For all those interested, ATF has posted an announcement for the TEA Exam for the first time in awhile. The testing locations are: Boston, MA; Detroit, MI; Tampa, FL; New Orleans, LA; San Francisco, CA; and Sioux Falls, SD. Announcement closes on the 19th of Sept. The last time ATF had a large multi-city announcement like this was back on 05' so it will probably be awhile before there is another. Good luck!
I don't know if I'm just too tired and missed it, but did they give an actual date of the exam? I know when the registration ends, but when is the actual test?
They dont give a date ahead of time. You basically send in your packet, they evaluate it and invite you if qualified about 3 weeks before the test. Im guessing the test will probably be sometime in Nov/early Dec. That is just a guess.
Thanks. That's too bad, I won't even be in the area by then so there's no point in trying to arrange it. Oh well, MAYBE it won't be another 2 yrs. before it opens back up.
Just saw this yesterday. Got everything filled-out and Express mailed it via USPS; hope they accept it. I'll just have to drive a few hours up to Sioux Falls if everything works out. Here's hoping.
Anyone heard anything about the testing lately? Or is it all quiet still?
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"The rebel is doomed to a violent death. The rest of us can look forward to sedated expiration in a coma inside an oxygen tent, with tubes inserted in every bodily orifice."
- Edward Abbey
Maverick, thanks for the info. Imagine how much quicker things would get done around this country if politics didnt get in the way. Well, I guess this will let me work on studying a little more incase I get the invite to take the test then.
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"The rebel is doomed to a violent death. The rest of us can look forward to sedated expiration in a coma inside an oxygen tent, with tubes inserted in every bodily orifice."
- Edward Abbey
Looks like letters for the Boston exam are going out now. So far the dates are Dec 5th and 6th. Other cities are still pending. Anyone else taking it in Boston??
I may have missed them...but do we have any active ATF SA's active on the board?
If we do is it possible to get an up to date "day in the life of" ? You know for all of us out there who get stuck in Chicago on Thanksgiving...we like to hear how the other half lives.
I may have missed them...but do we have any active ATF SA's active on the board?
If we do is it possible to get an up to date "day in the life of" ? You know for all of us out there who get stuck in Chicago on Thanksgiving...we like to hear how the other half lives.
JBT is verified but I'm not (I've explained to him why I do not want my Group Sup being called to verify me) so take my words with a grain of salt if you choose. Day to day life in ATF can vary greatly depending on what type of office you work out of. If you are in a Field Division office where the SAC resides, you may work in a group that only covers one county and there may be 10-12 agents or more in that group. These types of groups are usually for large cities and the county that hosts that city. If you are in a RAC office or you are in a Field Division group that handles the outlying smaller counties, you will often be assigned 1-3 counties that you work in full time with the state and locals from those counties. Assuming you are not a CFI (Certified Fire Investigator) or a CES (Certified Explosives Specialist), you will primarily be working firearms cases, whether they be PSN referrals of felons in possession of firearms and/or ammunition (especially as a new guy b/c more senior agents are expected to work more complex cases), or delay/denial retrievals (which you will hate b/c they have deadlines and they get in the way of everything else), or you may actually develop your own cases whether it be from FFLs, local gangs, etc. I have very little explosives work and when I do the CES always takes them anyways. Many offices have task forces that focus on gangs, violent crime, etc. In those task forces you will work with most of the agencies that have personnel in those areas whether they be DEA, FBI, ICE, State, Local, etc. Depending on where you are located at, and this is not specific to ATF, one of your biggest challenges will be getting the USAO to take cases. In my office, it appears as though the "drunken monkey" who assigns new employees to offices is the same "drunken monkey" who decides if the USAO will take your cases for prosecution. Day to day activities include wanting to punch your computer b/c of NFORCE, submitting OP Plans that require so much detail you would think you were using Nuclear Weapons, and cussing about management with your other co-workers. But then again, that is not ATF specific either. I work in a group that handles outlying counties and I have two counties that keep me very busy with firearms cases. I generally work most of my LEAP every week but I enjoy the job. It also helps that I live in one of the counties that I am assigned and I make a habit of stopping by the PD every morning that I can so my "day" technically gets started earlier than others. On average, I work 3-4 nights per month but that is on cases that I have generally developed with one of the local detectives that I work with a lot so it is more of a reward of our hard work than simply responding to a situation. ATF can vary greatly so I don't want to issue my words as a blanket statement for other offices. JBT works further north in the US than I do so his experiences may vary. Being proactive in ATF is generally not a problem but expect to be drowned by paperwork if you work on something big. I've heard it from several people, not just ATF co-workers, but the general theme is that "Big cases= Big Problems, Small Cases= Small Problems, No Cases= No Problems". But the no cases= no problems doesn't work for new hires as I personally know of one female agent who we hired from the State Investigation Unit (not really wanting to give out her former agencies acronym as they are a great agency) who was fired after two years for not doing anything. If you come from a local narcotics unit, don't expect to come to ATF and be allowed to only prosecute dope cases without the guns to go along with them. Things are in the works regarding this but it really isn't hard to get the guns to go along with them, it just might mean you have to actually put in some nights. At ATF you'll meet everyone from the guy who always has the most defendants (or convictions or whatever other statistical means they use next year to measure us by) to the guy whose only real work is getting a cup of coffee from Starbucks or sucking up to the boss. As long as you are willing to help out other agents, you should never have a problem. I remember one agent who we swore did not have headlights on his car b/c it was always light when he came in and always light when he went home. Just don't be that guy.
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