Hi everyone!
My name is Brian, I have been a member of the forum for quite some time but never posted anything. I am 29 years old and aspire to go Army Special Forces. I have a story that I am adding here if anyone wants to read it but in short I have no military background other than my ex-spouse was active Air Force and I was a GS-07 for about a year before leaving and going into business. I am remarried and have sole custody of my amazing 8 year old son (who is testing today to be part of the National Association for Gifted Children!! Super proud!).
So for the readers out there; I came to this site and many other SOF related sites years ago, when I was roughly 22. My ex-spouse and I were stationed at wonderful Shaw AFB as our last base and I became interested in joining the military, however I had MULTIPLE up hill battles. I originally aspired to be a PJ because I really just want to do my best to help people, so I taught myself to swim and went to take my first PAST in Kentucky for the 123rd, I passed by the skin of my teeth (couldn't go active at the time because my ex was active and we had my son, so guard it was). I am a strong believer in integrity and hide nothing, so I mentioned my use of ADHD medication in my first year of high school. This pretty much stopped me in my tracks but I was going back and forth with them trying to get me to MEPS for about 1.5 years. My ex left the Air Force and I tried to go active, in the meantime I met a bunch of GREAT guys to train with, 3 are CCT now, 1 is an officer in the Marines, all awesome solid guys. We would train every morning, roughly 0400 start and 0900-1000 finish (depending if it was ruck day or not). We all got super strong in the water (obviously, 3 made it through their selections no problem and the officer decided to just not go SOF), solid run times, solid cals, solid rucking (I am short so this kicked my nuts but it was whatever, I dealt with it and just had to run more to keep up). So I was finally getting ym chance at MEPS after years of fighting with them, and I still ended up getting a PDQ because of my prior medication.
The ADHD medication was an issue because it was after my 15th birthday, and my high school GPA was garbage, even though I was removed from the medication by my doctor before I was 16 and had been off it ever since. The low GPA made it a PDQ. So I needed a waiver, no big deal, but it never came.
So I decided to talk to the Army, and tried to get an 18X contract - back to MEPS - PDQ - submit for a waiver. This waiver was on it's way for approval and then life hit me in the face... hard. I found out that my ex-spouse was cheating, a lot, basically she was the "desert queen" lol. So we separated, and that was a pause on everything. I then found out that since I would be a single parent, that means I needed to lose all custody in order to enlist active, but I could go guard. So we tried switching to guard and it just wasn't going to be convenient for me and especially not for my son; this became very obvious when my ex started to lose her mind. She took my son out of the state and across the country and I had to get a court order to bring him back, they granted her custody as long as she stayed in the state, she refused, so I was given temporary custody, I went to go retrieve my son and she and her neighbors came at me one with a butcher knife, he found himself in an arm bar (thank you 2 years of jiu-jitsu and professor Adam), this resulted in arrests of everyone... including me... my charges were dropped months later as it was clear that I was not in the wrong in any way. She was no longer stable enough to be a parent, and I needed to do what was best for him, so I cancelled everything and focused on my son. I found myself in business and made a very good living, moved up to senior management and did great, but I still had the itch, I still trained... just because I really missed it and I missed my guys I trained with. A few months before finalizing my divorce I met my now wife and.. man.. what a great person. I had no hope in relationships but she showed me that there are some fantastic women out there, and I found one. She has been a HUGE impact on my son and he loves her to death. We finalized my divorce, I was granted Sole Custody, and the mother didn't even show up to court, it has been 2 years since she has spoken to my son. My wife and I were married in September and are celebrating our wedding in July in Cancun this year, super excited!
My wife and I have done very well, she finished her Master's while I paid the bills, but she told me a few months ago that it was time for me to work on me; do what I have to do to get into Special Forces. So that is why I am here, I am no longer working (she is doing that now), and I am back in school full time, current GPA is 3.7 and I am finishing my first full time semester this spring. I am hoping to goto school full time through summer, fall, and next spring, in order to get 48 credit hours and then try to join the National Guard Special Forces. From my understanding I will no longer be a PDQ for the ADHD medication because I was removed from them when I was 16, and will show academic success while not on medication (I hope to maintain a 3.5 or higher). I am going to school for engineering and hope to leave next summer for OSUT and selection. IF I make it, I hope to finish school ASAP.
I have some questions, but I won't post those here, I will search first and try to find the appropriate place to post them.
That is my story guys, I love swimming now, I love beating myself to pulp under a ruck and under the weights, I love doing hard things (SF, Engineering, Single dad, lol), and I am ready to HOPEFULLY get to actually do this. My wife is behind me 100%, she hates the idea of me being gone for so long but wants me to do this before age becomes a problem. My son won't be thrilled about me being gone but he is strong, very strong, and with her guidance will get through it, he is an inspiration to me.
Also, this is an invite for anyone who wants to talk to me about being a single dad, dealing with a crappy spouse, and just keeping focused on moving forward, please shoot me a message! I would love to help with things that I know I can help with!
