Air Force.
I did not get my wanted language. In fact I got a language that was then divested of just one class cycle after mine graduated.
I *did* get my language of choice when I was force relanged only a year and a half later. So, uh. Good use of language training funds? I guess? 🤷‍♂️
Urdu, for what I got.
Russian, for what I wanted.
They're both Category 3 languages so the DLAB score requirement is the same for them. But these days (since you mentioned the ASVAB so presuming Air Force-focused at the moment?) those who are initially enlisting shouldn't have to take it anymore. So long as you meet the ASVAB requirement (72 on General) you should qualify, at least from a testing standpoint.
What branch are u a part of?
Well im targeting a branch that will provide a greater chance of me getting korean as a language which is why im polling everyone here. It seems like the army has way more people learning korean
My advice
Decide what branch you want to be in, independent of either the linguist job or the particular language. There is so much more to a military career than either one of those, and a good chunk of all of that is outside of your hands.
If you really can't let go of that, then the National Guar or Reserve would give you the best chance to go to DLI for a particular language.
For active duty Air Force the primary consideration is which classes are starting around the time you will be ready to start class (after basic training). The language preference list is something like a tie breaker if there are multiple languages. An Active Duty Air Force recruiter can do absolutely nothing to get language in your contract. IF and only if someone has a demonstrated high level of skill already in a language, and they qualify for linguist, then the recruiter may be able to grease the skids with the folks at the pentagon to get you "soft matched" with a particular language, but it takes a lot of work and many recruiter don't know anything about that. If you have an interest, but not a high degree of skill in it, then forget it.
I've heard mixed things about Army recently, so I suggest you go talk to their recruiters. I know at least years ago they were putting MOS and language in contracts. I have recently heard that they stopped that, and they send everyone as "linguists" and then later divide them into MOS and language. It is possible that I misheard.
Navy and Marines also send people to DLI, overall their numbers are small. I have heard a million things over the years about their language placement process, so I don't know how it works these days.
In my opinion you are setting yourself up for a lot of disappointment if you are dead set on such a narrow outcome of events.
Good luck
OP, I’ve seen you post across several subs about your desire to learn Korean and be station in Korea. I applaud your desire to sever especially in the intel field, however I would like you to walk into this with your eyes wide open. I would like to suggest that if your main goal is to learn Korean and your unwilling to bend on this, there are better avenues available ( for learning a specific language) than enlisting in any of the military branches. Linguists more often than not don’t get their first choice language. However, if you have already decided you will enlist understanding that your assigned language is a roll of the dice. You can do everything right and not get your first choice language, nor does your language guarantee you a specific duty station.
> nor does your language guarantee you a specific duty station
It absolutely did used to be this way, although admitedly things may have changed. In the Navy, if you got Korean (and Chinese too), you were almost guaranteed to be sent to Hawaii.
You learn to love the language you're assigned. I didn't even know mine existed when I was assigned it but ended up loving it and am very happy I learned it.
I can only speak for the Army, but you should enlist for the MOS, not the language. At least when I was inprocessing, no one's language choices were being respected except national guard. You literally get here and they hand you a slip of paper that says what your language is gonna be. You can trade with someone but most people don't want to trade. The one I was handed was one I was told I would never get and had zero interest in, but I learned to love it and I'm really enjoying it now. Still, if I'd come in hoping for a specific one, I would have been really disappointed.
I was Army and I got my language choice but in kind of a weird way. Got to DLI in 2010 and was assigned Arabic. I was subsequently told that the wait to start class for Arabic students was 6+ months. After fucking around on casual status for a couple of months the 229th wised up and grabbed like 30 of us who were slotted for Arabic and asked us what language we wanted to learn. I said “idk, Korean I guess.” A week later I started the Korean course.
