Questions about 26xx MOS: What's it Like?

[Languagelover23]

Hello Marines!

I am a female poolee who will be making that crazy journey to Parris Island in just about two months. I'm very excited!

So, the MOS I have chosen is 26xx, cryptolinguist. I was curious about a few things. If any of you Marines either are/were linguists, or know a fellow Marine who is/was a linguist, I would appreciate it if you could tell me about what it's actually like. My specific questions are:

1. What languages are in demand right now at DLI (and for the military)? If it helps, my DLAB score was a 104, and I am tri-lingual as well (English, Spanish, French, plus some Russian).

2. What do actual duties entail? Do they do field interpreting, or signals intelligence translations, or both?

3. What is the daily job like?

4. Where are some common places a Marine cryptolinguist would get stationed?

5. When they are selecting a language for me, will they take into account my previous foreign language experience to determine which one would be best?

I know those are very specific questions, but I haven't spoken to anyone who really knows about this. My recruiters had never signed an interpreter before, so they couldn't tell me much about it. Thanks for reading!

[MGySgtSki]

Hello Marines!

I am a female poolee who will be making that crazy journey to Parris Island in just about two months. I'm very excited!

So, the MOS I have chosen is 26xx, cryptolinguist. I was curious about a few things. If any of you Marines either are/were linguists, or know a fellow Marine who is/was a linguist, I would appreciate it if you could tell me about what it's actually like. My specific questions are:

1. What languages are in demand right now at DLI (and for the military)? If it helps, my DLAB score was a 104, and I am tri-lingual as well (English, Spanish, French, plus some Russian).

2. What do actual duties entail? Do they do field interpreting, or signals intelligence translations, or both?

3. What is the daily job like?

4. Where are some common places a Marine cryptolinguist would get stationed?

5. When they are selecting a language for me, will they take into account my previous foreign language experience to determine which one would be best?

I know those are very specific questions, but I haven't spoken to anyone who really knows about this. My recruiters had never signed an interpreter before, so they couldn't tell me much about it. Thanks for reading!

1. Most any language is in demand at different times, so it's hard to say what would be most likely by the time you would be projected to hit DLI. I will say, that with a 104, you're set for qualifying for most, if not all, languages they offer.

2. Very very rarely will a 267x do work as an interpreter.

3. The daily job varies depending on where you're stationed.

4. Google Radio Battalion (1st, 2nd and 3rd.....Lejeune, Pendleton, Hawaii, respectively) and Marine Cryptologic Support Battalion. That should set you up with plenty of information on where the various possible duty locations are. Also, these locations are somewhat dependent on what language you get as well.

5. It's hard to say. They could take into account what languages you already know or are familiar with if any of those languages happen to jive with what is in demand at the moment.

There are at least a few other 26xx's on here that will be along shortly to add to what I noted above and to pass along other helpful information.

[Languagelover23]

1. Most any language is in demand at different times, so it's hard to say what would be most likely by the time you would be projected to hit DLI. I will say, that with a 104, you're set for qualifying for most, if not all, languages they offer.

2. Very very rarely will a 267x do work as an interpreter.

3. The daily job varies depending on where you're stationed.

4. Google Radio Battalion (1st, 2nd and 3rd.....Lejeune, Pendleton, Hawaii, respectively) and Marine Cryptologic Support Battalion. That should set you up with plenty of information on where the various possible duty locations are. Also, these locations are somewhat dependent on what language you get as well.

5. It's hard to say. They could take into account what languages you already know or are familiar with if any of those languages happen to jive with what is in demand at the moment.

There are at least a few other 26xx's on here that will be along shortly to add to what I noted above and to pass along other helpful information.

Thank you : )

I'm looking forward to hearing more. I was wondering I guess, what the new major language need is besides Arabic,

[0351 Corporal]

Here's a list of MOS information for 26XX. Just click on the MOS number next to its description for a detailed description of job responsibilities, requirements, etc... Once you are trained in your 26XX MOS, you will gain an EMOS from the Defense Language Institute in any language you are Level 2 proficient in. If you are trained in a selected language, but also are proficient in another, take the Defense Language Proficiency Test for that language, and if you pass at level 2 or better you will gain that language's EMOS.

