Hey all, given the numerous veterans on here, I’ve decided to poke my head out of the tech forums and ask for some advice with real life issues. I’ve decided to forego my last year of college (for the time being) and enlisted into the Army’s Delayed Entry Program under an 11x Opt. 40 contract (It puts me into Airborne, and then Ranger Assessment and Selection Program for service with the 75th upon completion-- it is NOT Ranger School)
Right now, I’m very pumped, this is what I’ve wanted to do my entire life. I’ve PT’d my ass off for the last 2 and a half years, and am prepared to do much, much more. I’ve gone from a couch potato who couldn’t hope to pass the APFT to scoring a 286/300 last week. No reason I should not be maxing however. Just need to shave a minute off my run to max it and I’ll be scoring in the bonus range.
Ranger-specific tests such as the 5 mile run and chinups are also no problem for me. I feel I’m fairly prepared, but there’s no way that the training won’t take every ounce of me to complete, no matter how conditioned I am. More PT is a given, and is always an obvious area of improvement.
Amidst all this, there is still room for improvement and valuable advice to be gotten. If there’s any tips, from any veterans, I’d be glad to hear them so I don’t have to be stepping on my dick any more than I’ll inevitably be doing.
I also agree to finish. Not sure what anyone has told you but with the optempo of todays units its unlikely you will get to finish school while enlisted. My signal unit operated on a 1 year deployed and 1 year at home station rotation, and with pre deployment training it was impossible to attend school.
Also if you finish school you can go to OCS and go in as an officer. Not sure if that appeals to you but I never understood why people with degrees would come in as enlisted. Even if you suck as an officer there are plenty of staff positions that need filling, and you don’t have to attempt to lead troops. They would pay back a lot of your college costs, too.
Even if you still want to go enlisted having a degree means you come in as an E4 not a PV1.
If you really do not want to finish school you’ll be just another PV1, do your 4 years, and use the GI Bill to finish what school you started. Nothing wrong with that, either, and is what most people come in as. You can get E4 pretty quick if you have good PT and put in some extra effort. PV1 to E4 usually goes pretty quickly for most as long as you are not a shithead getting the company in trouble with DUI’s and other stupid shit.
You can also do green to gold, and Im sure they would like to snap you up if you have already done some schooling. My best friend did this but is a Marine, and will be an officer this time next year. Had 2 years at San Diego State, joined, did 3 years, and is getting ready to graduate next semester.
Belmont is correct. Go officer if you can. Also, if you want to go and get your enlistment date early and then go to school, the Marine Corps has something called the Platoon Leaders Class. Go to your nearest USMC OSO office and ask about it. The basic run-down is you go to the platoon leaders class during your summer months if you have more than 12 months before you graduate, or go to OCS for the summer and a bit of the semester if you are less than 12 months. You PT with them during the school year, do recruitment “training” during the year as if you got out of basic and have a few weeks of leave at home before going to your first billet, and generally be their bitch but it is worth it. After you graduate, you get your bars, go to the Basic School, and then onto the school for your MOS. They pay for most of your college, and if you test well enough to get a special area of concentration and your degree backs it up, in my case Aeronautics, then you can pick where you want to go. I was going to get into flight school right out of OCS, but for various reasons, I wasn’t able to.
ETA: Here is more info. Whatever your choice, make sure that it is right for YOU, not what is right for your chosen MOS, or family, or even something as noble as serving your country. If it is not good for you, it won’t be a good fit and your time in service will be shitty compared to something you want to do and your performance will show it. 95% of the time in the military is boring and full of bullshit. The last 5% is where real lifelong friendships are made and where you will be able to keep yourself above your peers. Semper Fi.
However, this war won’t last forever. And since you obviously want to be an Airborne Ranger, I have to imagine that you want to ‘get in the shit.’ In that case, there is nothing wrong with delaying college if this is really what you want.
Another thing to consider, what is your major? If you are working on a BA in Gender Studies you may want to quit while you are ahead, save some money, and get a real job - lest you find yourself working at Starbucks or joining the ranks of the over educated and under employed down at Occupy Wall St.
Other than that, get in great shape and stay in great shape. Take a look at the new Army PRT program. The rest is easy - do what you are told and don’t quit.
