How is working for CID? Is the job, training and ability to transfer to a federal job once I retire from the Army it as good as it sounds?

I spent 17 of my 20 years as a CID Agent but I caution you I retired in 1994 as a CW3. I came into the Command as your pay grade and was a secondary zone promotion to SGT while at CID school in March 1978. The command has various schools which are addendums to the CID Agents course which all agents will complete during their career. These include hostage negotiations, economic crime investigations, and protective services. There are others which I believe they still offer. The include the DEA Drug Supervisor’s Course, Criminal Profiling, Child Abuse Prevention and Investigations Techniques (CAPIT) course, and the FBI National Academy which most attend but are optional. I chose the Forensic Science course at Scotland Yard, located in London. This course is no longer offered though. In addition to my time in the command and then working 10 years as an insurance fraud investigation, as well as additional time spent as a chief deputy coroner, anti-piracy investigator and a lot of other jobs working around civilian police officers and detectives, I came to realize the Army has the best training for criminal investigators, bar none. The basic death investigators course is part of the CID agents course. If you’re lucky enough, you attend the advanced death investigator’s course offered by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. You will also still have an opportunity to many of the Army-specific training like jump school, air assault, BNCOC and ANCOC. With you already having a degree, you’re eligible to go Warrant. That will include the warrant officer basic course, the advance course any anything else between. With the command, your career is what effort you put into it. They will provide you the opportunities, it is your obligation to act upon them.

CID as you may or not know is in the process of going civilian. For the first time CID has a civilian Director. He was the Deputy Director of NCIS. The majority of the jobs are going to civilians. Most of them are already Federal Agents transferring into CID. Consider that as you make your decision. Good Luck.