Good afternoon everyone,
This week I enlisted as an 18X. I will be making a near cross country trip from a small New England town in late January to arrive at Fort Benning for the Basic Class that starts the first week of February.
About me:
I graduated college a couple weeks ago. After being in limbo about what I wanted to do for at least the rest of my 20's, I marched into the recruiters office and talked to him about signing up. The information I've found here (stumbled upon SS through other SF info sources) has been instrumental in my decision making on what branch and "job" I want to do. I've been passively considering some sort of SF ever since I was in high school, as in it always tickled my fancy, but I never thought I'd actually do it. I really started to consider it much more seriously once I moved back home from college past May to complete my final 6 credits needed to graduate.
During these past 6 months, I worked an internship behind a desk in a sissified office culture. Not for me. In the meantime, I am reading hundreds of articles/threads/stories from SF guys. Am I seriously about to graduate college an already thinking about aborting from a competitive bachelors degree? Why not OCS?, people asked. I had considered OCS, but the fear of being stuck in the Big Army is real. Also, I've read the thread in the 18X mentor program regarding back-up plans to if you do not get selected. Very pragmatic advice there.
Anyways,about three months ago, I knew I wanted to take on the 18X pipeline with dreams of becoming an 18D. The human body has always fascinated me and through 7-8 years of fitness I believe I have the bare minimum knowledge and interest of at least human anatomy and physiology that this is the MOS I'd like to do. Even if I were to opt out of the 18D route and pursue another part of the 18 series, the doors that can be opened by an SF career greatly interest me. Most importantly, the 18X pipeline is where I can show up everyday and feel the most disciplined and enthusiastic.
I am hoping that my four years of being a successful impact player and teammate on a top-25 nationally ranked team all four years (Not D1, but a major sport) which was led by incredibly strong leadership will be a great foundation for what I'm trying to accomplish. I really relished being part of a team and going into "combat" with guys that were like-minded.
I hope that through making this account on SS I can continue to find discipline, information, connections and even fellow 18X's I can befriend so that we can help each other navigate this process. I also plan to document successes and failures and to use this as somewhat of a social journal on top of the personal diary I keep.
Thank you all for sharing your wisdom. I can not express how much it has helped me in making this decision.
This week I enlisted as an 18X. I will be making a near cross country trip from a small New England town in late January to arrive at Fort Benning for the Basic Class that starts the first week of February.
About me:
I graduated college a couple weeks ago. After being in limbo about what I wanted to do for at least the rest of my 20's, I marched into the recruiters office and talked to him about signing up. The information I've found here (stumbled upon SS through other SF info sources) has been instrumental in my decision making on what branch and "job" I want to do. I've been passively considering some sort of SF ever since I was in high school, as in it always tickled my fancy, but I never thought I'd actually do it. I really started to consider it much more seriously once I moved back home from college past May to complete my final 6 credits needed to graduate.
During these past 6 months, I worked an internship behind a desk in a sissified office culture. Not for me. In the meantime, I am reading hundreds of articles/threads/stories from SF guys. Am I seriously about to graduate college an already thinking about aborting from a competitive bachelors degree? Why not OCS?, people asked. I had considered OCS, but the fear of being stuck in the Big Army is real. Also, I've read the thread in the 18X mentor program regarding back-up plans to if you do not get selected. Very pragmatic advice there.
Anyways,about three months ago, I knew I wanted to take on the 18X pipeline with dreams of becoming an 18D. The human body has always fascinated me and through 7-8 years of fitness I believe I have the bare minimum knowledge and interest of at least human anatomy and physiology that this is the MOS I'd like to do. Even if I were to opt out of the 18D route and pursue another part of the 18 series, the doors that can be opened by an SF career greatly interest me. Most importantly, the 18X pipeline is where I can show up everyday and feel the most disciplined and enthusiastic.
I am hoping that my four years of being a successful impact player and teammate on a top-25 nationally ranked team all four years (Not D1, but a major sport) which was led by incredibly strong leadership will be a great foundation for what I'm trying to accomplish. I really relished being part of a team and going into "combat" with guys that were like-minded.
I hope that through making this account on SS I can continue to find discipline, information, connections and even fellow 18X's I can befriend so that we can help each other navigate this process. I also plan to document successes and failures and to use this as somewhat of a social journal on top of the personal diary I keep.
Thank you all for sharing your wisdom. I can not express how much it has helped me in making this decision.