2611 --Cryptologic Digital Network Technician/Analyst
2621 --Special Communications Signals Collection Operator
2629 --Signals Intelligence Analyst
2631 --Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) Intercept Operator/Analyst
2651 --Special Intelligence System Administrator/Communicator
2671 --Middle East Cryptologic Linguist
2673 -- Asia-Pacific Cryptologic Linguist
2674 -- European I (West) Cryptologic Linguist
2676 -- European II (East) Cryptologic Linguist

Here's a list of the EMOS's the Marine Corps provides after you gain your initial 26XX MOS:


2711 --Afghan Pashto Linguist (MGySgt-Pvt) EMOS
2712 --Arabic (Mod Std) Linguist
2713 --Arabic (Egyptian) Linguist
2714 --Arabic (Syrian) Linguist
2715 --Persian-Afghan (Dari) Linguist
2716 --Amharic Linguist
2717 --Bengali Linguist
2718 --Hebrew Linguist
2719 --Hindi Linguist
2721 --Kurdish Linguist
2722 --Persian-Farsi Linguist
2723 --Somali Linguist
2724 --Swahili Linguist
2726 --Turkish Linguist
2727 --Urdu Linguist
2728 --Arabic (Iraqi)
2733 -- Burmese Linguist
2734 --Cambodian Linguist
2736 --Chinese (Cant) Linguist
2738 --Indonesian Linguist
2739 --Japanese Linguist
2741 --Korean Linguist
2742 --Laotian Linguist
2743 --Malay Linguist
2744 --Tagalog Linguist
2746 --Thai Linguist
2754 --Dutch Linguist
2756 --Finnish Linguist
2757 --French Linguist
2758 --German Linguist
2759 --Greek Linguist
2761 --Haitian-Creole Linguist
2763 --Italian Linguist
2764 --Norwegian Linguist
2766 --Portuguese (BR) Linguist
2767 --Portuguese (EU) Linguist
2768 --Spanish Linguist
2769 --Swedish Linguist
2776 --Albanian Linguist
2777 --Armenian Linguist
2778 --Bulgarian Linguist
2779 --Czech Linguist
2781 --Estonian Linguist
2782 --Georgian Linguist
2783 --Hungarian Linguist
2784 --Latvian Linguist
2786 --Lithuanian Linguist
2787 --Macedonian Linguist
2788 --Polish Linguist
2789 --Romanian Linguist
2791 --Russian Linguist
2792 --Serb-Croat Linguist
2793 --Slovenian Linguist
2794 --Ukrainian Linguist 2799 --Military Interpreter/Translator

Let me know if this helps you out.

[0351 Corporal]

If you really want to get to the nuts and bolts of what you are going to be expected to do/learn read the Cryptologic Linguist section in the Signals Intelligence Training and readiness manual. This manual tells you in detail exactly what you will do, and includes the following descriptions of the 2643 MOS:

- UNIT TRAINING.
- THE HOLISTIC APPROACH TO TRAINING.
- THE CORE CAPABILITIES METHODOLOGY
- CAREER PROGRESSION.
- CAREER PROGRESSION PHILOSOPHY.
- EVALUATION OF TRAINING.
- COMPONENTS OF A T&R EVENT.
- COMBAT READINESS PERCENTAGE COMPUTATION.
- INDIVIDUAL TASK MATRIX.
- SECTION TASK MATRIX.
- COMBAT CAPABLE TRAINING (100 level).
- COMBAT READY TRAINING (200 level).
- COMBAT QUALIFICATION TRAINING (300 level).
- SECTION SKILLS TRAINING (400 level).
- SPECIAL DESIGNATIONS.
- ACADEMIC TRAINING.
- CAREER PROFESSIONAL READING.
- UPDATE CHAINING.
- BILLETS REQUIRING FORMAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.
- EXPENDABLE ORDNANCE REQUIREMENTS.
- TRAINING REFERENCES.

You can read the manual as a PDF here: MCO 3500.41 W/ERRATUM

[Languagelover23]

Thanks again, Marines, very helpful!

