75th Ranger Regiment life coming from regular Army?

[Knuckledragger]

82nd guy here, coming up on reenlistment window in a month. But I'm kinda at a fork in the road and I'd like some advice from some that are living the life or BTDT. I know I want more than what the regular Army can offer. I know I want to pursue a life in Special Operations. I also don't want to set myself up for failure or live my life second guessing myself. I hope this doesn't come off as the same old SF vs 75th questions; which one is more badass and slings more led and appears in more pictures with their faces blurred out and all that motivator shit.

My question isn't who's more high speed. I know both these organizations develop some of the most efficient warriors on the planet and to just chalk it up to "who's badder" is a gross simplification that doesn't do either of them justice.

My question would be which path would be the smarter option for me at this time. On one hand, if the current pandemic doesn't work it's nasty little magic and gets the April class of SFAS cancelled, I would like to try my hand at Selection. But, talking to some of the SF recruiters, they believe it'll get canned, which would push the next possible date sometime in May I believe, which would also be during my reenlistment window.

On the other hand, I would also like to try my hand at RASP, though that would require a few more hoops to jump through. A main one being that I am not currently of an MOS that is accepted into Regiment, so I would have to reclass and get that process done. Something I'm not unwilling to do, and can be done in the next month.

But then there's another question, regarding life in Regiment and it's pretty much the title of the thread. I've talked to a few more senior guys in my unit, many of them saying that I'll have a rough time in Regiment, that they like to "breed from within." That guys coming from regular Army, especially if they're not Ranger tabbed going in, get treated miserably and never actually progress the way they'd like from Regiment.

I have read up on both organizations to the best of my ability. I respect both, I see neither one as better than the other. I don't see Ranger Regiment as a sort of stepping stone into SF, I know that both are separate entities of their own, with their own lifestyles. I'm just trying to figure out which one would be better for me to take a chance on. Which would be optimal for my current heading. I respect the 75th, but I don't want to race to a red light, if the things I've heard about it is true.

Mod edit -
Added a few extra paragraphs to make the middle a bit more readable.
Ooh Rah

 

[Ranger Psych]

Nobody cares where you came from. Regiment's like the FFL in that regard... as long as you do your job right/well/quickly/appropriately/to standard and then some.... doesn't matter if you're former ALL AMERICAN or if you're from the broken TV down the street.

It comes down to what you want to do. Each unit has it's own mission that while there's overlap in the Venn diagram of capacities, it's minimal and the parts that don't overlap have significant divergence. It's not going to be "easy" in either regard.

 

[Kaldak]

I've talked to a few more senior guys in my unit, many of them saying that I'll have a rough time in Regiment,

Careful with this advice. Did they serve in the 75th? If not, take that advice with a grain of salt.

I'm sure one or more of our resident SF and 75th guys will be along shortly.

Lastly, use the search function. We have one of the best, and the 75th v SF has come up many times in the past. You're a little more unique in terms of situation, though.

 

[DZ]

I thinks it's pretty likely SFAS will be cancelled in April. Remember right now there is a travel ban in the DoD until May 11th, so if they did run an SFAS class it would have to be locals only. That's just my guess though, I don't know that definitively.

What do you want to do within SOF? If you want to focus solely on Direct Action then you should probably reclass to infantry or 13F and work your way to RASP.

SF is more of a mixed bag as far as missions go. If you like variety it is an awesome place. In any given year you can attend training or schools in medicine, CQB, Sniper, demo, language, surveillance, insertion techniques, driving, the list goes on. We do a lot of cool stuff but sometimes I feel like we are the Swiss Army knife that is never going to be truly amazing at one skill set like the Ranger Regiment is with DA.

 

[Knuckledragger]

Nobody cares where you came from. Regiment's like the FFL in that regard... as long as you do your job right/well/quickly/appropriately/to standard and then some.... doesn't matter if you're former ALL AMERICAN or if you're from the broken TV down the street.

It comes down to what you want to do. Each unit has it's own mission that while there's overlap in the Venn diagram of capacities, it's minimal and the parts that don't overlap have significant divergence. It's not going to be "easy" in either regard.

So you wouldn't agree with the whole "breed from within" assessment of the Regiment? That is a relief to hear, at least from another perspective, and one who's from the inside looking out. You wouldn't believe the amount of people that flat out tell me to not even consider Regiment, that I'll likely have a terrible time because I didn't start there. I do know that they have their own missions, like I said, I don't think that one is above another, or that one is easier to get into than another.

Careful with this advice. Did they serve in the 75th? If not, take that advice with a grain of salt.

I'm sure one or more of our resident SF and 75th guys will be along shortly.

Lastly, use the search function. We have one of the best, and the 75th v SF has come up many times in the past. You're a little more unique in terms of situation, though.

Yeah I do try to take it all with a grain of salt because like you said, they've never experienced that life at all. Still, one has to wonder. Everyone "has a friend" in so and so unit.

And yeah I tried to find something that was similar to my situation but I wasn't coming up with anything answering my question. Wasn't trying to come up with threads of "who's better, more deadly."

I thinks it's pretty likely SFAS will be cancelled in April. Remember right now there is a travel ban in the DoD until May 11th, so if they did run an SFAS class it would have to be locals only. That's just my guess though, I don't know that definitively.

What do you want to do within SOF? If you want to focus solely on Direct Action then you should probably reclass to infantry or 13F and work your way to RASP.

SF is more of a mixed bag as far as missions go. If you like variety it is an awesome place. In any given year you can attend training or schools in medicine, CQB, Sniper, demo, language, surveillance, insertion techniques, driving, the list goes on. We do a lot of cool stuff but sometimes I feel like we are the Swiss Army knife that is never going to be truly amazing at one skill set like the Ranger Regiment is with DA.

Yeah they haven't said anything yet about it being cancelled. Quite the opposite, they've said it's still on but recruiters have told me they don't think it'll hold.

Really, both of those experiences sound amazing and incredibly rewarding, it's just more about my impatience. I'm ready, more than ready, to leave my current unit. To change what I'm doing and go for the next step. If the April class gets canned, the next most readily available option from there is likely reclass and snag an option 40. I'm hungry and impatient, I just don't know for what yet when it comes to these two.

 

[Ranger Psych]

Regiment does generally grow it's own. People still come from the outside. You either have what it takes to be there, or you don't, and you go back or go elsewhere from where you were.

Mind you, if you're already in the military, you fail RASP or Selection... you go right back where you were.