Would you go to language school or stay with your unit?

Go to school, meet new people! He will get to know the people he will eventually deploy with and he’ll keep in touch with the guys he know if they’re good friends.

I know we’ve talked a little about this, but I just thought of something else. He should ask his unit if he would deploy with a completely different unit or if he would just be joining his unit over there once he finishes school. If his unit is deployed, it would seem more likely that they would have him join his unit once he finished the school rather then send him with some other unit to some other location. There are numerous reasons a soldier can be sent to join their unit months after their unit deployed. In my husband’s unit, they had a soldier join them about 4 months into the deployment because he had to wait for medical clearance. As soon as he had his clearance, he was on a flight to join the unit. He will come home with the rest of the unit when they come home.

Good point. Oh, and how difficult is it to get into language school?

Definitely go with the language training. You can always make friends just about anywhere, and he will probably run into his friends again anyway. The language institute is difficult to get into, and is a great opportunity. If he doesn’t go, he will always regret it.

In addition to regretting it, the opportunity may not present itself again if he turns it down now. The Army will look at that as a sign of how serious he is about his career.

And a second language can be a very real career advantage in civilian life as well. Like I said, if he doesn’t go, he’ll deeply regret it for the rest of his life. This is a marvelous opportunity. If I were him I would be on it like white on rice!

There were other people who scored just as high as he did on the DLAB…how come they aren’t presented with the opportunity to go with him??

There could be other reasons behind their decision. Perhaps he has impressed his commanders with the other work he has done in the unit and they feel that he would be the best one to send to language school. Commanders make decisions based off of many different factors. It could also be that they are only able to send one person at a time because of the financial cost to the unit and they think he is the best candidate. I think he should be honored if they think that highly of him.

@Seaofclouds

Great answer. I agree.

By all means, he should take language school while it’s available. When deployed he will get to know the people he’s serving with soon enough. And with his MOS, the career advancement path will open up with an additional language to his credit.

My son deploys next month. He’s in final checkout for the deployment right now. He desperately wanted to lead a combat platoon, but his unit had all the platoon leader slots already filled. He’s a real geek, so the tossed him into staff. He will hadle communications and cmputers for the unit. Not what he had wanted, but he is realizing now that the training he has been getting toward that assignment are putting him right on track for what he wants to do in civilian life when he gets back.

My advice is your boyfriend shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Take it. It’s a great opportunity to serve in a more valuable capacity.

Having spent a year in DLI I can tell you that it will be the most difficult, but at the same time, the most rewarding experience ever.
Given a chance, I would go to DLI again in a split second. But the decision is your boyfriend’s to make. :-) I am sure that whatever decision he’ll make will be the right one for him.

He took too long to answer and they gave the slot to someone else…...UGH!!!!!! Also, he’s not going to airborne anymore..

Damn! Big mistake on both counts… HUGE! : (

He has a chance to go to language school again in a couple years they told him. Who knows