Thanks for reading this if you did! It is a lot but it is nice to put memories to (digital) paper every now and then. :)
My name is Brian, I have been a member of the forum for quite some time but never posted anything. I am 29 years old and aspire to go Army Special Forces. I have a story that I am adding here if anyone wants to read it but in short I have no military background other than my ex-spouse was active Air Force and I was a GS-07 for about a year before leaving and going into business. I am remarried and have sole custody of my amazing 8 year old son (who is testing today to be part of the National Association for Gifted Children!! Super proud!).
So for the readers out there; I came to this site and many other SOF related sites years ago, when I was roughly 22. My ex-spouse and I were stationed at wonderful Shaw AFB as our last base and I became interested in joining the military, however I had MULTIPLE up hill battles. I originally aspired to be a PJ because I really just want to do my best to help people, so I taught myself to swim and went to take my first PAST in Kentucky for the 123rd, I passed by the skin of my teeth (couldn't go active at the time because my ex was active and we had my son, so guard it was). I am a strong believer in integrity and hide nothing, so I mentioned my use of ADHD medication in my first year of high school. This pretty much stopped me in my tracks but I was going back and forth with them trying to get me to MEPS for about 1.5 years. My ex left the Air Force and I tried to go active, in the meantime I met a bunch of GREAT guys to train with, 3 are CCT now, 1 is an officer in the Marines, all awesome solid guys. We would train every morning, roughly 0400 start and 0900-1000 finish (depending if it was ruck day or not). We all got super strong in the water (obviously, 3 made it through their selections no problem and the officer decided to just not go SOF), solid run times, solid cals, solid rucking (I am short so this kicked my nuts but it was whatever, I dealt with it and just had to run more to keep up). So I was finally getting ym chance at MEPS after years of fighting with them, and I still ended up getting a PDQ because of my prior medication.
The ADHD medication was an issue because it was after my 15th birthday, and my high school GPA was garbage, even though I was removed from the medication by my doctor before I was 16 and had been off it ever since. The low GPA made it a PDQ. So I needed a waiver, no big deal, but it never came.
So I decided to talk to the Army, and tried to get an 18X contract - back to MEPS - PDQ - submit for a waiver. This waiver was on it's way for approval and then life hit me in the face... hard. I found out that my ex-spouse was cheating, a lot, basically she was the "desert queen" lol. So we separated, and that was a pause on everything. I then found out that since I would be a single parent, that means I needed to lose all custody in order to enlist active, but I could go guard. So we tried switching to guard and it just wasn't going to be convenient for me and especially not for my son; this became very obvious when my ex started to lose her mind. She took my son out of the state and across the country and I had to get a court order to bring him back, they granted her custody as long as she stayed in the state, she refused, so I was given temporary custody, I went to go retrieve my son and she and her neighbors came at me one with a butcher knife, he found himself in an arm bar (thank you 2 years of jiu-jitsu and professor Adam), this resulted in arrests of everyone... including me... my charges were dropped months later as it was clear that I was not in the wrong in any way. She was no longer stable enough to be a parent, and I needed to do what was best for him, so I cancelled everything and focused on my son. I found myself in business and made a very good living, moved up to senior management and did great, but I still had the itch, I still trained... just because I really missed it and I missed my guys I trained with. A few months before finalizing my divorce I met my now wife and.. man.. what a great person. I had no hope in relationships but she showed me that there are some fantastic women out there, and I found one. She has been a HUGE impact on my son and he loves her to death. We finalized my divorce, I was granted Sole Custody, and the mother didn't even show up to court, it has been 2 years since she has spoken to my son. My wife and I were married in September and are celebrating our wedding in July in Cancun this year, super excited!
My wife and I have done very well, she finished her Master's while I paid the bills, but she told me a few months ago that it was time for me to work on me; do what I have to do to get into Special Forces. So that is why I am here, I am no longer working (she is doing that now), and I am back in school full time, current GPA is 3.7 and I am finishing my first full time semester this spring. I am hoping to goto school full time through summer, fall, and next spring, in order to get 48 credit hours and then try to join the National Guard Special Forces. From my understanding I will no longer be a PDQ for the ADHD medication because I was removed from them when I was 16, and will show academic success while not on medication (I hope to maintain a 3.5 or higher). I am going to school for engineering and hope to leave next summer for OSUT and selection. IF I make it, I hope to finish school ASAP.
I have some questions, but I won't post those here, I will search first and try to find the appropriate place to post them.
That is my story guys, I love swimming now, I love beating myself to pulp under a ruck and under the weights, I love doing hard things (SF, Engineering, Single dad, lol), and I am ready to HOPEFULLY get to actually do this. My wife is behind me 100%, she hates the idea of me being gone for so long but wants me to do this before age becomes a problem. My son won't be thrilled about me being gone but he is strong, very strong, and with her guidance will get through it, he is an inspiration to me.
Also, this is an invite for anyone who wants to talk to me about being a single dad, dealing with a crappy spouse, and just keeping focused on moving forward, please shoot me a message! I would love to help with things that I know I can help with!
Thanks for reading this if you did! It is a lot but it is nice to put memories to (digital) paper every now and then. :)
