Thank you. NG is really hit or miss for people. It's been great for me and I've done more stuff than a lot of active duty units.
Deployments are rarer these days even for active duty, so I encourage people to take what they can get.
Ranger school - NG
- Thread starter Dimethylamine
- Start date
Deployments are rarer these days even for active duty, so I encourage people to take what they can get.
D
Deleted member 2517
Guest
We don’t. That’s a bad vestige of the past. We opened RASP to the Guard and have had one dude I know of who did it (the aforementioned homie).
I have done BLC and Jumpmaster with the guard and had good experiences.
We will see what’s up with that new NDAA- I imagine, if it happens, it’ll be filled with dudes who want to go to school but want to keep a foot in the door. I don’t know how many actual guard dudes would be there. I think, not to besmirch the guard, the NG battalion should be like the reserve SEAL teams. You need guys who have prior active time to fill that place.
The amount you learn those first 4 years being a private and tab is invaluable. Trying to get guys or gals to the point they’re able to keep up with the active line battalions would be impossible with one weekend a month.
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It would be an interesting way to retain Rangers who are leaving active duty. I know dudes that leave 75th and transition to a regular ARNG unit and hate it.
Devildoc
Verified Military
Same with AD to reserve transition for recon.
"Hey, Devil Dog, we got a spot for you! Of course, you have to pay your own way, and half the training has nothing to do with recon, and we're going to start you out in the S4 shop, but yeah....". This was a few years ago, so maybe it's better now.
Reserve recon can't get nearly enough corpsmen, so most are not SARCs/SOIDCs, "just" FMF corpsmen. They love it because they get a taste like fast roping, rappelling from helo's, CQB.
Letting NG Soldiers attend RASP and go Active Duty is a good idea, NG Ranger Bn is not such a good idea (even with a ton of SOCOM funding).
I'm leaving on Friday. See you all in a couple of months with my tab and wings. 
I appreciate all the tid bits I got from you guys.
I appreciate all the tid bits I got from you guys.
D
Deleted member 2517
Guest
Why?
Because the money goes through Guard Bureau (who takes some for "Admin costs"), then to the State (who takes what they want) to the unit, with everyone in-between taking a slice.
Ask the Florida SF guys what kind of training dollars they got pre-9/11.
Find a former LRS guy and ask about all the extra schools they were "getting".
@AWP
Devildoc
Verified Military
From what I hear from the 20th group guys, that endless pot of gold during GWOT is now bone-dry and their back to being "less than" again.
Knowing what I know about any non-AD SOF job, it's challenging to hold the same standards as the AD counterparts when you do it a fraction of the time. The skills, all perishable, are the same; how do you triage which ones to use a precious training day to work on?
Running off of a 23 YO memory... Pre-9/11 NGSF had two main pots of money: Federal and USASOC. Guard Bureau and the State would take a cut from both AND...this is where it's fun, would only fund you for your barebones MOSQ skills. Extra schools? Yeah, nah. Range time? Yeah, nah. Bare. Minimums. SF or Support, if you were MOSQ for that slot, no schools for you. No extra training, nada. Anything you did outside of your 2-weeks a year was because the funding came from "a higher plane" like for JCETs or whatever. New equipment didn't happen. Jumps were quarterly and most were helos. Re-enlistment incentive schools were very few and far between, if at all.
It was bad.
This is where you saw guys going to the Q Course and then trying almost immediately (some were even still at the Q) to go Active. So much so that commanders did everything in their power to stop people from leaving; even Support guys had problems. Total MOSQ was low, morale was not in a great place, training opportunities outside of the cantonment area were slim, and you could maybe look forward to an OCONUS annual training period every 3 years. One year Spt. Co. actually got to go to a shithole in PR and the teams went to Hunter AAF.
I don't have to be a team guy or a Ranger or an 11B to know there's no way an NG Ranger unit can compare to its AD counterpart. The Guard hates "special" units, the money won't be there, and the other necessary resources (time, ranges, etc.) simply won't exist.