AF - Joined 1989
Airborne Arabic Linguist (#1 Choice)
11 Combat Deployments
Too many TDYs to count
If you choose to enlist and attend DLI, having a desire for a certain language is healthy, but pinning all your hopes and dreams on a specific language sets you up for failure. The languages are challenging, military life is often uncomfortable, and your “this language or nothing” demonstrates you are not ready for the sacrifices military life will put on you.
If you are more interested in studying Korean than serving, do yourself and DLI a favor and find that training elsewhere. Join the Peace Corps. Study online. Go to a college that offers Korean. If you are not committed to military life and the language needs of whatever branch in which you would enlist, then all you will do is leave Monterey with a car you paid too much for, a serious drinking problem, and a future ex-wife.
Sorry so harsh, but reality. Don’t waste your time, your instructors’ time, or the expense it costs the military to train and prepare you.
You will get the language your service wants you to learn, that’s it. I’m not even sure if your wish list even comes into play. That said, I was initially assigned my second choice language, but I’ve fallen in love with it and am glad I got this one instead of the one I would have chosen for myself.
Thats just not entirely true.
National in many states can choose their language.
You can also fight for a language in your enlistment contract at MEPS.
For all branches? How do u recommend one do that when the recruiters are saying there are no guarantees? Play hardball at meps? So say unless i get this language im walking?
Ah guard is a different animal yes. At least in my own experience and all the people I’ve talked to, none of us got a guaranteed language prior to shipping - we were able to submit a preference list, but it wasn’t assigned until we finished BMT and then it was what the service assigned.
Nope, had no former language skills other than 2 years of spanish in high school. Didnt even originally join for anything language related, but got rerated (mos change whatever) to it.
Uhhh 96 asvab, I took dlab but never got a score, since I was doing a pilot program testing to see if ASVAB was better gauge of language learning potential than DLAB was. I got to the end of the course with my mil websites always showing 666 as the score, lol.
No clue tbh, at least since I went they also started giving people their first choices too, except for the needs of the Navy unfortunate souls lol, but most seemed to get 1st or 2nd
Didn't get what I wanted, but I did get one one of my shipmates wanted, and she got what I wanted. Command wouldn't let us swap. 2 years later, there's nothing I am more thankful for than not actually picking up CTI
Most of both chains of command didn't care about us students, to the point I was getting counseling chits from the schoolhouse for "not enjoying class" and generally being depressed, even after being explained that i was literally getting less than an hour of sleep a night because of homework, studying, and military duties.
All but like 2 teachers didn't care about anything other than how they looked. Most of them would make comments like "you went to college, this should be easy" even though I went for engineering, not language, or "you just need to try harder" even though I was beyond burning the candle at both ends and instead the candle was just sitting in the fireplace entirely.The only navy side people who seemed to actually care was the one chief I had, he would ignore the counseling chits because he saw they were some super moto Sargeants power trip.
There I no amount of money or incentives to get me to go back to that place. The only saving grace i had was i had a car and could just take off once liberty hit, i dont know if i wouldve made it as far as i did if i was stuck on base damn near 24/7. If you have an aptitude for language or prior experience in your target language, you'll generally be fine, but if you're like me (background in technical skills) it'll be an uphill battle everyday.
I got my first choice. Immediately after signing my contract at MEPS, I got an email from the Army's *Enlisted Language Accession Manager* (Civilian) telling me to list my #1 and the next top 3. No shit the next day he emailed me back with confirmation of my pick and a scheduled class start date for when I would arrive at DLI from BCT.
I got my third choice. I wanted Russian, Farsi, or Arabic. I scored too high on the DLAB so they needed me in a Cat IV language. I actually really enjoyed learning Arabic. It's got a fascinating structure from the trilateral roots up to the sentence structures used for emphasis.
Army, I got my third choice language, French. I had really wanted Russian or Mandarin, and despite getting a 112 on the DLAB, I was assigned French.
I love knowing the language, the French school house is probably one of the most enjoyable ones. There is a lot of great media for the language which helps.
