I have an interesting situation as it pertains to my CFA administration. To make a long story short, I do not have access to the resources in my hometown, such as gym teachers or coaches (I am from Cincinnati, Ohio, but I am living in Gainesville, Georgia for a month at a training camp before I go on an international service trip on a gap year). Therefore, I am not sure how to find an administrator for the test in the area. I will be in Georgia for the next 2 weeks, and this is the final box to check before my application is complete, so I have a decent amount of time to get a test administered. I will be able to leave the base for the test, but I will have to find a way to get there without a car (probably an uber), so it has to be relatively close, probably within a 45 minute drive or so.
Can anyone help or give suggestions on how to find an administrator in the area?
I am sure you have researched the USMA CFA instruction and noted who can administer the CFA. This is yours to solve.
First step, contact your assigned USMA points of contact and explain your situation. Ask to be put in contact with his/her counterpart in your current area to discuss options. If you haven’t previously explained this situation, you may find yourself apologizing for getting in a bit of a time and logistics crunch. I assume you know you were doing these gap year events some time ago and the challenges they might present. I assume you were aware you could have done your CFA as soon as your application allowed you to take it. Or, maybe all these opportunities came up recently in your sight line, and you’ve been racing to get everything done. That’s all in the past now, so let’s focus on the present.
Looking at the USMA approved administrator list:
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PE teachers. You are not likely to be able to cold call around to area schools and convince someone to do it. But - you might call the guidance counselor at the nearby HS, ask if they have anyone applying to USMA, could they help put you in touch, then you try to parlay that into seeing if you could use their CFA administrator.
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USMA Liaison officers. See my opening comments. You will have to be exceptionally appreciative of anyone volunteering to take on additional workload for someone not in their area.
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Military officers or non-commissioned officers. You can find these at any college nearby with ROTC units or an Army Reserve Center or National Guard Armory. Over to you to start researching and making the cold calls. With luck, you might find a USMA grad willing to help. Be sure and research the ROTC unit college webpages for cadre names.
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Professors of Military Science. These are the officers at a college ROTC unit.
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J/ROTC Instructors. While you are researching local high schools, check for their JROTC unit. Perhaps you will be in luck and they have just done a CFA for someone else in their unit.
For any of these folks, you will have to be especially grateful. You may think two weeks is plenty of time, but you have got to get busy here to find someone who is willing, who will find the test gear, who will do the legwork on organizing a venue and related preps. Additionally, your USMA CFA must be videotaped by another person not the administrator. Do you already have that covered?
No doubt you had your reasons for not doing it in your hometown the minute you were able to knock the test out and submit it, and presumably you will not be back in your hometown long enough to get it organized before you depart? All rhetorical.
You have set yourself a sizable logistics challenge, and this will test your problem-solving, ingenuity and drive to get it accomplished. Keep in mind even if you find the willing bodies, gear and venue, all it takes is one family emergency, really severe weather, an illness, and you’re derailed. Contingency planning and building in generous time margins are a hallmark of military planning, because “stuff happens.”
I assume your DoDMERB is complete, since you noted your application is complete except for the CFA. Good for you if you have already knocked out everything related to nomination applications, including VP.
That’s the most practical advice I can give at this stage in your timeline. I hope you can get it organized, can enjoy your service trip overseas, and get good news about an offer of appointment before you return.
