Information on 18x contract?

[AWP]

I'm digging the help a new smart ass out while down talking the Army armor div's.

So much for joining a tight nitch forum and being humble. Meanwhile never mind those guys who have been around for years.

Whatever you issues you have, I don't care. Your comments are clearly directed at me even if you don't have the nerve to say it. I've made those comments before and can support them and I have...as a longtime member which you so clearly value. I have made them over the course of my years on this board and see no need to alter them for the "new smart ass" or the old humble salt such as yourself.

We the staff have attempted to drag this pathetic thread back into some wretched state of order and yet you can't let it go. Nope, you have to get in your digs. Cool, I'm tracking.

You know what I'm the most proud of on this board? The thread where all of the wannabes return and tell us they made it, they did what they set out to do. You want to make a dig at the board in general? Fine. I stand behind the board's content over the years and more importantly, what we've accomplished together.

Either square yourself away or hit the road.

Warm regards,
One of those guys who has been around for years

 

[AWP]

I guess I'll hit the road...you guys have fun with your "we run the show" bullshit.

No one is more professional than I....

 

[Ranger Psych]

Ok... so in interest of full disclosure, I'm not Special Forces, but I did carry a couple logs once for a good time and now subsist off a bottle of pills.

While some of the guys here will be able to answer better than others, the simple fact is that actually talking to a "real" recruiter is going to give you the most benefit.

What they might BS you about: If/if not you can really get an 18X contract as prior service

What they'll know right off the bat: What rank you will get to return as, as prior service. The answer to "Do I need to attend OSUT or Basic/Ait". Both of those things hinge greatly upon your duration that you are separated from the military.

My own advice if I was prior service anything infantry coming to the Army to try to go SF? Pick a job other than infantry as an MOS. Expand your knowledge at a minimum through AIT, and following that, ride the train wherever it goes. Chill out (to an extent) and train up for a year because unless you 18X contract it up, you're going to be just going in normally anyway, and doing the normal personnel actions/SF Recruiting team interactions in order to be able to go to SFAS.

That's why I say pick a MOS among the ones that are available for prior service, that you want to do, other than infantry. It doesn't matter what you are at SFAS, at least by official statement. Pick something you want to learn something about regardless and think you might enjoy doing. If you make it in SF? Rock on with a hard on beanie boy. If not, you have a solid contingency plan that you can comfortably fall back upon for however long you decide to be in the service.

 

[RustyShackleford]

I'm digging the help a new smart ass out while down talking the Army armor div's.

So much for joining a tight nitch forum and being humble. Meanwhile never mind those guys who have been around for years.

It is so sad that JAB isn't around to read what I am about to type.

I spent three years in a Cav unit prior to reclassing and spending another three plus years with 2/75. I left that Cav unit for a reason: it was a joke. Said units serve a purpose, but in the end Freefalling hit the nail on the head. If a person wants to be the best and fight alongside the best,why in the fuck would they settle for anything less, unless that is all they are capable of doing. Seems to me when people come to an SOF forum, never were in an SOF unit, never will be in an SOF unit, and then posts garbage like JAB has posted for years on here, well, there is a problem. Now that problem is gone.

I for one have never settled for anything in my life and neither should anyone else. Set you goal and achieve it.

 

[Ranger Psych]

My sentiment having had regular army experience is the same, especially for initial entries to any military branch.

• SOF of any sort that tickles your pickle (or pear, or whatever you have there), is comprised of the best trained, best motivated, and best equipped troops of that subordinate branch of the military.
• Why would you NOT want to be amongst troops of that caliber
• The only way you can get there, is to throw your hat in the ring.
• Worst case (barring severe injury, which is a reality when you train hard) you go to the same unit type you originally would have been assigned to.

Hell, even our cooks, mechanics, etc had the best equipment and supplies that either we internally, or the army at large, would or could supply to accomplish the mission. Never mind simply being surrounded by people that want to be there.

Everyone who's been in knows that motivated asshole on the run, it's contagious to an extent! When he says "Look at that formation over there on the run, They're SUCKING and we're passing them... RUCKING" you can't help but get a boost.

Now think about a Team of guys like that. A platoon of guys like that. A company. A Battalion or Group or Squadron or whatever larger order element you want to expand to. The suck factor wanes in the presence of the honor of your comrades company and the glory of the mission for that day. Even if that event never becomes uttered in public. You and the troops to your left and right know what you did, and that unto itself creates stories that echo into eternity amongst not only yourselves, but the whispers muttered in the selection processes, the TTP's for future troops who relieve you.

You have nothing to honestly lose, and EVERYTHING to gain by stepping forth to test your mettle on the various different challenges that each element presents.

There's even different flavors if you prefer flying, fighting, or floating. 31 flavors of fucking up the enemies of our country. Pick one and see if it's for you.

 

[SexyBeast]

^^^^

That was one of the most awesome things I've ever read.

 

[surgicalcric]

If you aren't prepared to spend the remainder of your enlistment in an infantry slot if you aren't what we are looking for then don't enlist - it is that simple.

The, "I want it my way or I want out" mentality is frowned upon, we have too many guys in SF who want a "clause" if they cannot get to a specialty team as soon as they arrive at Group. We need not add you to the list, especially before you even graduate the SFQC. Secondly that mentality breeds quitters; I don't care how long you were in the Marines. It isn't the same and we do not need quitters on a team when shit isn't going quite the way any of us want, especially when its you and one other english speaker with 15-20 Little Brown Guys (LBGs) in a firefight against 100-150 bad guys...

With regards to the NG, don't waste their time either if you are not dedicated to attending drill monthly for the remainder of your enlistment if you don't make it past SFAS or get dropped anywhere along the way- we don't need that.

Next, all SOF isn't created equal. By that I mean not all have the same mission set. What makes a great Ranger may not make a great SF soldier, what makes a great CCT might not make a good PJ, etc. While we all share some things in common all are looking for things that are different. That said, if working and many times living and eating with Little Brown Guys (LBGs) doesn't interest you then you need to look at something other than SF. If you don't want to stay proficient in the foreign language SF chooses for you (could be spanish or pashtu/arabic) isn't your thing then look at something else. If you want to kick down doors regularly is your thing, fast roping from littlebirds or MH60s onto target, hitting an objective, breaching door after door in house after house looking for a Tier 1-3 HVT nightly while having all your intel provided to you by an entire support slice of guys who wish they were you, is your thing then look someplace else.

However if you want to teach LBGs to defeat terrorism while defending their own country in their own language while living with them in their barracks and eating their ethnic food is your thing US Army Special Forces MAY be what you are looking for - but are you what WE are looking for? That is the question. But based on the initial impression I drew from your original post you are not. In short know what you are getting yourself in to before you sign on the line lest you have enlistees remorse and end up in the infantry while sporting a Special Forces tab.

Now if by chance I misread your own words in both your initial post here and the words you repeated in your intro thread or you meant them in another very different light I will be glad to entertain an explanation as to why you think you being 30-ish matters.

Regardless, there is a ton of info here and on the web about SF. "Chance favors the prepared mind" Louis Pasteur

Welcome to SS again and best of luck.

Crip