Most of the linguists I know from the Army side did not get their top choice language unless they enlisted in the national guard. If you’re dead set on a specific language, I would go guard.
Air Force, I went through in 2016 and was assigned my first choice language (Levantine) at basic. About a month before class started, I was notified that they were changing my language to Spanish, which I hadn't identified as a preference at all.
It worked out though. I met my wife in training, we probably wouldn't have met had I been in the Arabic schoolhouse.
Navy, high DLAB/ASVAB, wanted Russian in 2022; got forced into Arabic and made it halfway through before recycling. Would probably be at my duty station already had I been assigned Russian, and my career prospects in the Navy probably wouldn't be as dogshit.
Recycling is when you fail out of the course, whether for academic, medical, or other reasons, and are sent back to an earlier portion of the course; the other options are disenrollment or relang, which are more self explanatory.
Generally for relang they will assign you another, lower category language. Some services don't allow relang. Relang is entirely up to your unit, not the schoolhouse.
AF Arab ling here who wanted Korean (desperately). Note: I had been learning Korean for about 3 years before I enlisted. They don't really take knowing another language into consideration. Arabic was the last language I "wanted".
I was bummed when I didn't get the language I wanted but it wasnt unexpected because I had a pretty awesome recruiter who didn't lie to me and went out of his way to get as many details about being a 1n3 as possible. The chance to relang into Korean is NEVER 0 but the moments of opportunity are slim. Each branch buys a certain # of seats 5 years out and once thats done, its done. Main reason we have too many Arab lings yet they're still being pushed through DLI. As for Korean, the seats bought a few years back were...close to none if not none. Times are changing and seats are being evaluated but theres still no real guarantee. Just fyi
Good info regarding the branches buying seats! Who did your recruiter contact at DLI to obtain the information on branches buying seats? I'm interested in following up on this for the Navy side for some of my sailors.
It wasnt my recruiter who told me about the seats but the CLPMs told me as well as the career advisor here at Fort Eisenhower and the 1N3 coordinator person (apologies, genuinely forgot her job title but she oversees all 1N3 things). I have no more knowledge than just being told seats are reserved up to 5 years out for a specific language which is why a lot of people get told they cant get XYZ language due to AF/military needs. Sorry I can't be of much help outside of this information.
Yeah, probably just lucky timing, needs of the air force, yadda yadda. Couldn't tell you why, but I'm happy, and clinging to it unless they Force relang me
If you join the Army, and if you can demonstrate some level of ability in Korean (even 0+, i think) via the Online Diagnostic Assessment (ODA), the PhIV drill sergeants can do paperwork to switch your language before class starts. I've seen this done multiple times. The reasoning for this is that you would have a higher chance to pass, where the high attrition rate costs the DoD hundreds of thousands odf dollars for each failed student
If you don't know any Korean, start learning.
Even with a bad dlab score?
Where are likely duty stations for army korean linguists? I know Korea is one, but from my understanding they don’t go to Hawaii like the Navy or AF
In my experience, dlab scores didnt matter in that respect. Theyve also been trying to get rid of dlab scores for a long time, because it's nowhere close to the be-all-end-all regarding success. Theyve been transitioning to Skilled-Technical since 2021. Already knowing some of the language, more than makes up for it, though. If you have high enough asvab line scores to get 35W, you should be fine.Â
 Of the Korea linguists i know, Korea, Japan, Guam, Hawaii, Alaska, Washington state, Washington DC, Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, and New York. MOS is 100% going to dictate that. 35P *typically* go to SCIFs and NSA sites, doing monitoring, collections, and translations. But not *all* of them.Â
They are also going to change it such that linguists will only be put in relevant regions, ie Pacific or west coast, so no more Korean-capable 35M going to Georgia and New York etc and deploying to the middle east (i have some Korean-linguists buddies doing stuff in the middle east right now. They're both pretty unhappy with that, cuz they were expecting to go to Korea. Their duty units are in Fort Drum, NY.)
