[quote]carter12 wrote:
I’m also trying to decide which Special Ops I’d prefer after college.
[/quote]
Why go to college in the first place?
[quote]BigPaul wrote:
carter12 wrote:
I’m also trying to decide which Special Ops I’d prefer after college.
Why go to college in the first place?[/quote]
That’s not a bad question. While it never hurts to get the extra education, you might find out that you’ve lost valuable years during which you could have qualified for the Spec Ops schools. If you’re not in ROTC in college, I think you would be better off enlisting right away. And it’s not like you finish college and sign up for Spec Ops. My advice is think long and hard about which branch of the military you want to spend your time in, because the odds are that you will not make Spec Ops, so you better be comfortable in the branch you’ve chosen. In that respect, the Army has more different types of these units than the others, thereby increasing your odds of making it. And if you don’t make it, it’s not necessarily a reflection of your manliness. There is a rigorous process (and I’m not talking about physical here). They look for a specific type of person, physically, psychologically, pathologically and if you don’t meet that strict guideline, you will not make it to the elite teams.
[quote]BigPaul wrote:
Why go to college in the first place?[/quote]
Yes, that’s a good question Paul. I’ve posted the same question on many of the Special Ops message boards and the usual response from guys who’ve “been there, done that” is that I should finish college first. They say that the opportunity to get a degree is worth taking.
I get pretty pissed sometimes thinking that I should be in Iraq right now serving my country. I’m lucky as hell to get to go to a classroom, stare at hot girls, etc. while my peers risk their lives in the desert.
But when I consider everything, I always feel that getting my degree first will benefit me more in the long run. My major is political science which should be beneficial towards a career in the military.
Some might see it as just procrastination and that I’m just waiting to eventually back out of it. Well, all I know is it’s something that I want really bad and that I can’t see myself doing anything else. So we’ll see how it goes.
well big guy im in sf. i got my degree first, realized being a drunk civilian was too easy. too easy to just float thru life, working and doing whatever i wanted. i was headed for an early grave. getting my degree first was the right choice for me but maybe not for you. depends on the person.
so i joined the army. went infantry first. did all the cool guy schools an infantryman can do and stillw anted more. went sf and have been happy about it ever since. although my wife hates it. if you do decide to do it which i say is a good choice and one you can be proud of whether you make the decision to join sf or not. then do it.in my last 8 plus years i have heard hundreds of guys say they were oging to do this, try out for this etc etc… and they never do it.
the only guys who ever do are the ones who just say im going to do it and submit the paperwork. if you are not serious about it i would stop talking about it.
and yes the 18x program is still out there and available for new recruits. these are the guys who join sf right off the street. it will take you about 2 years of being treated like a turd before you ever set foot on an a-team so be prepared for it now. you wont be special for a very long time. and if you wash out at some point you will be sent ot the infantry and treated like a turd.
but just so your eyes are opened fully. i started the course with 40 guys. in the last 6 months 4 of them at least have died in combat that i know of. unfortunately i do not keep contact with all of them so it could be more.
in the last 4 years about 10 dudes total i have known well have died over there. it is a great life and profesion but most dudes wont be able to hack it.
[quote]Kir Dog wrote:
To be in the Special Forces, a Ranger, a SEAL etc., do you have to speak a few languages?
[/quote]
to be in sf you have to speak a foreign language. to be aranger you have to go thru RIP after airborne school or ROPE if you are already ranger qualified.
Hey Deadleg, how do the infantry guys earn their ‘expert infantry’ badges?
BTW, it’s an honor to have you on this board. I’m ex-army and when I was in I went to an SF seminar and realized very quickly that despite me thinking that I was hardcore I knew that I didn’t have what it takes.
soldier slim,
earning your eib used to be difficult. had to complete a buttload of tasks perfectly to earn it. but starting in about 2002 the powers that be “influenced” the sergeant majors who were running the sites to adjust the grading and appeals process. that wasmy last year as an infantryman and my squad went 100% for the guys who did not already have it. unheard of. in my platoon only one dude failed and in our company of about 108 dudes only three failed. it was absolutely ridiculous.
imo, now every leg infantryman has an eib due to the feel good politics of the left coast invading our forces. now im getting fired up agian because it used to be a descriminator for promotions and dudes with ranger tabs, jumpmaster, and eib’s would generally get promoted ahead of the guys who drove around in bradleys. now everyone has eib’s. you can pretty much place the blame squarely on shinseki, who also changed the berets to make non combat jobs feel good about themselves.
anyways i could rant and rant about some of the bad choices that have been made by the powers that be. the army is still a good profession, no matter what my wife says as i prepare to leave this week for afghanistan.
That’s unfortunate about the qualifications for the tab. I got out in 2002 and very few guys were rocking them. The ones who had them were proud of them.
Good luck to you over there. And thanks again for what you do for this nation and for all of us.
Xen,
All I can say is make sure you want to make a commitment to this before it starts and for the right reasons. You can be an honorable, respectful, humble, courageous man, and one bad ass dude without being a marine. Do you support the war to the point that you’d fight in it?
I thought about joining USMC and talked to a few recruiters only to find out you needed to serve a minimum of 8 years, they were pushing for me to be a pilot which was 12 years (What the hell? I really didn’t want to be a pilot and he was talking like I was going to be the next top gun.) The free tuition and all of the bonuses that come with the military are nice, but they’ve got you by the balls for the amount of time you decide to be in service pretty much. Atleast thats what I got out of the whole situation. Kind of felt like I couldn’t persue anything else while enrolled.
