I do know what each unit does for the most part. I like the warrior mentor aspect of Special Forces. I like the fact that SF places such a large emphasis on cultural awareness and thinking outside the box. FID seems like an important and interesting mission to me, especially with the instability of certain regions of the world today. Assuming I made it through the pipeline, I would want a chance to do my job and SF will always be deploying even in times of relative peace. I have studied abroad in Guatemala and spent time in other Central and South American countries and enjoyed each experience. I am heading to Jordan for spring semester as the finisher to my Arabic course which should be interesting. I like spending time abroad and would like to believe that I have more cultural awareness than the average American. However, my main hang up point is that, ideally, a soldier would some have military experience before going to selection, through the pipeline, and onto a team. I would have no experience other than college. If I made it on to a team, I would want to be able to bring something to the table so to speak. For the job itself, I think SF would be the place for me.
However, before I became a man of the world and embarked on my studies of other cultures and languages, I wanted to be a Ranger. The 75th just seems like an awesome place to be in the Army. I like how the Regiment grows its Rangers from the time they complete RIP/RASP to when they leave the Regiment. I think it's awesome that the Rangers have been some of the first units to be deployed in almost every U.S. conflict since Vietnam. The current high deployment rate means that if I made it through RASP that I get deployed pretty quickly. I like the Regiment's high standards and that you can be kicked out if you do not meet them (I understand that this is true of SF as well). Another thing I take into consideration is that I really only plan to do 4 or 5 years before I get out. Naturally if I enjoyed the Army I would stay in, but I recognize that the lifestyle is not for everyone. Therefore, I am approaching it expecting the worst but hoping for the best. To me, it seems that I could make a bigger impact and give more to the Ranger Regiment for a four or five year enlistment as it seems that I would spend more time in the unit and more time being a Ranger and less time in a training pipeline. If I decided to move to SF after 4ish years in the 75th I feel that I would be in an exponentially better position to make a positive impact on a team, if I decided to stay in the 75th, I would continue to be in a prestigious unit surrounded by motivated individuals. Plus a boxing coach of mine when I was younger had served in 2/75th and always spoke highly of his time there. Also reading a post cback made a while back that if he could do it over again, he would have taken an option 40 contract made think about this more.
I apologize for the longwinded nature of my post. Unfortunately, despite my chosen screen name I typically analyze all options I have before I make a decision and have a tendency to overanalyze things. Also I want to point out that I understand my post is similar to saying I am trying to decide between the NFL and the NBA. I do appreciate the difficulty of both pipelines and understand that the odds are stacked against me.