This is 100% still accurate (as I see it) on the NG side of the house.
Schools are a nightmare to get approved unless they are SOF specific or required to maintain certs. This means that basically your 25, 35, and 68 series MOS personnel are the only ones that get more than bare minimum schooling a year.
Even airborne is a pain to get troops sometimes.
This even extends to getting screwed out of multiple ATs or PME.
I was at the marine mountain warfare center in Bridgeport for just under 30 in first quarter of FY22. I had orders 14 day orders cut for Annual Training and 14 day orders cut for "additional training support" (similar verbiage).
State denied me doing JRTC and SLC later in FY22 because I had already been on orders that year for AT and additional training.
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Oh there used to be plenty of LRS guys floating around beating off to videos of themselves beating off because they were “special.” Find one who never did anything else and they’ll tell you.
It's been a wild ride this past few weeks. I arrive to RTAC late because they screwed up my orders and the airlines lost my baggage. I got dropped from land nav and chilled at RTLI for a bit until the next class. The amount of resources they have a Fort Benning is unbelievable; they really want people to go through, but the only issue is down to the individual. I've seen some people get pushed through as shitheads, but they failed because of their bad attitude, I've seen some highspeed SF dudes get dropped for RTTs, and I've seen some studs get through and I wish them the best.
Second time around, RTAC was a breeze, but I still struggled with the FTX due to not doing a lot of infantry stuff in my life time, but I caught up eventually. It gave me a lot of learning lessons on what I'm good at, bad at, and stuff I really need to improve on.
I failed the 12 mile ruck at the end of RAP week. No excuses, but I should have taken better care of my feet, because I believe I had a reoccurring injury in my ankle that made it that way.
I did a good amount of rucking up to this point to get ready, but I definitely should do a lot more.
Honestly, RAP Week wasn't the worst thing out there, but if you're not careful, it's death by a thousand paper cuts. I'm currently asking to go back ASAP. I'm still in good running shape, but I need to rehabilitate my joints and muscles, because I was a bit wrecked afterwards and I could barely bench press and squat today. The lack of sleep is what did it for me; it took me a couple of days to snap out of Ranger School mode, because I'd wake up from my comfy bed at home and was looking for who I was relieving to take over the machine gun during fire guard shift at the patrol base.
Second time around, RTAC was a breeze, but I still struggled with the FTX due to not doing a lot of infantry stuff in my life time, but I caught up eventually. It gave me a lot of learning lessons on what I'm good at, bad at, and stuff I really need to improve on.
I failed the 12 mile ruck at the end of RAP week. No excuses, but I should have taken better care of my feet, because I believe I had a reoccurring injury in my ankle that made it that way.
I did a good amount of rucking up to this point to get ready, but I definitely should do a lot more.
Honestly, RAP Week wasn't the worst thing out there, but if you're not careful, it's death by a thousand paper cuts. I'm currently asking to go back ASAP. I'm still in good running shape, but I need to rehabilitate my joints and muscles, because I was a bit wrecked afterwards and I could barely bench press and squat today. The lack of sleep is what did it for me; it took me a couple of days to snap out of Ranger School mode, because I'd wake up from my comfy bed at home and was looking for who I was relieving to take over the machine gun during fire guard shift at the patrol base.
Devildoc
Verified Military
@Dimethylamine , thanks for your honest and raw assessment. It's refreshing to see someone be accountable and honest. I wish you nothing but continued success and luck.
What a weird time to be in the military, albeit, the Guard is the only thing I know. We are in a peace time military, retention and recruiting is at an all time low, and funding for Guard states is being slashed heavily; per our state G-3, only MOS schools are being funded and everything else requires special approval. It's kind of a double negative; you don't have the money to keep people in when people don't want to stay in to begin with.
However, from what I'm told by my Brigade CDR, Ranger School is centrally funded, so my chances of going back are pretty high, and our state seems to send the most people to RS compared to any other state.
