Your problem could be simpler than most discussions on the thread. The problem you see might look like this:

C:\Users\Dev>git checkout $username@PATH/BRANCH$.git
fatal: not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git

C:\Users\Dev>git checkout $username@PATH/BRANCH$.git
error: pathspec '....' did not match any file(s) known to git

Solution? CLONE - not CHECKOUT!!!! :)

C:\Users\Dev>git clone $username@PATH/BRANCH$.git