[Languagelover23]

Here's a list of MOS information for 26XX. Just click on the MOS number next to its description for a detailed description of job responsibilities, requirements, etc... Once you are trained in your 26XX MOS, you will gain an EMOS from the Defense Language Institute in any language you are Level 2 proficient in. If you are trained in a selected language, but also are proficient in another, take the Defense Language Proficiency Test for that language, and if you pass at level 2 or better you will gain that language's EMOS.

2611 --Cryptologic Digital Network Technician/Analyst
2621 --Special Communications Signals Collection Operator
2629 --Signals Intelligence Analyst
2631 --Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) Intercept Operator/Analyst
2651 --Special Intelligence System Administrator/Communicator
2671 --Middle East Cryptologic Linguist
2673 -- Asia-Pacific Cryptologic Linguist
2674 -- European I (West) Cryptologic Linguist
2676 -- European II (East) Cryptologic Linguist

Here's a list of the EMOS's the Marine Corps provides after you gain your initial 26XX MOS:


2711 --Afghan Pashto Linguist (MGySgt-Pvt) EMOS
2712 --Arabic (Mod Std) Linguist
2713 --Arabic (Egyptian) Linguist
2714 --Arabic (Syrian) Linguist
2715 --Persian-Afghan (Dari) Linguist
2716 --Amharic Linguist
2717 --Bengali Linguist
2718 --Hebrew Linguist
2719 --Hindi Linguist
2721 --Kurdish Linguist
2722 --Persian-Farsi Linguist
2723 --Somali Linguist
2724 --Swahili Linguist
2726 --Turkish Linguist
2727 --Urdu Linguist
2728 --Arabic (Iraqi)
2733 -- Burmese Linguist
2734 --Cambodian Linguist
2736 --Chinese (Cant) Linguist
2738 --Indonesian Linguist
2739 --Japanese Linguist
2741 --Korean Linguist
2742 --Laotian Linguist
2743 --Malay Linguist
2744 --Tagalog Linguist
2746 --Thai Linguist
2754 --Dutch Linguist
2756 --Finnish Linguist
2757 --French Linguist
2758 --German Linguist
2759 --Greek Linguist
2761 --Haitian-Creole Linguist
2763 --Italian Linguist
2764 --Norwegian Linguist
2766 --Portuguese (BR) Linguist
2767 --Portuguese (EU) Linguist
2768 --Spanish Linguist
2769 --Swedish Linguist
2776 --Albanian Linguist
2777 --Armenian Linguist
2778 --Bulgarian Linguist
2779 --Czech Linguist
2781 --Estonian Linguist
2782 --Georgian Linguist
2783 --Hungarian Linguist
2784 --Latvian Linguist
2786 --Lithuanian Linguist
2787 --Macedonian Linguist
2788 --Polish Linguist
2789 --Romanian Linguist
2791 --Russian Linguist
2792 --Serb-Croat Linguist
2793 --Slovenian Linguist
2794 --Ukrainian Linguist 2799 --Military Interpreter/Translator

Let me know if this helps you out.

You mentioned taking the proficiency tests- I can more than likely pass at levels 2-3 for two languages. What does that mean for me as far as pay? Does having an additional EMOS qualify for special pays? I was just curious.

[bmcccarthy]

Hey, saw your post about the 26xx field.

My names Brian, I am a 2621, an operator, the other part of the 26xx field you will be going to. I'm deployed right now, with 1st Radio Battalion, out of Camp Pendleton, CA. I've been here since August. I can answer basically any question you want to know, save for what your MOS school would be like. Any more direct questions I can hit up guys on my team who are linguists(Pashto). If you want to come out here, that's the language I would hope for. The others, Arabic, Russian, Korean etc have no application here obviously. Anyway I know how frustrating it can be to get answers, especially on our field because of the nature of it. Hit me up with whatever you need.

Bri

[0351 Corporal]

You mentioned taking the proficiency tests- I can more than likely pass at levels 2-3 for two languages. What does that mean for me as far as pay? Does having an additional EMOS qualify for special pays? I was just curious.

Entitlement to Foreign Language Proficiency Pay (FLPP) is established for officers and enlisted members receiving basic pay and certified by the individual service secretary to be proficient in foreign language. Each service secretary certifies FLPP annually based on:

• Qualifications in a career linguist duty specialty
• Attendance in specified training
• Assignment to duties requiring foreign language proficiency
• Proficiency in a foreign language deemed critical

FLPP is payable in addition to all other pay and allowances.



