go on a Tiger Cruise, and got to see what the CTT's do for the most part. It was great to meet her whole team, & to see them at work, there are six CTT's on her team. I'm not sure if all CTT's get to do this, but she stands watch every 4th day, so she has gotten plenty of firearm, security, & safety training.

Comment by David Keith on April 18, 2016 at 4:28am

Hello David (and Phil), 

Welcome to the Navy dad family.

My son is in Pensacola finishing his first (of 3) C schools. He arrived there from basic training in mid-Nov and completed A school by the end of January. He is classified as CTT-AEF (Cryptologic Technician Technical-Advanced Electronics Field), with a 6 year commitment.  He is thriving in the program, maintaining excellent test scores and maturing in so many ways. This program requires very good results on the ASVAB, so I'm pretty sure your son is qualified.  You may find that he was bored with studying in high school and now that he is in a field that excites him he will shine brightly. That is what I have observed. There is a significant difference in the training of a 6Y vs a 4Y (that's what they call each other based on their enlistment commitment).

You are correct in that there is much they can't tell us about. They are working with top secret information and equipment and such conversations are taboo. There is a certain amount of publicly available information on the program. Here's a link that was updated a couple of months ago: http://www.cool.navy.mil/usn/enlisted/rating_info_cards/cttaef.pdf

You can also look to the right margin in this page and click on Navy Enlisted Ratings. I recommend google CTT-AEF

I have found that this is not all accurate, such as the location of schools in Pensacola and the number of C schools, but it is pretty close.

The CTT-AEF program is a fast track to advancement. My son just reached A4 after 6 months in the Navy. He was initially A3 due to his Eagle Scout rank in Boy Scouts and they promised A4 with his 6 year commitment and satisfactory completion of A school.

Overall life is good in the program. He has bought himself a used jeep and made several close friends. We visited Pensacola about a month ago, there is much to see at the National Museum of Naval Aviation. We came back a second day to finish it. If you go there I recommend you go on the days that the Blue Angels are practicing. 

If you Facebook, you should join these groups:

PENSACOLA NAVY A&C SCHOOL FAMILIES

NAVY DADS

P.I.R. (date of graduation from boot camp)

You will find comfort with other dads who are going through this.

Comment by David on April 18, 2016 at 1:38am

Phil, he signed a 6 year contract. Matter of fact, when his recruiter offered him this job he told him that in order to get it he would have to sign for 6 because of the different training schools.

Comment by Phil Shannon on April 17, 2016 at 8:11pm

Hi David- I can definitely help you out. Do you know if you son signed up for 4 or 6 years? The 6 year gig is called CTT-aew which stands for advanced electronic warfare I think. From what I remember, A school will be at NAS Pensacola which is a really nice base. C school is a couple miles away at Corry. I'll find some more details for you in the coming day or two, with more info you are looking for. Try to get down to Pensacola if you can, I really like that place especially the Navy Lodge at NAS Pensacola.

Comment by David on April 17, 2016 at 6:23pm

I am looking for information as to what my son will be doing as a CTT. I understand that this might not be able to be dissed on this forum but any info would be great. My son is currently at BC and he was told before leaving that he will be going to Pensacola for A school.

Comment by Jim A on March 18, 2016 at 7:57pm

My son is also a CTN and has been at Ft. Meade for nearly 6 years. It's all based on the needs of the Navy. Their skill sets will also eventually come to play in their duty stations. Cryptographers do have some advantages at times.

Comment by BillG on March 18, 2016 at 7:52pm

I was a CTT and my Son is a CTN. Don't put alot of confidence in the Dream Sheets. If they can they will, but it's always needs of the service. He was told that he was going to Ft Meade after A School, but he ended up at Ft Gordon. It was good also because we live in Pcola and Augusta is pretty close. Now he's going to Hawaii for 3 years...so no Christmas's for awhile.

Comment by Matt on March 18, 2016 at 3:02pm

Thanks for the Replies Phil and Richard. Seeing the different CT jobs talking about "dream-sheets" is what got me to ask him about it when I visited him in Pensacola. 

He is a very flexible and pretty mature sailor so he gets all of that Navy need stuff and is rising to the challenge. While the course is pretty tough, he is enjoying it and and is pretty happy with his choice. 

Pensacola is a great place, we just visited for about 10 awesome days, so no matter the ceremony, we will probably go anyway for a couple days of beach :).   Thanks for all of the great advice, it is really fun to be adopted into such a cool, and pretty exclusive group of people.. the Navy Crypto family. 

Comment by Phil Shannon on March 18, 2016 at 2:28pm

Me again (yes, again lol). Got some info from my sailor: Dream sheets are the list of the top picks of duty stations that you want. Depending on your standing in the class, they will try to give you orders based off that. However, many rates don't have an abundance of orders so they don't do this. They will just give people orders as they come in. Their orders dictate c schools so you really don't have any say in which you can go to. I know a lot of CTRs go to shore duty first, but it's better to go to a ship if they have any say in the matter. He shouldn't try to price graduation dates, they do whatever they want so he should just be prepared to be flexible. Not many families go to these and it's definitely not the priority of Corry station to accommodate guests, it's more important for the class to be where they need to be to graduate.

Comment by Richard J. Ramirez on March 18, 2016 at 1:54pm

Howdy Matt:  Our Son, albeit not a CTT but a CTI, was only offered something like a "dream sheet" just prior to his PIR and before shipping out to Language/A-School.  His scores in theory gave him the "pick of the litter" of languages and given he loved Hawaii, selected Chinese and Korean to get him out to the Pacific.  Fat chance, the Navy wanted him "elsewhere".  That said he's very happy where he's at and I can only hope the same for your Salior.   All the Best!

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