MrFish
03-21-08, 01:10 PM
I have found a lot of good information regarding the cryptologic linguist MOS on leatherneck.com through its search engine, but try as I might, I have either not found or inadvertently overlooked whatever threads there are about linguist Marines becoming interpreters/translators (whichever the official term is) on the ground overseas.
I ask because I leave 20080414 for boot and then I'm off to DLI to become a linguist, but my research is yielding mixed results. For the sake of simplicity, I'll just ask a handful of questions and see what happens.
1. I have read that an Arabic linguist currently only has four possible places of deployment. Is this true, and where are they?
2. This may seem obvious, but I figured it was worth asking: Does your assignment after DLI depend on how well you do in the school, or is it simply luck of the draw for anyone who can pass?
3. I understand that many of the Corps' interpretation needs are filled by locals overseas, but do they ever use Arabic-trained Marines as "terps" or translators with the grunts on patrol? I guess that is what I'd really like to do at some point, and I'm just wondering what my odds are.
4. Some places I've read claim that the Corps currently doesn't know what to do with all the linguists they have, so many of them don't do much. I'm hesitant to believe that though, because I was offered a ridiculously generous signing bonus for being a linguist, and that doesn't seem like something you'd do if you had too many of them already. My question is, if you're currently a linguist or were one recently, is there much to do these days?
That's all I have - sorry again if this information was blatantly available somewhere, but at least now it's under a thread with a relavent title. It always helps to get second/third opinions anyway. Thanks!
I ask because I leave 20080414 for boot and then I'm off to DLI to become a linguist, but my research is yielding mixed results. For the sake of simplicity, I'll just ask a handful of questions and see what happens.
1. I have read that an Arabic linguist currently only has four possible places of deployment. Is this true, and where are they?
2. This may seem obvious, but I figured it was worth asking: Does your assignment after DLI depend on how well you do in the school, or is it simply luck of the draw for anyone who can pass?
3. I understand that many of the Corps' interpretation needs are filled by locals overseas, but do they ever use Arabic-trained Marines as "terps" or translators with the grunts on patrol? I guess that is what I'd really like to do at some point, and I'm just wondering what my odds are.
4. Some places I've read claim that the Corps currently doesn't know what to do with all the linguists they have, so many of them don't do much. I'm hesitant to believe that though, because I was offered a ridiculously generous signing bonus for being a linguist, and that doesn't seem like something you'd do if you had too many of them already. My question is, if you're currently a linguist or were one recently, is there much to do these days?
That's all I have - sorry again if this information was blatantly available somewhere, but at least now it's under a thread with a relavent title. It always helps to get second/third opinions anyway. Thanks!