Check out the Foreign Language Proficiency Bonus Installment Rates table in this pdf of the recent changes to qualification criteria for FLPP: Foreign Language Proficiency Bonus

Hope this helps

[Languagelover23]

Entitlement to Foreign Language Proficiency Pay (FLPP) is established for officers and enlisted members receiving basic pay and certified by the individual service secretary to be proficient in foreign language. Each service secretary certifies FLPP annually based on:

• Qualifications in a career linguist duty specialty
• Attendance in specified training
• Assignment to duties requiring foreign language proficiency
• Proficiency in a foreign language deemed critical

FLPP is payable in addition to all other pay and allowances.



Check out the Foreign Language Proficiency Bonus Installment Rates table in this pdf of the recent changes to qualification criteria for FLPP: Foreign Language Proficiency Bonus

Hope this helps

Okay, that does help : )

One last thing- do you know which languages are currently considered to be critical?

Thanks!

[1stRad2671]

Okay, that does help : )

One last thing- do you know which languages are currently considered to be critical?

Thanks!

Probably these from MARADMIN286-10:


Languages Of Africa (Amharic, Harari, Hausa, Ibo, Somali, Swahili, Traginya, And Yoruba)


Arabic (Modern Standard, And All Dialects)



Languages Of Central Asia (Assyrian, Azerbaijani, Balochi, Dari, Gujarati, Hindi, Kazakh, Kurdish, Pashto, Persian-Farsi, Punjabi, Tajiki, Tamil, Telegu, Turkish, Turkmen, Urdu, Uzbek)



Languages Of Pacific Asia (Bikol, Burmese, Cebuano, Chavacano, Chinese, Cantonese, Gan, Hakka, Ilocono, Indonesian, Japanese, Javanese, Kanarese, Korean, Malay, Malayalam, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Tausug, Tagalog, Yakan, Wu)

[0351 Corporal]

Okay, that does help : )

One last thing- do you know which languages are currently considered to be critical?

Thanks!

Yup, here is the the list:

LANGUAGES OF AFRICA (AMHARIC, HARARI, HAUSA, IBO, SOMALI, SWAHILI, TRAGINYA, AND YORUBA) ARABIC (MODERN STANDARD, AND ALL DIALECTS) LANGUAGES OF CENTRAL ASIA (ASSYRIAN, AZERBAIJANI, BALOCHI, DARI, GUJARATI, HINDI, KAZAKH, KURDISH, PASHTO, PERSIAN-FARSI, PUNJABI, TAJIKI, TAMIL, TELEGU, TURKISH, TURKMEN, URDU, UZBEK) LANGUAGES OF PACIFIC ASIA (BIKOL, BURMESE, CEBUANO, CHAVACANO, CHINESE, CANTONESE, GAN, HAKKA, ILOCONO, INDONESIAN, JAPANESE, JAVANESE, KANARESE, KOREAN, MALAY, MALAYALAM, MANDARIN, TAIWANESE, TAUSUG, TAGALOG, YAKAN, WU).

These languages are listed in the Maradmin the Sargent above mentioned: MARADMIN Active Number: 286/10

[haebyungdae]

1. What languages are in demand right now at DLI (and for the military)? If it helps, my DLAB score was a 104, and I am tri-lingual as well (English, Spanish, French, plus some Russian).

2. What do actual duties entail? Do they do field interpreting, or signals intelligence translations, or both?

3. What is the daily job like?

4. Where are some common places a Marine cryptolinguist would get stationed?

5. When they are selecting a language for me, will they take into account my previous foreign language experience to determine which one would be best?

I know those are very specific questions, but I haven't spoken to anyone who really knows about this. My recruiters had never signed an interpreter before, so they couldn't tell me much about it. Thanks for reading

1. The big push now-a-days is the central Asian languages and Korean. The big four used to be Arabic, Korean, Russian, and Spanish. Not sure, but I can't imagine it having change that much outside of the push for the central Asian languages and the individual dialects. Outside of those, there are a lot of different languages possible like Chinese, French, Thai, Serbo-Croatian, and some others. However, Marines are rarely sent to those courses since the Marine Corps has only so many billets for them.

