Going to School While Deployed?

[udamonsta]

How does school work while being deployed? I'm pretty sure the mission comes first. Are the classes slower paced or self paced? How much time would a soldier get for school while deployed? I'm an Intel Analyst and I have my first deployment with the NG coming up shortly, thanks.

[chd]

How does school work while being deployed? I'm pretty sure the mission comes first. Are the classes slower paced or self paced? How much time would a soldier get for school while deployed? I'm an Intel Analyst and I have my first deployment with the NG coming up shortly, thanks.

Depending on the school, your professors should understand if you are late with assignments. Most military-friendly schools have forgiving withdrawal policies if you get too far behind.

I'm currently "deployed" in GTMO and am able to comfortably take two eight-week graduate-level classes at a time. I had three going for a month and it was tricky. Of course, when I say "comfortably" I mean that all I do is work, work out and do school work. When I had a busy week and couldn't do any homework, my professors let me make it up - one said "take your time" and the other said "no penalty this time, but next time it'll be double" (since I didn't follow his explicit policy on how to request an extension).

My job is different than others, so I have ample time. A lot of other people in my unit would probably struggle given their more hectic work schedules. I'd consider my case to be a best case scenario for the upper limit of classes.

FYI: My degree is M.A. International Relations from American Military University and I plan on completing 24 credits while here. Not bad - better to be busy than bored in GTMO... or in trouble, like every other person taking advantage of the only OIF/OEF deployment where alcohol is authorized.

[udamonsta]

Thank you sir.

[matthew.ritchie]

How does school work while being deployed? I'm pretty sure the mission comes first. Are the classes slower paced or self paced? How much time would a soldier get for school while deployed? I'm an Intel Analyst and I have my first deployment with the NG coming up shortly, thanks.

If you're at a big FOB (e.g., Bagram, Baghdad), then you will have some live instructor classes available, as well as reliable connectivity for Internet courses. I recommend waiting until you've been in country for at least two weeks before adding a commitment of this nature to your life. You may not have a schedule that allows a live instructor course, or you may not have the Internet connectivity need to take a distance learning course. Many sites will have an education representative stationed there, to hold your hand signing up for classes, applying for tuition assistance, etc.

Many of your friends will spend all their free time staring at a glowing rectangle of some kind. I encourage you to set some reasonable goals, and hang out with those who will reinforce your goals, not distract from them. If you keep your focus, then this could be the year that changes your life for the better. You could come home with greater maturity, progress towards a degree, and more physically fit. Any of those certainly mean more than achieving the high score on Space Invaders, or memorizing the corpus of Adam Sandler's collected works.

[KMANinTX]

Well said.

(When I was in the Navy) My ship was big enough to have a few instructors on board during cruises. Knocked out all my History that way....

[WIBecky74]

To take advantage of the free college you need to register at goarmyed.com. This needs to be done, probably as your first step. A few of the smaller bases even had Education Reps from the larger ones visit to help get you enrolled and such. Then once in awhile one would come for a few months to teach a class in person. Of course you have to need this class or have electives. I know one was a history class. Personally (depending on a whole lotta stuff of course) I think taking online classes is your best bet. There are quite a few reputable colleges to pick from if you do a little research. You can transfer credits or also find out if current college does online classes if thats the case. In MOST cases (only facts I have to base that on is listening to others really) you should be able to take at least one class at a time (2-6 credits) if you manage your time wisely. That isnt always the easiest to do as we all know. You have to make a commitment because it does snowball into the future if you want to get credits.