How to be an intelligence analyst?

Signal intelligence analyst?

• I am currently looking to switch my mos to become a signal intelligence analyst. I would like to know if I would go on patrols with infantry, I'm looking to mind a good mos to do something with when I get out of the army but I would love to be able to go out in the field with infantry and work and fight along side them... I don't want some bullshit desk jockey job if I deploy

• Answer:

  JG: First, As an enlisted SigInt analyst with just a 4 year hitch, you will not have a great opportunity for getting a job in that area after you leave the Army. Only the govt has a need for SigInt Analysts and the vast majority have college degrees and are proficient in at least one foreign language. The govt agencies that use civilian SigInt analysts are CIA, DIA, NSA, FBI, and a few Intel Cells within the four military Services. If you stayed in the Army for at least 8 to 10 years, you might be able to get a job within those agencies without a college degree if you are rated at the top in the performance of SigInt duties. Pretty tough to do! Would you go out into the field with infantry? Not in a million years. SigInt is a intell job that will put you in a room someplace in the US or at Joint HQ in a place like Afganistan "listening" to others. Can't go into what you would be doing any more than that due to OPSEC. In a place like Afganistan you could be working in a CP tent or more likely in a truck mounted shelter. This is definitely a "desk jockey" type of MOS whether you deploy or not. Instead of music, you will be wearing ear phones listening for "stuff" during your duty shift and trying to make sense of what you are hearing. If you don't want a "desk jockey" job such as this and you want a MOS that translates to a civilian job later, consider aviation maintenance or Motor T maintenance. Another is air traffic control and computer repair. These are MOSs that do translate to good paying jobs. Lieutenant Colonel, US Marine Corps-Retired (Involved off and on with SigInt at Marine Corps and Joint level)