2. Though us linguists are sometimes used as interpreters from time to time, we are not interpreters. Interpreter is a secondary MOS and 267X Marines are actually excluded from holding this MOS. As for duties, there is no possible way to lay out what the normal duties of a linguist are just because the fact that they vary so much. And it's also possible that you will rarely be utilized as a linguist, based on your duty station and what language you know. In my time at 3rd Radio Bn (Hawaii), I rarely used Korean unless participating in an exercise in Korea. If you learn a central Asian language then I would expect that you would be using it more.

3. At a Radio Bn, your day would begin with PT, head to work and accomplish whatever the mission for that day was. As with every job and unit in the Marine Corps, there will be times of boredom and times of stress. You can expect to do field training, rifle ranges, working parties. At a support company, the daily duties are a little more defined as you will work in whatever division you work in and have a set mission to accomplish. It is all just very dependent on various factors and impossible to define in concrete terms. You will find out when you get there.

4. As was stated by the Master Guns earlier, the major units are 1st 2nd and 3rd Radio Bns and the support companies. Outside of that there are other unit assignment possibilities, but more difficult to get and not usually given to those still fulfilling their first enlistment. You could expect that it's more likely you would get stationed at a Radio Bn upon completion of your training.

5. DLI has a good amount of Marines there right now and have a limited number of permanent personnel so I imagine that it would be difficult to analyze every new Marine's language ability and make a decision based on that. There is a possibility that you could get a wish list, and it's by all means possible that they will inquire about your abilities, but most Marines are just assigned a language arbitrarily, only considering DLAB score as compared to the category of the language you will learn.

I hope this is helpful as I have said pretty much everything that I can. Whatever language you get and where ever you go, you will not be disappointed. It's a very fun and exciting field and community.

If I am wrong in any portion of what I have said then please correct me.

Glad to see so many 2600's on the forum!

[Languagelover23]

1. The big push now-a-days is the central Asian languages and Korean. The big four used to be Arabic, Korean, Russian, and Spanish. Not sure, but I can't imagine it having change that much outside of the push for the central Asian languages and the individual dialects. Outside of those, there are a lot of different languages possible like Chinese, French, Thai, Serbo-Croatian, and some others. However, Marines are rarely sent to those courses since the Marine Corps has only so many billets for them.

2. Though us linguists are sometimes used as interpreters from time to time, we are not interpreters. Interpreter is a secondary MOS and 267X Marines are actually excluded from holding this MOS. As for duties, there is no possible way to lay out what the normal duties of a linguist are just because the fact that they vary so much. And it's also possible that you will rarely be utilized as a linguist, based on your duty station and what language you know. In my time at 3rd Radio Bn (Hawaii), I rarely used Korean unless participating in an exercise in Korea. If you learn a central Asian language then I would expect that you would be using it more.

3. At a Radio Bn, your day would begin with PT, head to work and accomplish whatever the mission for that day was. As with every job and unit in the Marine Corps, there will be times of boredom and times of stress. You can expect to do field training, rifle ranges, working parties. At a support company, the daily duties are a little more defined as you will work in whatever division you work in and have a set mission to accomplish. It is all just very dependent on various factors and impossible to define in concrete terms. You will find out when you get there.

4. As was stated by the Master Guns earlier, the major units are 1st 2nd and 3rd Radio Bns and the support companies. Outside of that there are other unit assignment possibilities, but more difficult to get and not usually given to those still fulfilling their first enlistment. You could expect that it's more likely you would get stationed at a Radio Bn upon completion of your training.

5. DLI has a good amount of Marines there right now and have a limited number of permanent personnel so I imagine that it would be difficult to analyze every new Marine's language ability and make a decision based on that. There is a possibility that you could get a wish list, and it's by all means possible that they will inquire about your abilities, but most Marines are just assigned a language arbitrarily, only considering DLAB score as compared to the category of the language you will learn.

I hope this is helpful as I have said pretty much everything that I can. Whatever language you get and where ever you go, you will not be disappointed. It's a very fun and exciting field and community.

If I am wrong in any portion of what I have said then please correct me.

Glad to see so many 2600's on the forum!

Thank youuuuu for the detailed info!
Marines rock!