I am joining the Army pretty soon, and I told my recruiter that I wanted a Ranger contract. He told me that I might just sign up for Airborne and see if I could adjust to the culture shock, among other things, of being Airborne Infantry. He told me that if I still wanted Ranger that I would have an opportunity in Basic Airbone Training to sign up for it. Is this true?
Justin,
That may be true. The Armed Forces are now advertising for Special Forces, which is something I don’t remember then doing before. I want to give you the advise that I gave my 17 year old son, If you want to join the military, join one of the Special Ops branches. You get more involved training which translates to higher surviability.
I was in the 82nd way back in the late 70’s. Training was tough and jump school was a trip.
I trained at Ft. Benning, GA for both Jump School and AIT, (Advanced Infantry Training), I remember several nights while on fire duty during AIT that about 2-3 AM I could HEAR the Ranger Cadets getting in their nmorning formation, I would think to myself, that was a crazy bunch of dudes. Excellent Soilders.
Thought I would share that with you.
Have good success on your decison.
Jah Warrior
Justin the recruiter is telling you only half truths. The fact is once you are in airborne school in Ft. Benning GA you will have an option of going through RIP school which is what soldiers go through to join a ranger unit. This is not ranger school if you make it through RIP and get to a Ranger unit you will eventually get a chance to earn your Tab. Back to what the recruiter said you can only do this if you have not been assiged a unit on your contract. The fact is if you wanna become a ranger I suggest you push for it in your contract. If they say no then threaten to not join if the Ranger assigement isnt in your contract. BTW just having Ranger in your contract or airborne doesnt mean you will make it through the training. If you fail then you even are sent to a leg unit(light infantry) or you get recycled to do the training all over again. I would suggest if you are wanting to do something high speed you try and do the special forces option that is offered to new recruits. It is very hardcore and it allows you to gain rank fast if you are a trying to become an NCO not an officer. If you do the Spec Ops training you will go through airborne school and then to Green Beret training which lasts around 2 years. If you complete the training and become a operator then you will have access to all of the schools without having to wait years to get in. This also will give you the chance to go through Ranger school. Just something to think about. PS 99 percent of recuiters will tell you anything to get you to join.
All I have to say is if you want it, get it in writing. If you don’t get it in writing there is a good chance you may never get it. I was told the same thing when I joined in 93. I was stupid and listened to the BS. It took me 2 and a half years before I was given a slot to ranger school and then I only got it because I was persistant about reminding the CO and 1st SGT. about my goals.
Jahwarrior and Cold hearted gave you excelent advice- if you want high speed training go SF! If you are not able to get what you want as far as a contract for whatever reason, but still want to join. Make sure you MOS is specified and not with a X, 11X is Infantry, needs of the Army, whiich means you could end up as a 11M(mechanized Infantry), 11B(light Infantry), 11C or 11H (mortars)not sure the designation of the last one.
On a last note, please ,before you join a combat unit, take a hard deep look inside yourself, and ask yourself are you willing to go to combat? I saw to many soldiers join combat units,and then freak out when the unit would get sent to combat areas. Make sure you are willing to go, because if you get the orders then freak out, you are putting alot of other people lives in greater danger.
I hope you the best. Godspeed and thank you
HyperX
Good luck to you, but I will join everyone else and warn you: be very careful about what you sign. Everything that you want MUST be in the contract, or else you are or can be fucked. Once you are property of the US Army, they can do whatever they want.
HyperX gave you a perfect example in his post of what can happen. I just heard another story yesterday on these lines.
And, my friend barely got out of Iraq before they started extending soldiers’ enlistments.
And HyperX is correct: make sure you know what you’re getting into. Do you think you can deal with being shipped off to a foreign land and kill people? You should decide before signing up, not after.
Take a long hard look at college too. What with loans, grants and a decent part-time (or full-time) job, you can often afford to go to a public school.
Good luck
I sincerely appreciate the feedback from all of you, you have helped me quite a bit. Thanks.
Whatever you do, never and I mean never voluntarily drop from Ranger School. That LOM (Lack Of Motivation) statement follows you around like a bad fart. You can’t expect to go anywhere in the Army after you sign the dotted line on the LOM.
rangertab75