DEA Academy Questions

[scout_sniper03]

I have a questions about the DEA Academy:

1. Does the class PT every morning? How many times per week do you run, and what are the distances involved?

2. What is a typical day like at the Academy? When does the training day begin and end? How much classroom time is there on a given day?

3. How paramilitary is the Academy? Are there "junk on the bunk" inspections, mindless screaming, drill?

4. Does the Academy stop training for any federal holidays?

Thanks in advance. I did 4 years as a Marine Officer and would like to know if I'd be getting back into something resembling Officer Candidate School or something more like The Basic School.

[Group9]

I have a questions about the DEA Academy:

.

Be advised that my answers might be slightly dated, as I haven't been to the DEA Academy in a couple of years.

1. Does the class PT every morning? How many times per week do you run, and what are the distances involved?

. It alternates with firearms in that one week you will spend all morning or afternoon in firearms training two times and the next week three times, and back and forth. Example: Week six, say, you would spend two days doing PT and three days doing firearms. Week seven you would switch and spend three days doing Pt and two days doing firearms. And Week eight would be just like seek six and back and forth, and back and forth, the whole time you are there. So basically half of your time at the academy is either PT and defensive tactics or shooting.

As far as distances, I think there is only one time you run over five miles (and that is the yellow brick road course) and by then, you are either in such good shape, or so banged up and so used to pain, that you really don't care. I pulled a groin muscle when I went through and I took so much Advil it's a wonder I still have a stomach lining.

The PT and defensive tactics are pretty rough if you are not in shape, (or even if you are in shape and unlucky and get hurt). You don't want to show up thinking you will get in shape after you arrive. I was a runner, and so I considered the days we ran instead of beating each other up, to be the easy days. And, pushups and stuff (about a million of those if my memory is correct).

But, if you were in the Marines, I think you will think the academy is a cake walk, from the guys I know who have done both.

2. What is a typical day like at the Academy? When does the training day begin and end? How much classroom time is there on a given day?

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Your starts at eight and generally end at five or five thirty. You are in class about half the time or maybe a little less than half the time. You do lot of practical exercises (where you work fake drug cases) and tactical exercises (like a mini SWAT school since DEA doesn't have SWAT teams). Classroom instruction covers legal, drug ID, DEA paperwork, report writing and general police type stuff.

You do have to work some nights and weekends, but not that often, and you don't have much to do anyway, out in the middle of nowhere at Quantico, so I kind of always like the night and weekend stuff.

3. How paramilitary is the Academy? Are there "junk on the bunk" inspections, mindless screaming, drill?

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More para-military than the FBI academy (which is more like going back to college with shooting classes), but nowhere near something like a state police academy. You only get yelled at (mostly in the practical classes it seemed, when doing the fake drug deals) when you really do something stupid (and I got yelled at more than once :D). As long as your room isn't so bad that the maids complain, no one cares what your room looks like except your room-mate. The rooms are much nicer now than they used to be (think Motel 6) and you only have one roommate, and you even have a TV now.

4. Does the Academy stop training for any federal holidays?

.

Yes, and it would even be better for you if they didn't because you get double pay when you are scheduled to work on Holidays. :D

Especially if you have the bad luck to get your federal Holiday during the first six weeks when everyone is confined to the academy except for day trips.

Thanks in advance. I did 4 years as a Marine Officer and would like to know if I'd be getting back into something resembling Officer Candidate School or something more like The Basic School.

I wasn't in the Marines, but I would be pretty sure that the DEA Academy is much easier than either one of those two physically. The worst thing about how DEA does it's physical fitness testing is that they make no allowances for age (they do make some for gender). A twenty three year old, gets tested and graded the exact same as a thirty six year old.

And, that never stops. For example, to get into the FAST program (Foreign Advisory Support Teams) or the older and similar Snowcap program, as an agent or a supervisor, you have to pass that Quantico test again before you can even apply, no matter what your age is. And, then, for that, they send you to the Army for training.

All in all, the worst thing about the DEA academy is that you are stuck there, out in the middle of nowhere, for so long, and your days are so regimented, that you actually start to become sort of institutionalized, like you are doing time in the pen. You almost excpet to see chalk marks on the wall next to your bunk from the guy before you. :D

Oh, and take a car. There is plenty of parking, and you will want a way to escape to civilization when you can.

[BP348]

I wasn't in the Marines, but I would be pretty sure that the DEA Academy is much easier than either one of those two physically. The worst thing about how DEA does it's physical fitness testing is that they make no allowances for age (they do make some for gender). A twenty three year old, gets tested and graded the exact same as a thirty six year old.

The thing I always found odd about the DEA academy was the fact that you have to take and pass the PT test so many times.

1) You take it as part of the hireing proceses
2) You take it before you leave for the academy
3) you take it the first week of the academy
4) Mid-term
5) Final test

I can't see why you need to take the test 4 or 5 times. They don't make allowances for age but they do for gender.

[Group9]

The thing I always found odd about the DEA academy was the fact that you have to take and pass the PT test so many times.

1) You take it as part of the hireing proceses
2) You take it before you leave for the academy
3) you take it the first week of the academy
4) Mid-term
5) Final test

I can't see why you need to take the test 4 or 5 times. They don't make allowances for age but they do for gender.

No one that I have ever met knows why they do that. When I was a counselor for a basic agent class, I even asked, and not one single person knew why, only that it was the way it was done. Because, basically, the only reason you would fail subsequent tests, is due to injury, and as long as it isn't a permanent injury, what does it matter?

