What should I expect to learn or know when re-classing to 35F?

SSG Newton,

There are SO many things to say and many of them are highlighted in this thread. I always tell my soldiers that to be successful as a Intelligence Analysts they mus be proficient at three basic tasks:

1) Read
2) Write
3) Brief

These skills build on each other and are critical to your ability to perform at a high level.

Reading constantly allows you to do two things: improve your comprehension and help you with vocabulary and word usage. This is incredibly important as the primary reason our skill set exists is to effectively communicate data to the commander and our ability to do so may literally be the difference between life and death to a soldier /operator.

"Read, read, read. Read everything--trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out the window."
-- William Faulkner


Writing is the primary means an intelligence professional communicates within the community. Without having the ability to clearly and concisely describe the environment we are looking at, we force others to work much harder when preparing for a mission.

"We can exercise our most sophisticated intelligence collection systems, gather rooms full of data, and analyze those data until we reach sound conclusions; but unless we effectively communicate the results of our research, we've wasted our time"
-- James S. Major

And finally the art of Briefing. This is the money maker. This is how we gain the confidence of our commanders. If we are poor at this skill set we will find ourselves being set aside and disregarded. Your ability to brief is tied directly to the other two skills I mentioned above. By having a robust vocabulary and being able to form clear and concise assessments briefing becomes a more natural function. Many people find them selves using filler words such as "um" or "uh" as they search for the right word for the situation or are reaching for a word outside of their comfortable speech patterns. Key to being a good briefer is using only words you are comfortable with and do not try to elevate your vocabulary for the moment.

You will pick up the technical points of the job as you go along through long nights of mission analysis and living as a staff NCO. FM 5-0 is your technical bible for understanding your role, and JP 3-0 for understanding targeting. But if you can do the three things I mentioned earlier, you WILL be successful.

SSG Newton,

Enjoy Riley Barracks. It's where you'll be staying for 17 weeks.

Go to ALC as soon as possible. It is VERY technical and will get you squared away on your 20 and 30 level tasks. I've seen many reclassified Soldiers refuse to attend 35F ALC because "it's a leadership course, just like any other ALC," and that is not correct. The 10 level course is only enough to get your feet wet and head in the right place, but it won't prepare you for the level of knowledge and experience required from 30 level analyst.

Read ADRP 1-02, ADP 2-0, ADRP 2-0, ATP 2-01.3 and ATP 2-33.4.

Your AIT Platoon Sergeant will typically be a senior E6 or an E7. They will be individually responsible for 100-150 IET Soldiers. They will require your assistance, but you will be very limited in how you identify and correct deficiencies.

Use the study hall when it is afforded to you. Pay close attention to detail as 2LT James Montgomery has stated. Use Skillport to take classes on Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel if you are not already very proficient.

And keep an open mind. I'm not sure about your background, but the MI community is much different than most other places in the Army. We need critical thinkers who can argue their point (with respect), and who are not going to agree with what is given to them. You have the advantage of real life experience and there will be a LOT of brand new Soldiers who will look to you for guidance and leadership. You will probably be the first NCO they'll have an actual conversation with and get to know. They will look at you and your experience through a microscope. They will take in everything you give them like a sponge and hope for guidance and counseling along the way. AIT Platoon Sergeants have a lot of work to do and a lot of Soldiers to counsel, but you will have a more direct impact on their view of NCOs.

I hope that helps. Have fun at the school house and if your instructor is SSG Martensen, tell him I said hi.

V/R
SGT Mullet

Buy a battle staff smart book. It will be your best friend.

SSG(P) (Join to see) Become very familiar with powerpoint, and practice briefing in front of people, you will be doing both many times. I can't help with the course since I did it many moons ago, but I'll be stationed in Huachuca pretty soon, so if you need any help feel free to contact me.