Thanks everyone, but I think it might be a bit late for that, as I’ve already signed up at MEPS and swore in there to put me in the DEP. (I’ve heard that it’s still possible to back out at this point, but it makes serving down the road impossible, and I’m not interested really in anything else) I decided to enlist after thinking long and hard about what my ultimate goals are and they break down like this:
1.Get into the 75th Ranger Regiment.
2.Serve with Rangers.
It’s a very particular challenge that I’ve set my head towards, and in all my research, it’s not very accessible through channels other than enlisting with an Option 40 in a contract. Dictating such terms through OCS is impossible, and it would leave me at the needs of the Army, which is not where I want to go.
With my college credits, I’ll be enlisting as an E3, which is good, and while the recruiter tried to sell me on “attend school while you serve”, I’m smart enough to know that won’t happen, especially if I end up as a Ranger. I’m comfortable putting college on hold and not going in as an officer or as an E4 with a degree. Also, my major is Poli Sci. So yeah, the applicability of that beyond becoming a bum on campus right now is pretty much nil.
Keep it coming, as its all welcome, you guys have BTDT, so I can learn from whatever y’all have to say (whatever it might be).
You don’t have to do shit until you sign your contract before you get sworn in. They can’t tell you that you can’t be in the military for whatever reason. if they say that, it is because they are trying to get their recruitment numbers up for the month so their CO doesn’t come down and bitch their asses out for not getting enough warm bodies to MEPS.
Also, read your contract five (5) times. Read it word for word. Once you get done with that, read it again. This contract is going to be your life for 4/4 or 5/3 or however long your enlistment contract is. Don’t feel pressured to sign anything unless it is exactly what you want. Combat MOS aren’t as high in demand as specialty MOS like comms or even mechanics. Don’t expect a 20k bonus like my friend got when he re-upped for an additional 3 years for being a comm tech at a reserve station where he is I & I. He has a good gig going and he is close to home which is great for his family.
If you want to fight, go enlisted.
Lots of shitty jobs, lots of work, lots of character.
But you are the primary ass-kicking foot of the US military.
If you want to lead right away and play political games, go officer.
Little to no respect for about a year, but at least you only get shit on from 1/10th the people that a boot enlisted will.
However, if an O is shooting, either something has gone really wrong or he’s trying to do someone else’s job when he should be coordinating and enabling.
Hands down, best job in the USMC is Infantry Squad Leader. The entire Marine Corps is designed to support YOU, and when those assets are delivered, it’s a beautiful and bloody thing. Of course, that’s the USMC, but Rangers are very similar.
Quoting myself from another thread about a guy asking advice on being a SEAL. Some of it’s applicable and some of it’s not… Best of luck!
You may want to glance over this thread as there are veterans from different services who offer some good perspective as well. We all wear different uniform but we’re on the same team and go through a lot of the same BS. https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=29978
When I served in the Army (1973-76) almost no enlisted personnel had any college (other than draftees). Not so anymore. A LOT of NCO’s have college degrees now. Compare your average CSM’s resume with that of their battalion commander (LTC).
I enlisted in the Marines. I had a pair of 4-year degrees, and went in open contract. As a result, I became intimately familar with the M-60D and M-60E3 machine guns. “Get it in writing” is astoundingly good advice.
I was offered OCS multiple times. I always seemed to have a reason for turning it down. If I was going to make it a career, I would have been a mustang - a former enlisted grunt who became an officer. I got out after 6 years.
If you do become an officer, the Poli Sci degre will not be useless.
I definitely agree with F2S. A grunt squad when it works is a thing of beauty. Being in charge of a dozen or so assorted blaspheming cutthroats and alcoholic malcontents was probably the best job I have ever had.
Best of luck to you, and thank you for your desire to serve with such a fine group as the Rangers.
Please, for the love of all that is holy, finish school. Im not saying that you need to go the shiny route, but even an enlistedman can have a better career with a degree.
You can finish school. I deploy every year and am TDY half the time I’m home and I am always enrolled in one class, I’m in my “junior year” level classes with an online business school. I know a few JTACs assigned to the Rangers (who are deployed, tdy, or in the field just as often if not more so) who have completed entire degrees while supporting them through both invasions. One online class at a time is not that time consuming, I spend maybe 5-10 hours a week (usually more like 5) doing school work.
