tydaddy
Unverified
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2015
- Messages
- 1
Hello all.
I have a rather long background. Back in 2004 I became interested in the idea of serving in the military. I was a late bloomer, per se, as growing up, I had no military influences. A roommate in college was ROTC and really peaked my interest. I began researching possible careerfields, and at the time, BUD/S jumped out at me. I found thesealquest.com and began training. At the time, I had a career as an athletic trainer, and having always had a chip on my shoulder about getting my education, education was paramount. I worked, continued training, and learning as much as I could. Eventually, which put the military options on hold, which at the time, was ok because I had been given the option to earn my masters degree. Again, fast forward a few years, and although I had a good career, this crazy idea about serving kept popping into my head. Literally, I couldn't shake it. Everyone I knew thought I was crazy. I kept training, crossfitting, etc...but eventually, the chip on my shoulder won again, and I decided to pursue my doctorate at Emory, in Atlanta. After about a year of PT school, I was really bored, and then again, returned to thinking about joining. At this point, I was getting old...possibly too old - I was 29. I began talking to recruiters. After about a year, I was on the Army OCS forum, and was informed that the age limit for WOFT had been raised to 32. I was extatic. It was not SOF, but it was flying, something I'd always wanted to do - what kid doesn't?! After speaking to a lot of WO's, O's, etc. I decided to begin the long application process. In the mean time, I would often go on thesealquest.com and check in...ask questions, etc. It was there that I was in email correspondence with a CCT who eventually got deployed. We would message back and forth every couple of months - and he single handedly convinced me that the WOFT program was a great option, but if that didn't work, to check out AFSOF. In 2010, the correspondences stopped. Wondering if perhaps, he simply wasn't on the forums, had gotten out, etc I decided to google his name to see if I could track him down. Unfortunately, my greatest fears were realized, and only then, did I realize the Mark I had been corresponding with for the last year, was, in fact, Mark Forrester. Eventually I finished PT school and returned back home to Lancaster, PA. After working for a bit, and having the first and last thought in my mind day in and day out being the WOFT program, I sought out a new recruiter and began to finalize my packet. Eventually I submitted the packet, boarded, and got selected. At the time, my family was going through a really difficult time - so difficult, that being the only man in the family, I thought it my responsibility to forego the selection. After things had settled down, I resubmitted, reboarded, again got all perfect scores and enthusiastic recommendations and was selected. I swore in and was scheduled to ship on 7/15/13. Two weeks before leaving, I began to get severe shin pain - what kind of DPT injures himself?! Anyhow, it was discovered that I had a tibial stress fracture - again, I got nervous and started doing some dumb training. Long story short, I was supposed to get a RENO, but MEPS didn't realize that my physical was out of date until after having left MEPS for the day...so they took me as a loss. After getting cleared to resume physical activity, I resubmitted all paperwork. With the drawdown in full effect, they held everything until I turned 34, and denied my subsequent age waiver.
I was crushed. I was in the best shape of my life, completely over my career in healthcare and athletics, dead set on serving in my best capacity, and lost. I applied for a couple of federal law enforcement positions - and am currently awaiting background investigates to complete - its been over a year since I started the process. In the mean time, I've done some soul searching. In a way, this has brought me full circle. I remembered many talks I had with Mark, and his advice to seek out the AF. Being that I turn 35 today, this is my absolute last chance to serve in a capacity that I know I will do well in. I've accomplished everything academically I've ever wanted to - CSCS, ATC, BS, MS, DPT - I've been a competitive CrossFitter for 6 years and am in the best shape of my life. It's go time.
I started following my old Stew Smith guide about 2 months ago, and recently found the PJ/CCT/SOWT training guide. I'm an adequate swimmer with a 500m time about 9-10 mins, 1.5 mile run is about 10 mins, 75 good push ups, 75 good sit ups, and 18-20 pull ups. Obviously, I expect those numbers to go down a bit on an official PAST, however, my goal right now is to improve my swim. I'm going to train for the next month and see where I am. I'm really interested in both careerfields TACP and CCT and have found it has been difficult to get honest unbiased opinions with all of the anamosity between the two. While I realize both have different primary missions, I would be happy serving in either capacity. From the research I've done, there is a guard unit not far from me with TACP openings and I will be contacting them today. Then the debate becomes active or guard?!