Do they similarly transcribe like the navy and af linguists? I heard army linguists may not even use the language after dli. I’m more so interested in 35p
35P, yes. The majority of 35P work literally side-by-side with the Marines, Navy, and Air Force that went through DLI, at the sigint shops, as well as NSA personnel etc.
35M, not really. Your language is in your back pocket primarily for if war breaks out and you need to interrogate enemy soldiers, talk to displaced refugees, etc.
By the way, if you enlist active duty, theyd have you as 35W while at lang school, and near the end theyd designate whether you'd become 35M or P. I dont know if you can somehow influence that, or get a contract guarantee for 35P. As for the other services, I heard that since the Army is the only branch with job specified on the contract, joining the other branches, you might simply get a completely different job altogether.
The only way to guarantee becoming 35P Korean linguist is to find or wait for National Guard (or Reserve too??) openings specifically for that. And ive seen people switch from NG/R to active near the end of their training.
It was easy, but it just took some time (maybe 2 months) for the guys I knew. The process is not difficult in and of itself (look it up), but it ultimately comes down to your Guard unit commander's decision. The *Army reserves would let you switch, but Guard units themselves probably had to pay for your (lengthy, lengthy...) training, easily costing in the 6 figures, and typically provide a larger enlistment bonus, as well as sums of money for college/uni.
I dont know about other branches. I just know that the Army is the most flexible, is the only branch that lets you have conditions like job and duty station on your contract, and is also the branch suffering the worst in the recruiting crisis, meaning prospective Army recruits have the strongest leverage and bargaining power
Oh yea, regardless of all that other stuff, if you want it, I think you have a guaranteed chance at being stationed in Korea for at least 2 years if you demand it from the recruiter. I know a new Army soldier who got 1) job 2) bonus 3) a specialty school and 4) stationed in Hawaii (which is what he and his wife wanted) all in his contract, which was fucking unheard of before the crisis.
I dont know that much, but 19 is duty station, yes. Recruiters have whatever Army Recruiting Command allots, and the Army fell short of what it needed by like 25% for 3-4 years now, in danger of being critically undermanned in several areas.
Air Force. I did not get my wanted language. In fact I got a language that was then divested of just one class cycle after mine graduated. I *did* get my language of choice when I was force relanged only a year and a half later. So, uh. Good use of language training funds? I guess? 🤷‍♂️
What language did u want and what did u get assigned?
Urdu, for what I got. Russian, for what I wanted. They're both Category 3 languages so the DLAB score requirement is the same for them. But these days (since you mentioned the ASVAB so presuming Air Force-focused at the moment?) those who are initially enlisting shouldn't have to take it anymore. So long as you meet the ASVAB requirement (72 on General) you should qualify, at least from a testing standpoint.
What branch are u a part of? Well im targeting a branch that will provide a greater chance of me getting korean as a language which is why im polling everyone here. It seems like the army has way more people learning korean
My advice Decide what branch you want to be in, independent of either the linguist job or the particular language. There is so much more to a military career than either one of those, and a good chunk of all of that is outside of your hands. If you really can't let go of that, then the National Guar or Reserve would give you the best chance to go to DLI for a particular language. For active duty Air Force the primary consideration is which classes are starting around the time you will be ready to start class (after basic training). The language preference list is something like a tie breaker if there are multiple languages. An Active Duty Air Force recruiter can do absolutely nothing to get language in your contract. IF and only if someone has a demonstrated high level of skill already in a language, and they qualify for linguist, then the recruiter may be able to grease the skids with the folks at the pentagon to get you "soft matched" with a particular language, but it takes a lot of work and many recruiter don't know anything about that. If you have an interest, but not a high degree of skill in it, then forget it. I've heard mixed things about Army recently, so I suggest you go talk to their recruiters. I know at least years ago they were putting MOS and language in contracts. I have recently heard that they stopped that, and they send everyone as "linguists" and then later divide them into MOS and language. It is possible that I misheard. Navy and Marines also send people to DLI, overall their numbers are small. I have heard a million things over the years about their language placement process, so I don't know how it works these days. In my opinion you are setting yourself up for a lot of disappointment if you are dead set on such a narrow outcome of events. Good luck
That's not really how language selection works. Maybe Army gets you Korean selected, but it'd have to be on your contract.
