Can anyone tell me about 35F and 35G MOS?

2020-10-29T21:29:18-04:00

I just graduated from language training but failed the DLPT and now I have to reclass. Can someone please tell me about AIT for either MOS in terms of difficulty, requirements, etc? And could you also tell me about how a typical day performing this MOS is, duty stations, how much you enjoy the job, etc?

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 29 at 2020 9:51 PM

2020-10-29T21:51:52-04:00

I can speak for the 35G side a bit. You’ll go to Fort Huachuca and have a 6 month AIT. For some people, it takes a few months to get into a class so it might be even longer. Once out, you can either have some Duty stations where you are more or less filling the spot but won’t do much GEOINT work. There the others where you will preform your job everyday or every other day. If you want to know about duty stations then you can go on ACT and find them on there. Send me a message if you need help figuring out how to do that on there. Overall, 35G is specialized in imagery and I enjoy it a lot. There are many cool things you’ll get to learn and see.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 29 at 2020 9:56 PM

2020-10-29T21:56:23-04:00

35F is shorter and will get you to a unit quicker. 35F are the face of the Intel community. the difficulty is what you make of the course. Each can be relatively easy if you are focused. I will say that I have had greater opportunities to see the world then what a 35G would get.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 30 at 2020 12:05 PM

2020-10-30T12:05:58-04:00

Prior 35F SGT here with a deployment. While deployed I worked mainly with 35S products, while CONUS I worked mainly with 35G products.

As a 35G you will learn the technical skills of imagery. None of which I really know well. I did pick up a few skills to pull imagery data for myself but certainly not the finer points of analyzing an image. I then also learned some points about 35S raw data while deployed.

As a 35F you will learn how to make presentations based on other Classified Reports and compile a more complete picture about a topic. Basically, what I thought (having gone in with a Master's degree) was anyone that was good at writing college reports and speaking in front of a room of people was going to do very well.

My biggest pet peeve is there is a failing with Database Management instruction. Duplicate records are rampant when trying to compile data from multiple sources. For example Bill G. Jones, William G Jones, Bill G Jones (notice the lack of a "." after G), Will George Jones, Bill George Jones are five different records in a database when in reality they are the same person and all correlating intel based on them needs to be consolidated. It's one of the more tedious things about being a 35F. Cleaning data, and making sure what you use for your analysis is sold information. NONE OF WHICH is taught in the school house. I only knew about it because of my civilian marketing analyst days, and you wanted to make sure you didn't send a mailer to the same person more than once.

As a 35F I have researched "individuals", I have researched "things", and I have researched "events", and I have used intel sources from nearly all typed of collection (signals, imagery, HUMINT, agency reports, etc....)

I got attached to an SF team as their personal analyst while down range . That would never have happened to a 35G.

35F = lots of thinking on your feet to make a product
35G = technical depth in imagery products

A good college researcher with a TS clearance can do a 35F job in the civilian sector. That's not the case so much with a 35G, and they learn a valuable specific skill.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 30 at 2020 12:21 PM

2020-10-30T12:21:11-04:00

35Fs can literally go anywhere - any type of unit, any duty station. You can work at tactical or strategic. I'm a 35F - in my 16 years I've been a BN S2, BDE S2, a targeting analyst at Cyber Command when it stood up and in indications and warnings at STRATCOM. I did a little time in a MI Company. I've been in a combat en bn, infantry brigade, two joint units. We're all source analysts so we take everything from the other INTs and put it all together - so we mostly do production. If you're in a 2 shop, you're going to do a lot of personnel security and some physical security. Personnel security is mostly security clearances - processing them.

It ultimately depends on the unit and mission what you do.

I went to AIT in 04-05 so I don't know what it's like now. I know they do a lot more automation from what I've heard from newer soldiers.

Response by PVT Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 17 at 2021 7:08 PM

2021-08-17T19:08:35-04:00

35F AIT is pretty intense, there’s 4 phases Mod A, B, C, D in mod A you only take one test and that’s a month into the course. You’re just learning the foundations. Mod B you take a test every 2 weeks and it’s all looking up the answers in your books or knowing it, Mod C it’s about the same stuff as Mod B but the questions are more analytical and you actually make products on the computer and you test every week. Then for Mod D and E they’re both out on the field and you get to apply what you have learned in a scenario. There’s one last test on that one.