sidechannel wrote:Hi all,
Several questions about IWO and CWE --
So firstly, I am a soon to be college graduate and have submitted my application for IWO. I was wondering where I could find information on when the next selection board will be taking place that will be reviewing my application?
Next, if I were to be selected as an IWO (just IW, not SWO-IW), would I be attending OCS or ODS? I know CWE would require ODS, and my recruiter told me that IWO would be ODS as well (with OCS being for the SWO-IW option), however, everything I can find online seems to indicate OCS either way.
And finally, does anyone here have any insight on how the "IW experience" may differ if I were to do CWE (5 year max allowed) first and later transfer to IWO?
Thanks!
I'm not a CWE, but work with several.
Regarding your question about the "IW experience". As a CWE, you'll be working with/for IWOs, so you will learn something about the "IW experience" just by talking and working with them. You'll also have the opportunity (at least where i'm at), to qualify Information Dominance Corps and IWO if you so choose to do so. Obviously, being a CWE first and then crossing over to IWO would set you behind your IWO peers in some capacity, but not too much since you've been around IWs your entire CWE experience. The IWO community is full of lateral transfers who have done well (i'm a lateral transfer myself), so you'll just have to work a little harder when you crossover (i'm thinking operational tour, spending more time to learn about our tradecraft, etc).
If you have a CS/programming background, then CWE is also an option to you. During your time as a CWE, you'll learn sooner or later if lateral transfer is right for you and your family. So assuming you're going to lateral transfer at this stage is really early to say (unless you're a prior and need the TIS to hit 20).