I mean recruiters and people currently enrolled in the marine core are very biased toward what they do, but I think thats where you’ll get the best information about the USMC. If you want to be a pilot though, definitely go for it.
I think its most important just to do whats going to make you happy ultimately. Listen to your Dad too, Dad’s always know what’s best.
Hey deadleg, thanks for your input on here. It’s an honor to have you on this board and I really appreciate you contributing to this thread.
I’ve got a question for you that might help someone like Xen and would definitely help me, if you do’nt mind answering.
What would you do to prepare for SF if you had a little college left before you were able to sign the papers and begin training? How would you prepare in terms of reading materials, college course work that’d help, and PT?
Thanks.
Hey deadleg,
I know exactly what you mean about the EIB. I was an evaluater for the first aid station and the rescue breathing station. At the end of the day when we report our Go/NoGo stats to the sergeant majors they would kick our asses if we had too many NoGos.
And to make it worse, this EIB was conducted in the MDW area of Washington D.C. at Ft. A.P. Hill. General Shinseki himself came out there to make sure there were no unjustly NoGos. I personally guarded the house he lived in on Ft. Myer for the eve of Y2K and many nights after 9/11. Being in “The Old Guard” isnt all that great. When we did the barret ceremony he led the whole thing, what a bad day.
HOOAH
Hey Rangermedic, check your PM’s.
[quote]carter12 wrote:
Links:
http://www.thesealquest.com
http://www.armyrangers.com
[/quote]
You left off the quiet ones…
Though Force Recon doesn’t have an official public website, you can find out a good bit of information from the fraternal organization below. Just be polite.
http://www.forcerecon.com (USMC Force Recon)
There is no direct enlistment option which is why there are no official public websites about the unit. Both officers and enlisted must prove themselves in a regular unit before applying for a chance at the selection tests. Good Luck.
[quote]carter12 wrote:
Hey deadleg, thanks for your input on here. It’s an honor to have you on this board and I really appreciate you contributing to this thread.
I’ve got a question for you that might help someone like Xen and would definitely help me, if you do’nt mind answering.
What would you do to prepare for SF if you had a little college left before you were able to sign the papers and begin training? How would you prepare in terms of reading materials, college course work that’d help, and PT?
Thanks.[/quote]
if i only had a little college left i would finish the degree first obviously. as far as reading materials it would depend on what you are interested in. hunt for bin laden is good, shadow wars is good. both on afghanistan. is plenty of books out there. look in the military history section of the book store. is countless.
as far as pt i would not worry about that too much. if you went into the xray program your pt will be taken care of for you. you will be in basic for a couple months, airborne school for another month and then the xrays all come to bragg and spend some time learning how to land nav and getting in shape for selection.
so getting in shape for the course really will not be aproblem for you. just make sure your mentally prepared for it. it is a marathon not a sprint. takes a long time but is worth it in the end.
one of the best guys i went thru q course with was form the old guard. for years i had bad mouthed them for not having to go to the field etc etc but he was and is a good dude. even got assigned to the same bn as me now.
old guard dudes are all right if they produced him.
deadleg,
Im pretty sure I know the dude you are talking about. He leaves monday for Iraq. He is one of the best guys I have had the privilage of knowing. We used to party downtown georgetown on M street picking up interns.
Well, good luck to you and your bn in Iraq!
Wish I could participate but Im a “disabled veteran” now.
The exchange between kane101nod and supermick had me laughing.
It’s amazing how ignorant of history some people are. Let me school you a little.
United States Army Special Forces, the Green Berets
In the U.S. armed forces, the green beret may only be worn by personnel awarded the Special Forces tab, signifying that they have been qualified as Special Forces (SF) soldiers.
The U.S. Army Special Forces wear the green beret because of their links to the British Commandos of World War II. The first Ranger unit, commonly known as Darby’s Rangers, was formed in Northern Ireland during the summer of 1942. On completion of training at the Commando Training Depot at Achnacarry Castle in Scotland, those Rangers had the right to wear the British Commando green beret, but the U.S. Army disallowed this, and Rangers never officially wore their berets.
When visiting the Special Forces at Fort Bragg on October 12, 1961, President Kennedy asked Brigadier General William P. Yarborough to make sure that the men under his command wore green berets for the visit. Later that day, Kennedy sent a memorandum which included the line:
“I am sure that the green beret will be a mark of distinction in the trying times ahead”.
On April 11, 1962 in a White House memorandum to the United States Army, Kennedy reiterated his view
“[the green beret is] a symbol of excellence, a badge of courage, a mark of distinction in the fight for freedom.”
Both Yarborough and Edson Raff had fought the Pentagon staff for a long time to finally allow wearing of the beret, and the president did not let them down
Then there is this. Which I edited for space.
http://www.specialoperations.com/Foreign/United_Kingdom/SAS/History.htm
The SAS was formed early in World War 2 with the appropriate motto “Who Dares Wins”…
The anti-guerrilla campaigns of the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s were succeeded by a new role in which the SAS quickly built up an unrivaled expertise - counter-terrorist actions. Spurred on by operations in Northern Ireland against the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), the SAS has developed techniques which are copied throughout the Western world. This has led to the SAS not only being consulted by overseas governments and special forces, but also in being directly involved on some “foreign” operations. Thus, in October 1977, two SAS men were with the West German GSG 9 unit at the attack to recapture a hijacked German airliner at Mogadishu, and SAS members were also involved in the earlier Dutch operation against the Moluccan terrorists who had taken over a trainload of hostages.
All I have to say about the French Vs the British is Agincourt Biitch.