Obviously while you are at osut and rasp its not gonna happen, but once you get to your unit you can do it.
They probably wont send you to Ranger school until after a deployment or two and they decide to keep you.
If there is a way to guarantee 11B I would do it. I know I sure as shit would not want to be an 11C, but I don’t know what it’s like for them in the Rangers.
Good on you for wanting to serve, especially in the Combat MOS and the Rangers. I have 27+ years or combined Army service (AD, NG, ING, IRR & USAR) myself. I also signed up as an 11X and ended up an 11C1P (Indirect-Fire Infantry).
I too dropped out of college to enlist and regretted that move. I wish I had completed my college beforehand which would have allowed me to take advantage of the Army paying off my student loans. But it wasn’t a total loss, I did mange to eventually graduate (13-years after I graduated from High School).
The OPTEMPO of the Rangers is so high that you will probably not be able to take college courses while you are assigned to any of their Batts. FWIW, I was originally assigned to the 3/75 RGR(A) but was asked to leave when they found out that I was not yet a US Citizen. I tried to get some college in while I was serving on AD and failed miserably because we would spend 3 out of every 5-weeks out in the field. So take that FWIW. I have had Soldiers who struggled with obtaining their College degrees because of deployments even though they are “only” Reservists. Quite a few took almost a whole decade to complete their 4-year degree.
I managed to obtain my commission via State OCS program and was lucky enough to branch Aviation. My current MOS is 15A but am assigned to a CA unit in the USAR. I’ve been enlisted and I’ve been an Officer; I much rather be an Officer because I am able to control my own little world and use my common sense in doing so. It allows me to shield my Soldiers from some of the bonehead command decisions that I loathed as an Enlisted Soldier.
You may have small regrets here and there, but overall you will not regret serving. I loved it and am not looking forward to being put out to pasture (I’m awaiting the decision of the Medical Review Board on whether or not I will get to stay in or have to leave permanently).
Yep. I was enlisted, with two degrees, and kept getting pinged about going the officer route. What irked me is that it was always presented as a given that I SHOULD, and that I was an idiot or otherwise impaired for wanting to remain an enlisted swine and keeping my hands dirty.
Then, the Jesuit education and my smart mouth would break out, and stump them by asking them to describe why they thought that the enlisted ranks don’t deserve the best possible educated and intelligent people WITHIN their ranks, instead of without. It still more polite than just saying “'Cuz I don’t FEEL like it…” and more likely to get them to abandon the topic because of all the stammering.
The answers usually revolved around $$$, anyway. Yeah, I joined at 27 so I could roll around naked in the piles of cash I was destined to make. :rolleyes:
It’s a personal call, as each side has things that show worthwhile appeal…but everybody that’s telling you to finish school is absolutely correct, regardless of whether you decide to put shiny shit on your collar (or epaulette, UotD-dependent) or not. Once stopped, overcoming the inertia to get back in to school can be difficult, much less the chances of not having the time until a decade later (comPLETEly spitballing that time-frame).
I would finish school if possible. I had a few Lieutenants who were prior enlisted so it’s not impossible to go officer after you have been enlisted. Also had a friend who became a Warrant Officer and now flies UH-60s. But before he was able to he had to go back and finish college which delayed him about a year.
Nothing wrong with starting out enlisted first, then go officer so you can see both sides of the coin. It’s what I did (Infantry, then Aviation(Pilot)/Military Intelligence), however, you are so close to a degree, why not finish it? My dad, who was enlisted, and retired a COL during the Vietnam era, said that you’d have fun as an enlisted, but you will never be in a position to make a real difference or implement policy changes unless you became an officer. I took that to heart and as soon as my enlistment was up, I went to college, got my degree and became an O and eventually retired after 22 years, in both Active and Reserves. IF you are so inclined, why not get your contract changed to Reserve or NG status, get the training you want, finish your degree, the go OCS, then Active Duty. Just remember, as a lower enlisted in a Ranger BN, you are fodder to achieve the objective, so you better be damn good at your skills in closing with and destroying the enemy to stop from being fodder. If you really have a burning desire to test your “metal” then drive on.