Lesson learned is, take any school you can get, especially in the Guard, and don't be afraid to ask. Except Unit Movement Officer course. Yuck!
However, from what I'm told by my Brigade CDR, Ranger School is centrally funded, so my chances of going back are pretty high, and our state seems to send the most people to RS compared to any other state.
Lesson learned is, take any school you can get, especially in the Guard, and don't be afraid to ask. Except Unit Movement Officer course. Yuck!
1) Did you learn in general and become a better leader?
2) Did you learn about Ranger school and how to how to perform "more gooder" the next time?
3) Are you returning to the course to make good on your intent, your desire, and needs of your unit?
Mostly rhetoric questions, I genuinely wish you the best and the tab.
2) Did you learn about Ranger school and how to how to perform "more gooder" the next time?
3) Are you returning to the course to make good on your intent, your desire, and needs of your unit?
Mostly rhetoric questions, I genuinely wish you the best and the tab.
I did learn quite a bit for the limited time I was there. Sidenote, RTAC is one of the most professionally ran Army schools I've been to; highly recommend.
The tactics are easy. The interpersonal stuff is the hardest. You have so many people from different backgrounds and you have to make everyone work together. The popularity contest is the stupidest thing I had to deal with. You can be the smartest person in the room, but if people don't like you, you'll get peered low. I had to deal with a few assholes that were unfortunately the smartest in the room. I say this out of learning rather than being bitter, I hope those assholes learn a thing or two in the going months, if I learned a few things in a short amount of time.
I need to get more aggressive. I'm calm and collected, which unfortunately, if you're not aggressive you're viewed as 'weak' from what I've been told. There's virtue in being patient as it helped me get through things I thought were stupid. Looking back, I was one of the few people didn't complain at all, whereas I counted a lot of 75th dudes openly complain.
Not trying to say my shit doesn't stink like everyone else's; I just wanted to highlight my strengths and weaknesses while I was there.
The tactics are easy. The interpersonal stuff is the hardest. You have so many people from different backgrounds and you have to make everyone work together. The popularity contest is the stupidest thing I had to deal with. You can be the smartest person in the room, but if people don't like you, you'll get peered low. I had to deal with a few assholes that were unfortunately the smartest in the room. I say this out of learning rather than being bitter, I hope those assholes learn a thing or two in the going months, if I learned a few things in a short amount of time.
I need to get more aggressive. I'm calm and collected, which unfortunately, if you're not aggressive you're viewed as 'weak' from what I've been told. There's virtue in being patient as it helped me get through things I thought were stupid. Looking back, I was one of the few people didn't complain at all, whereas I counted a lot of 75th dudes openly complain.
Not trying to say my shit doesn't stink like everyone else's; I just wanted to highlight my strengths and weaknesses while I was there.
D
Deleted member 2517
Guest
The actual scrolled dudes are bitching because they’ve done 3 RAP weeks over the prior 5 weeks…
Being aggressive is literally the core tenant of every small unit. Being calm and collected is awesome, it’s something you should develop as a leader.
I have seen plenty of dudes who are the screaming, freaking out, smacking dudes helmets, etc. types in my 8 years. Are they annoying? Yes, I despise that shit.
But 2/3 of the time they are successful and complete their tasks because aggression breeds violence of action which breeds success.
The people I’ve always tried to mirror and really didn’t start getting until after school are the dudes who sound like they’re ordering pizza over the radio… and by ordering pizza I mean ordering their SAW gunners to go rapid and their Gustav to start reducing structures.
Calm? Yes. Violent as fuck? Also yes.
That’s what you need to get to. Also ranger school is in many ways an act. 90% of getting your go is just being loud and aggressive in a way you would never be in real life. Learn that, accept it, employ it.
They're changing up the RPFT. Seems no more push ups and sit ups, but more like a modified ACFT. Seems more of a smoker than the legacy test. I don't get smoked on the 5 mile run, but whenever I do the ACFT, the 2 mile run after the sprint drag carry, I feel it.
