Back in the mid 1970s while working as a Military Police (MP) Investigator (MPI) with the United States Army (USA) Customs Office (42nd Military Police Group) at Stuttgart, Germany decided to improve my education and started taking night classes with Central Texas College (CTC).
My CTC crime scene investigation class was taught by an Army Criminal Investigation Division Command (CIDC) Special Agent (SA). At the end of each class the instructor SA Reid Chave would tell us how CID needed SAs and we should all apply to see if we qualified to be a USA CIDC SA.
My CTC crime scene investigation class was taught by an Army Criminal Investigation Division Command (CIDC) Special Agent (SA). At the end of each class the instructor SA Reid Chave would tell us how CID needed SAs and we should all apply to see if we qualified to be a USA CIDC SA.
At the time CID was looking for enlisted and warrant SAs. There was a program for warrant officers, if selected you would go to the CID school at Ft McClellan, AL and if you completed the CID course you came out as a Warrant Officer and were assigned to a field unit to investigate crime!
Applied for the Warrant Officer program in CID but was not selected for Warrant but was selected as enlisted. I was disappointed not getting the Warrant but it seemed like a good career move at the time after going from Private to Staff Sergeant (SSG) in a short time. In fact I was stuck at SSG due to the selection process for Sergeant First Class (SFC) having such a high selection point score.
To make SFC in the MPs you had to have 900 out of a 1000 to get the SFC stripes. My score was 870 and no way to get any more points at that time.
Accepted the selection to CID, picked up and left the 42nd MP Gp Customs on top of the hill at Robinson Barracks, Stuttgart Germany and moved down the hill to the MP station where the CID had it's office on the second floor as well as office space in the basement and the attic.
Shadowed several CID SAs while waiting on my CID Basic Agent training date, learned how CID in the field worked, how information was gathered, crimes were investigated, photography, weapons, and office politics. Little did I know the folks at the school were going to tell me to forget all I learned in the field, while the field told me when I left to learn all I could at school, then use that training but remember CID Field Work was different than what was taught in CID school!
Applied for the Warrant Officer program in CID but was not selected for Warrant but was selected as enlisted. I was disappointed not getting the Warrant but it seemed like a good career move at the time after going from Private to Staff Sergeant (SSG) in a short time. In fact I was stuck at SSG due to the selection process for Sergeant First Class (SFC) having such a high selection point score.
To make SFC in the MPs you had to have 900 out of a 1000 to get the SFC stripes. My score was 870 and no way to get any more points at that time.
Accepted the selection to CID, picked up and left the 42nd MP Gp Customs on top of the hill at Robinson Barracks, Stuttgart Germany and moved down the hill to the MP station where the CID had it's office on the second floor as well as office space in the basement and the attic.
Shadowed several CID SAs while waiting on my CID Basic Agent training date, learned how CID in the field worked, how information was gathered, crimes were investigated, photography, weapons, and office politics. Little did I know the folks at the school were going to tell me to forget all I learned in the field, while the field told me when I left to learn all I could at school, then use that training but remember CID Field Work was different than what was taught in CID school!
Reid Chave was my instructor at Park College in Ohio. He was awesome. I miss his wit and insight.
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