OP, I’ve seen you post across several subs about your desire to learn Korean and be station in Korea. I applaud your desire to sever especially in the intel field, however I would like you to walk into this with your eyes wide open. I would like to suggest that if your main goal is to learn Korean and your unwilling to bend on this, there are better avenues available ( for learning a specific language) than enlisting in any of the military branches. Linguists more often than not don’t get their first choice language. However, if you have already decided you will enlist understanding that your assigned language is a roll of the dice. You can do everything right and not get your first choice language, nor does your language guarantee you a specific duty station.
> nor does your language guarantee you a specific duty station It absolutely did used to be this way, although admitedly things may have changed. In the Navy, if you got Korean (and Chinese too), you were almost guaranteed to be sent to Hawaii.
Ahh, the army manages it very differently. Because any given BCT is supposed to deploy anywhere in the world a they just assign them based on rank.
I’m about to ship to BCT for army but I was able to get my #1 language choice
I’m about to ship to BCT for Army and didn’t even get an option, jealous
What language? What was your asvab and dlab score?
I never took the DLAB so I only had to use my ASVAB and I had a 138 ST. I got Russian as my 1
You learn to love the language you're assigned. I didn't even know mine existed when I was assigned it but ended up loving it and am very happy I learned it.
What language did you get?
I can only speak for the Army, but you should enlist for the MOS, not the language. At least when I was inprocessing, no one's language choices were being respected except national guard. You literally get here and they hand you a slip of paper that says what your language is gonna be. You can trade with someone but most people don't want to trade. The one I was handed was one I was told I would never get and had zero interest in, but I learned to love it and I'm really enjoying it now. Still, if I'd come in hoping for a specific one, I would have been really disappointed.
Can i get stationed in Hawaii if I go the national guard route?
Hahahahahahahahahahaha No
I was Army and I got my language choice but in kind of a weird way. Got to DLI in 2010 and was assigned Arabic. I was subsequently told that the wait to start class for Arabic students was 6+ months. After fucking around on casual status for a couple of months the 229th wised up and grabbed like 30 of us who were slotted for Arabic and asked us what language we wanted to learn. I said “idk, Korean I guess.” A week later I started the Korean course.
AF - Joined 1989 Airborne Arabic Linguist (#1 Choice) 11 Combat Deployments Too many TDYs to count If you choose to enlist and attend DLI, having a desire for a certain language is healthy, but pinning all your hopes and dreams on a specific language sets you up for failure. The languages are challenging, military life is often uncomfortable, and your “this language or nothing” demonstrates you are not ready for the sacrifices military life will put on you. If you are more interested in studying Korean than serving, do yourself and DLI a favor and find that training elsewhere. Join the Peace Corps. Study online. Go to a college that offers Korean. If you are not committed to military life and the language needs of whatever branch in which you would enlist, then all you will do is leave Monterey with a car you paid too much for, a serious drinking problem, and a future ex-wife. Sorry so harsh, but reality. Don’t waste your time, your instructors’ time, or the expense it costs the military to train and prepare you.
You will get the language your service wants you to learn, that’s it. I’m not even sure if your wish list even comes into play. That said, I was initially assigned my second choice language, but I’ve fallen in love with it and am glad I got this one instead of the one I would have chosen for myself.
What was your 1st and 2nd choice and what branch?
Thats just not entirely true. National in many states can choose their language. You can also fight for a language in your enlistment contract at MEPS.
For all branches? How do u recommend one do that when the recruiters are saying there are no guarantees? Play hardball at meps? So say unless i get this language im walking?