I was an AIT/MOS-T Instructor for three years. They changed the course back to "Force on Force" right after I left. The foundations of IPB are what you need to focus on regardless of the changes in scenario. The Battle Staff Handbook focuses on MDMP which is a bigger process that the IPB process is nested in. Grades are based on Critical Thinking Skills and your evaluation of how the scenario will effect Friendly and Threat operations. PPT, Briefing and Writing are all graded areas. FM 34-130 was replaced by FM 2-01.3 but is still a great resource for movement and maneuver aspects. Hope this helps and best of wishes at the course.

As a MOS-T and SSG I always requested that you use your experiences to assist the IET Soldiers. Most MOS-T Soldiers did not understand that the simple things to us are complex to the new Soldiers. Interaction with IET Soldiers is defiantly a case by case basis though and at the discretion of the instructor. Dont let that get you in trouble!

I would make two MOS specific suggestions: familiarize yourself with FM 34-130, intelligence preparation of the battlefield/ battlespace(IPB)...( This a major part of our job)...If possiible,talk with other NCO's and junior enlisted about the roles , duties , and challenges of the job. If your Chain permits it, see if you can train with fellow 35F' s just to get familiarize with some of the systems. ..I don't know if you ever been to Fort Huachuca, but there is an elevation difference that may possibly effect run times. I bought an elevation mask and started running with it prior to getting to the post. I hope that helps

Read everything. Seriously, everything. Especially military history. Intel analysis is about identifying trends and patterns, and while the players in the game change and technology changes how the game is played, war itself never changes. The Russians still fight like they did decades ago (mostly - they're way better at leveraging human terrain and cyberwarfare now). Insurgents still fight the way they have for all of human history.

That being said, don't write off possible courses of action simply because "the environment doesn't allow it" or "we don't do that". REDFOR isn't us and a lot of the bad guys are pretty smart. For example, the invasion of Crimea is a textbook example of a successful special operation, something the Russkies weren't very good at before, but they telegraphed the invasion with a massive cyberattack on eastern Ukrainian infrastructure, just like their cyberattack on Georgia before the 2008 invasion. Their strategic bombing in Syria has nothing to do with Syria and everything to do with validating their strategic bomber wing's long-range strike capability... Deployment of ADA to Syria wasn't a surprise because the Russians always deploy ADA to cover armor and always deploy armor to cover infantry... etc.

Learn doctrine. SPC (Join to see) suggested getting a battle staff handbook. Those things are gold, especially the list of tactical tasks and purposes.

Pay attention to how IPB is done, and build an IPB SOP and slide deck. That makes it much faster when developing any kind of IPB-related product.

Get used to map-reading, acetate, and symbology. If you wind up in a line battalion like I did, you'll learn in a hurry that digital systems typically don't work in a TAC/TOC environment and you'll need a good ol' paper map to keep track of the threat and friendly-force operations.

Learn how to talk to other skillsets. Understanding how the commander likes being briefed is pretty important. Get good at briefing. Get to the point you don't need notes, if you can.

Lastly and most importantly - as SGT Mullet pointed out - our job is to be thinkers, not line soldiers. Analysts who aren't allowed to think and act independently can't do our job. We're a very different Army from the guys on the line because we have to be in order to provide the boss the analysis he needs - wargaming and redteaming are very important parts of what we do.

I think the hardest part of the course for me was I like my products to be perfect. Time management is important for the course. Plan on losing 15lbs during the course. You'll March over 500 miles to and from class, to the dfac back to school, then from school to the company. 1.25m each way. GL in school.

I can't tell you from a MOSQ standpoint but I recently went thru as an IET. Typically there's only about 3-4 MOSQ's in the whole platoon (we had over a 100 students in our graduating class). One MOSQ was actually recycled, we had 2 graduate with us. All of the PLT SGTs were E7's when I went thru however some were PCSing so I'm not sure about their replacements. Some of the instructors with be SSG's but they have an enormous wealth of knowledge. You'll do PT with the rest of the platoon, but you don't March with them to & from class or go to chow with them. You can have your car & go off post whenever. You'll be given a bit of leadership in the classroom setting & again towards FTX.

Did you finish the school as a re class and how was it. I'm taking the phase 1 DL portion now. I hope to attend in February. Appreciate any info on what to expect.