Sorry for the long intro!
I have a rather long background. Back in 2004 I became interested in the idea of serving in the military. I was a late bloomer, per se, as growing up, I had no military influences. A roommate in college was ROTC and really peaked my interest. I began researching possible careerfields, and at the time, BUD/S jumped out at me. I found thesealquest.com and began training. At the time, I had a career as an athletic trainer, and having always had a chip on my shoulder about getting my education, education was paramount. I worked, continued training, and learning as much as I could. Eventually, which put the military options on hold, which at the time, was ok because I had been given the option to earn my masters degree. Again, fast forward a few years, and although I had a good career, this crazy idea about serving kept popping into my head. Literally, I couldn't shake it. Everyone I knew thought I was crazy. I kept training, crossfitting, etc...but eventually, the chip on my shoulder won again, and I decided to pursue my doctorate at Emory, in Atlanta. After about a year of PT school, I was really bored, and then again, returned to thinking about joining. At this point, I was getting old...possibly too old - I was 29. I began talking to recruiters. After about a year, I was on the Army OCS forum, and was informed that the age limit for WOFT had been raised to 32. I was extatic. It was not SOF, but it was flying, something I'd always wanted to do - what kid doesn't?! After speaking to a lot of WO's, O's, etc. I decided to begin the long application process. In the mean time, I would often go on thesealquest.com and check in...ask questions, etc. It was there that I was in email correspondence with a CCT who eventually got deployed. We would message back and forth every couple of months - and he single handedly convinced me that the WOFT program was a great option, but if that didn't work, to check out AFSOF. In 2010, the correspondences stopped. Wondering if perhaps, he simply wasn't on the forums, had gotten out, etc I decided to google his name to see if I could track him down. Unfortunately, my greatest fears were realized, and only then, did I realize the Mark I had been corresponding with for the last year, was, in fact, Mark Forrester. Eventually I finished PT school and returned back home to Lancaster, PA. After working for a bit, and having the first and last thought in my mind day in and day out being the WOFT program, I sought out a new recruiter and began to finalize my packet. Eventually I submitted the packet, boarded, and got selected. At the time, my family was going through a really difficult time - so difficult, that being the only man in the family, I thought it my responsibility to forego the selection. After things had settled down, I resubmitted, reboarded, again got all perfect scores and enthusiastic recommendations and was selected. I swore in and was scheduled to ship on 7/15/13. Two weeks before leaving, I began to get severe shin pain - what kind of DPT injures himself?! Anyhow, it was discovered that I had a tibial stress fracture - again, I got nervous and started doing some dumb training. Long story short, I was supposed to get a RENO, but MEPS didn't realize that my physical was out of date until after having left MEPS for the day...so they took me as a loss. After getting cleared to resume physical activity, I resubmitted all paperwork. With the drawdown in full effect, they held everything until I turned 34, and denied my subsequent age waiver.
I was crushed. I was in the best shape of my life, completely over my career in healthcare and athletics, dead set on serving in my best capacity, and lost. I applied for a couple of federal law enforcement positions - and am currently awaiting background investigates to complete - its been over a year since I started the process. In the mean time, I've done some soul searching. In a way, this has brought me full circle. I remembered many talks I had with Mark, and his advice to seek out the AF. Being that I turn 35 today, this is my absolute last chance to serve in a capacity that I know I will do well in. I've accomplished everything academically I've ever wanted to - CSCS, ATC, BS, MS, DPT - I've been a competitive CrossFitter for 6 years and am in the best shape of my life. It's go time.
I started following my old Stew Smith guide about 2 months ago, and recently found the PJ/CCT/SOWT training guide. I'm an adequate swimmer with a 500m time about 9-10 mins, 1.5 mile run is about 10 mins, 75 good push ups, 75 good sit ups, and 18-20 pull ups. Obviously, I expect those numbers to go down a bit on an official PAST, however, my goal right now is to improve my swim. I'm going to train for the next month and see where I am. I'm really interested in both careerfields TACP and CCT and have found it has been difficult to get honest unbiased opinions with all of the anamosity between the two. While I realize both have different primary missions, I would be happy serving in either capacity. From the research I've done, there is a guard unit not far from me with TACP openings and I will be contacting them today. Then the debate becomes active or guard?!
Sorry for the long intro!