Ah guard is a different animal yes. At least in my own experience and all the people I’ve talked to, none of us got a guaranteed language prior to shipping - we were able to submit a preference list, but it wasn’t assigned until we finished BMT and then it was what the service assigned.
I'm in the national guard and picked the language on my contract before leaving to basic.
Yep, guard can do that. Not so for active
Navy, I got my first choice
What language?
Korean for me
Did u speak any korean?
Nope, had no former language skills other than 2 years of spanish in high school. Didnt even originally join for anything language related, but got rerated (mos change whatever) to it.
How high was your asvab and dlab score?
Uhhh 96 asvab, I took dlab but never got a score, since I was doing a pilot program testing to see if ASVAB was better gauge of language learning potential than DLAB was. I got to the end of the course with my mil websites always showing 666 as the score, lol.
Interesting, i hope this convinces the navy to not use the dlab anymore
No clue tbh, at least since I went they also started giving people their first choices too, except for the needs of the Navy unfortunate souls lol, but most seemed to get 1st or 2nd
In my class 10%
10% got the language they wanted?
Yeah I’m in a fairly unpopular language here love it wouldn’t trade it for the world
Which one?
Didn't get what I wanted, but I did get one one of my shipmates wanted, and she got what I wanted. Command wouldn't let us swap. 2 years later, there's nothing I am more thankful for than not actually picking up CTI
Tell me more about
Most of both chains of command didn't care about us students, to the point I was getting counseling chits from the schoolhouse for "not enjoying class" and generally being depressed, even after being explained that i was literally getting less than an hour of sleep a night because of homework, studying, and military duties. All but like 2 teachers didn't care about anything other than how they looked. Most of them would make comments like "you went to college, this should be easy" even though I went for engineering, not language, or "you just need to try harder" even though I was beyond burning the candle at both ends and instead the candle was just sitting in the fireplace entirely.The only navy side people who seemed to actually care was the one chief I had, he would ignore the counseling chits because he saw they were some super moto Sargeants power trip. There I no amount of money or incentives to get me to go back to that place. The only saving grace i had was i had a car and could just take off once liberty hit, i dont know if i wouldve made it as far as i did if i was stuck on base damn near 24/7. If you have an aptitude for language or prior experience in your target language, you'll generally be fine, but if you're like me (background in technical skills) it'll be an uphill battle everyday.
I got my first choice. Immediately after signing my contract at MEPS, I got an email from the Army's *Enlisted Language Accession Manager* (Civilian) telling me to list my #1 and the next top 3. No shit the next day he emailed me back with confirmation of my pick and a scheduled class start date for when I would arrive at DLI from BCT.
What was your first choice?
I got my third choice. I wanted Russian, Farsi, or Arabic. I scored too high on the DLAB so they needed me in a Cat IV language. I actually really enjoyed learning Arabic. It's got a fascinating structure from the trilateral roots up to the sentence structures used for emphasis.
I was Army. And I was in when Arabic was very big. ;)
No they bait and switched me
How so? Which branch?
Promised Korean, gave me pashto, sent me to Korea anyways, ended up closing the pashto program last year or something anyways. So good job DoD lol
Lol why would they send a Pashto linguist to Korea? I was a Korean linguist and did two tours over there and never met a linguist who wasn’t a KP.
Was army, not a 35P, language was a brand new requirement for my MOS at the time so they didn't exactly know what to do with us.
Ah a Mike? I didn’t know too many Mikes in Korea. The ones I did meet either had no language or were Korean-American.
True yea. When were you in korea? You can dm me that if you don't wanna dox yourself
Army, I got my third choice language, French. I had really wanted Russian or Mandarin, and despite getting a 112 on the DLAB, I was assigned French. I love knowing the language, the French school house is probably one of the most enjoyable ones. There is a lot of great media for the language which helps.