I wish I could say it was the craziest policy DEA has, but it's not even in the top one hundred. :D

[BP348]

No one that I have ever met knows why they do that. When I was a counselor for a basic agent class, I even asked, and not one single person knew why, only that it was the way it was done. Because, basically, the only reason you would fail subsequent tests, is due to injury, and as long as it isn't a permanent injury, what does it matter?

I wish I could say it was the craziest policy DEA has, but it's not even in the top one hundred. :D

Hate to say it but the PT requirement is what keept me from applying after I got my degree. I could do most of it but not the run :(

well that and the whole we tell you your duty station about 2 weeks before you graduate from the academy.

[Group9]

Hate to say it but the PT requirement is what keept me from applying after I got my degree. I could do most of it but not the run :(

well that and the whole we tell you your duty station about 2 weeks before you graduate from the academy.

My problem was always the shuttle run. No matter how good my physical condition, no matter how much I practiced, I never got more than one point on the shuttle run, which always meant I was just one slip or bad step away from failing, all the way through the academy (and having to do it with a pulled groin muscle). Talk about stress.

[scout_sniper03]

Thanks a lot for the information. It's funny that I was an MP stationed there at Quantico. I waved many DEA students through the PY Gate, but I never got into any in-depth discussions about what the Academy was like. It didn't cross my mind that I might end up there someday.

[Group9]

You're way ahead of the game having already lived in the area. It's a lot easier than being in the Marines, but you're older, so I guess it balances out some.

But, good luck. I hope it works out for you.

[Luckydog09]

Do you really have to wait until 2 weeks before graduation from the academy to find out your first post?
I thought it was more towards the begining of the academy.
This leads me to my next question. How frequent is the relocation if any in a typical career?
Thank you for the info

[Group9]

Do you really have to wait until 2 weeks before graduation from the academy to find out your first post?
I thought it was more towards the begining of the academy.
This leads me to my next question. How frequent is the relocation if any in a typical career?
Thank you for the info

They are constantly changing the time period at the academy when they give you your assignment, for reasons that are only known by, or make sense to, the high command.

Non-voluntary relocation is not that frequent if you don't apply for GS-14 or above management positions. It does very rarely happen, though. GS-14's and above, move a lot. Almost everybody will get one move though, the one after graduation. But,...........

In past financial hard times, you always saw lots of people being assigned to their office of hire. I predict, but can't guarantee, that this will start happening again in these hard financial times, because transfers are the biggest non-salary budget item in the agency.

[localtin]

When they finally come out with the office locations when you are at the academy how do they decide who goes where from the picks that you make.

I am aware of how you pick your top three, but from that point if there are multiple recruits picking the same locations how does HQ decide who gets what. Is it buy class ranking or just by where your last name falls in the alphabet?

[BP348]

When they finally come out with the office locations when you are at the academy how do they decide who goes where from the picks that you make.

I am aware of how you pick your top three, but from that point if there are multiple recruits picking the same locations how does HQ decide who gets what. Is it buy class ranking or just by where your last name falls in the alphabet?

Duty stations are completly needs of the service. So you never know wich location(s) will have openings or if they do how many openings.

Most of what I've been told is that the decision about who goes where is by class ranking. The list comes out and then they go straight down the ranking list.

[Group9]

When they finally come out with the office locations when you are at the academy how do they decide who goes where from the picks that you make.

I am aware of how you pick your top three, but from that point if there are multiple recruits picking the same locations how does HQ decide who gets what. Is it buy class ranking or just by where your last name falls in the alphabet?

To be honest I don't know which system they are using right this second. It goes back and forth between two methods.
1. You tell them where you would like to go (Three picks). Only problem is that when they used this system in the past, they already knew what office you were going to before you even showed up at the academy or made a pick.
2. They tell the class where the openings are, and everyone picks three slots from those openings. If people can work it out among themselves, most people get to go where they want. If there are a lot of crappy choices, then it becomes poker/strategy/lobbying/politicking/guessing on what to pick.
3. And, number one in the class has always been given their pick of any office in the country, whether there is an opening or not.

Don't worry about what system they are using with the current class. It is just as likely to be different as the same a year from now.

[localtin]

I have heard that the firearms course for DEA is extremely difficult. Although I am a local police officer now from what I have heard our qualification course is far easier than that at the DEA academy. With this said I am an average shot, nothing spectacular. Since I have been on the job I have never heard of someone not passing the academy in my area because of a problem with firearms. They are usually worked with until they can gain a passing score. Is it true that numerous people from every class fail the test and get sent packing or is this more of a rare occurrence that only happens once in a great while DEA?

[Group9]

I have heard that the firearms course for DEA is extremely difficult. Although I am a local police officer now from what I have heard our qualification course is far easier than that at the DEA academy. With this said I am an average shot, nothing spectacular. Since I have been on the job I have never heard of someone not passing the academy in my area because of a problem with firearms. They are usually worked with until they can gain a passing score. Is it true that numerous people from every class fail the test and get sent packing or is this more of a rare occurrence that only happens once in a great while DEA?

It's not a super hard course except for the fact that ten percent of your rounds are shot from the fifty yard line. That means that if you can't hit from the fifty, you start out with just a 90, and you need a 70 or 75 to pass (I can't remember which, but since I am going to the range tomorrow, I'll ask). That's one of those rules that's pretty inflexible and if you don't pass, you will be fired.

It seems like about one person in every other class or so fails firearms and gets sent home. For the life of me, I don't understand how when you figure you shoot about 5000 rounds, and you have really good instructors. But, if you can't pass at the academy, you would really have problems later, anyway when you don't practice as much.