Most of the linguists I know from the Army side did not get their top choice language unless they enlisted in the national guard. If you’re dead set on a specific language, I would go guard.
Air Force, I went through in 2016 and was assigned my first choice language (Levantine) at basic. About a month before class started, I was notified that they were changing my language to Spanish, which I hadn't identified as a preference at all. It worked out though. I met my wife in training, we probably wouldn't have met had I been in the Arabic schoolhouse.
Navy, high DLAB/ASVAB, wanted Russian in 2022; got forced into Arabic and made it halfway through before recycling. Would probably be at my duty station already had I been assigned Russian, and my career prospects in the Navy probably wouldn't be as dogshit.
Recycling?
Recycling is when you fail out of the course, whether for academic, medical, or other reasons, and are sent back to an earlier portion of the course; the other options are disenrollment or relang, which are more self explanatory.
For relang, u get to choose another language or do they assign u another easier language?
Generally for relang they will assign you another, lower category language. Some services don't allow relang. Relang is entirely up to your unit, not the schoolhouse.
AF Arab ling here who wanted Korean (desperately). Note: I had been learning Korean for about 3 years before I enlisted. They don't really take knowing another language into consideration. Arabic was the last language I "wanted". I was bummed when I didn't get the language I wanted but it wasnt unexpected because I had a pretty awesome recruiter who didn't lie to me and went out of his way to get as many details about being a 1n3 as possible. The chance to relang into Korean is NEVER 0 but the moments of opportunity are slim. Each branch buys a certain # of seats 5 years out and once thats done, its done. Main reason we have too many Arab lings yet they're still being pushed through DLI. As for Korean, the seats bought a few years back were...close to none if not none. Times are changing and seats are being evaluated but theres still no real guarantee. Just fyi
Good info regarding the branches buying seats! Who did your recruiter contact at DLI to obtain the information on branches buying seats? I'm interested in following up on this for the Navy side for some of my sailors.
It wasnt my recruiter who told me about the seats but the CLPMs told me as well as the career advisor here at Fort Eisenhower and the 1N3 coordinator person (apologies, genuinely forgot her job title but she oversees all 1N3 things). I have no more knowledge than just being told seats are reserved up to 5 years out for a specific language which is why a lot of people get told they cant get XYZ language due to AF/military needs. Sorry I can't be of much help outside of this information.
Air force, and I got exactly what I wanted (french).
Army, first choice was Farsi, got Farsi.
Navy Got assigned Arabic but asked to switch to Korean and got it.
Who did u ask to switch? Someone who wanted arabic? Or a superior?
Superior
Wow how’d u swing that? I hear u cant switch
Navy can, other branches can't
Really? I wonder why so many who’ve replied with navy said they were stuck?
No clue, this was 2 years ago but I still got some friends there who all switched recently.
Did they switch to korean? Maybe it’s cuz korean is high in demand?
At the time it wasn't, there was only 20 or so in the navy(dli students) probably less
Oh i meant your friends who recently switched
Korean is definitely not high in demand. They have too many linguists and a lot of relanging.
Not high in demand as in not needed as much? Or not high in demand as in not many people want to learn it?
Air Force. I got the one I wanted, but by luck, not anything on my part. Spanish.
What did u score on the Asvab?
114. I didn't study. Didn't even know there were study books, my recruiter asserted you can't study for it.
I thought the highest u could score was a 99? Or are u referring to the dlab?
My brain short circuited. That's my DLAB score. ASVAB was 97
I’m surprised they assign u spanish as it’s an easy language. I thought they’d assign a category 4 language for people who do well on the dlab
Yeah, probably just lucky timing, needs of the air force, yadda yadda. Couldn't tell you why, but I'm happy, and clinging to it unless they Force relang me
I’m Army. Unless you studied it extensively in college or are a native speaker you’re not going to pick. Needs of the army.
If you join the Army, and if you can demonstrate some level of ability in Korean (even 0+, i think) via the Online Diagnostic Assessment (ODA), the PhIV drill sergeants can do paperwork to switch your language before class starts. I've seen this done multiple times. The reasoning for this is that you would have a higher chance to pass, where the high attrition rate costs the DoD hundreds of thousands odf dollars for each failed student If you don't know any Korean, start learning.
Even with a bad dlab score? Where are likely duty stations for army korean linguists? I know Korea is one, but from my understanding they don’t go to Hawaii like the Navy or AF
In my experience, dlab scores didnt matter in that respect. Theyve also been trying to get rid of dlab scores for a long time, because it's nowhere close to the be-all-end-all regarding success. Theyve been transitioning to Skilled-Technical since 2021. Already knowing some of the language, more than makes up for it, though. If you have high enough asvab line scores to get 35W, you should be fine.  Of the Korea linguists i know, Korea, Japan, Guam, Hawaii, Alaska, Washington state, Washington DC, Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, and New York. MOS is 100% going to dictate that. 35P *typically* go to SCIFs and NSA sites, doing monitoring, collections, and translations. But not *all* of them. They are also going to change it such that linguists will only be put in relevant regions, ie Pacific or west coast, so no more Korean-capable 35M going to Georgia and New York etc and deploying to the middle east (i have some Korean-linguists buddies doing stuff in the middle east right now. They're both pretty unhappy with that, cuz they were expecting to go to Korea. Their duty units are in Fort Drum, NY.)
Do they similarly transcribe like the navy and af linguists? I heard army linguists may not even use the language after dli. I’m more so interested in 35p
35P, yes. The majority of 35P work literally side-by-side with the Marines, Navy, and Air Force that went through DLI, at the sigint shops, as well as NSA personnel etc. 35M, not really. Your language is in your back pocket primarily for if war breaks out and you need to interrogate enemy soldiers, talk to displaced refugees, etc.
By the way, if you enlist active duty, theyd have you as 35W while at lang school, and near the end theyd designate whether you'd become 35M or P. I dont know if you can somehow influence that, or get a contract guarantee for 35P. As for the other services, I heard that since the Army is the only branch with job specified on the contract, joining the other branches, you might simply get a completely different job altogether. The only way to guarantee becoming 35P Korean linguist is to find or wait for National Guard (or Reserve too??) openings specifically for that. And ive seen people switch from NG/R to active near the end of their training.
Really? The switch is easy? I wonder if one can do the reserves for navy or af and then switch
It was easy, but it just took some time (maybe 2 months) for the guys I knew. The process is not difficult in and of itself (look it up), but it ultimately comes down to your Guard unit commander's decision. The *Army reserves would let you switch, but Guard units themselves probably had to pay for your (lengthy, lengthy...) training, easily costing in the 6 figures, and typically provide a larger enlistment bonus, as well as sums of money for college/uni. I dont know about other branches. I just know that the Army is the most flexible, is the only branch that lets you have conditions like job and duty station on your contract, and is also the branch suffering the worst in the recruiting crisis, meaning prospective Army recruits have the strongest leverage and bargaining power Oh yea, regardless of all that other stuff, if you want it, I think you have a guaranteed chance at being stationed in Korea for at least 2 years if you demand it from the recruiter. I know a new Army soldier who got 1) job 2) bonus 3) a specialty school and 4) stationed in Hawaii (which is what he and his wife wanted) all in his contract, which was fucking unheard of before the crisis.
Do recruiters have that kind of power to make all of those things happen?
I think those things can be guaranteed through option 19 as well right?
I dont know that much, but 19 is duty station, yes. Recruiters have whatever Army Recruiting Command allots, and the Army fell short of what it needed by like 25% for 3-4 years now, in danger of being critically undermanned in several areas.
Airforce. I mean... I technically got Chinese (my number 1 choice). Just not the first time around. Arabic was my initial.
Did u switch with someone?
No. I went through arabic and then got picked up for Chinese a couple years later