SITREP THREAD. Post your Progress Here.

So i am just going to take it from the top of how i ended up on this website.

I graduated High school with the intent of becoming a chef, i always loved to cook and truly had a passion for it. Upon spending a semester at Johnson & Wales, i decided that this is not how i wanted to spend my life. Sure i love to cook, but i do not need to make a career out of it, i wanted something more exciting. It is how i always have been my whole life.

I knew i loved to help people so i went the traditional EMT to Paramedic route, once i arrived at EMT school i realized it was not a traditional school. The school i attended was Coral Springs Fire Academy down in south Florida, i knew this school had an amazing reputation but what i did not know was the military style atmosphere that kind of caught me by surprise. The thing is.. i loved it, everything about it was awesome and i feel those short 3-4 months of school made me a slightly better human being.

Long story short.. i went on to become a Paramedic and still was hungry for more, looked into careers in the military where i could help others and get the life i desired. That is when i found Pararescue, i looked up the requirements and i knew medically i was okay(I was wrong) I started my training program almost 16 months ago. I was crushing PAST standards and ready to talk to a recruiter, he gave me a rucksack and told me to start rucking, found out i had to pay off some debt i had from a credit card. Did that.. went to MEPs got a good ASVAB score(86) returned a short while later to get my physical, found out my eyesight was un-correctable to 20/20 in both eyes. So that kind of sucked but i knew it was not the end of the road for me, maybe for my dreams of being a PJ but that was it.

And that is when i was stumbling around looking for a career that would take my bat eyed' self and ended up here!

So i originally posted on these forums with the intent of learning more about the Navy's SARC program, I have found great information all over the forums and also was in contact with a Justin Wilson(HM 8403/8427 Enlisted Technical Leader) from Reconcorpsman.com. Unfortunately through our many exchanges he informed me that my chances might be a little slim with the fact my eye sight was 20/20 & 20/30. Also i cannot correct the left eye to 20/20 because i have a slight lazy eye. I am also under the impression that any SOF program that thrives in the water and is required to take a combat divers course, i probably will not be able to get into them straight off the streets with my eye sight.

So that brought me to the US Army with their 18X contracts, obviously at this point i am very proficient in the water in preparation for my initial PJ hopes. But at the same time maybe somewhere down the road i will be able to take a combat divers course if i am coming in with some years of experience under my belt, not that this is a deal breaker. But i have a new found love for the water and i would like to challenge myself further in my hopeful SOF career and soak up all the experience and possible courses they will offer.

My recruiter submitted my med-read to MEPs on 1/11/, he and I are anxiously waiting to here back. I am eager to go after all the training i have put in the past year and a half. However the more time i have to train the more chance of success at SFAS. So that is a good thing, I just need to sit tight for a little bit until i get my opportunity.

I will post an update when my process starts moving again.
 
Hello everyone. It's been a long time since I posted. Glad to be back.

As some of you may know, I tore my labrum, and strained my rotator cuff around 16-17 months ago. No surgery required. So with that being said, no one wanted to touch me because I was more paperwork, and more of a hassle (Navy, Marines, and Air Force). But, the Army has been working with me for awhile and has given me the opportunity to go to MEPS next week.

This has been a very long road for me. Many ups and downs. But, I may actually be able to serve after all this time and effort. Both an exciting and freighting reality. Thank you all for your continuous wisdom and advice on this forum, as well as your dedication to help people that are in situations like mine.

I will update on what the MEPS doctors tell me next week. Thanks again!
 
Border said:
So i am just going to take it from the top of how i ended up on this website.

I graduated High school with the intent of becoming a chef, i always loved to cook and truly had a passion for it. Upon spending a semester at Johnson & Wales, i decided that this is not how i wanted to spend my life. Sure i love to cook, but i do not need to make a career out of it, i wanted something more exciting. It is how i always have been my whole life.

I knew i loved to help people so i went the traditional EMT to Paramedic route, once i arrived at EMT school i realized it was not a traditional school. The school i attended was Coral Springs Fire Academy down in south Florida, i knew this school had an amazing reputation but what i did not know was the military style atmosphere that kind of caught me by surprise. The thing is.. i loved it, everything about it was awesome and i feel those short 3-4 months of school made me a slightly better human being.

Long story short.. i went on to become a Paramedic and still was hungry for more, looked into careers in the military where i could help others and get the life i desired. That is when i found Pararescue, i looked up the requirements and i knew medically i was okay(I was wrong) I started my training program almost 16 months ago. I was crushing PAST standards and ready to talk to a recruiter, he gave me a rucksack and told me to start rucking, found out i had to pay off some debt i had from a credit card. Did that.. went to MEPs got a good ASVAB score(86) returned a short while later to get my physical, found out my eyesight was un-correctable to 20/20 in both eyes. So that kind of sucked but i knew it was not the end of the road for me, maybe for my dreams of being a PJ but that was it.

And that is when i was stumbling around looking for a career that would take my bat eyed' self and ended up here!

So i originally posted on these forums with the intent of learning more about the Navy's SARC program, I have found great information all over the forums and also was in contact with a Justin Wilson(HM 8403/8427 Enlisted Technical Leader) from Reconcorpsman.com. Unfortunately through our many exchanges he informed me that my chances might be a little slim with the fact my eye sight was 20/20 & 20/30. Also i cannot correct the left eye to 20/20 because i have a slight lazy eye. I am also under the impression that any SOF program that thrives in the water and is required to take a combat divers course, i probably will not be able to get into them straight off the streets with my eye sight.

So that brought me to the US Army with their 18X contracts, obviously at this point i am very proficient in the water in preparation for my initial PJ hopes. But at the same time maybe somewhere down the road i will be able to take a combat divers course if i am coming in with some years of experience under my belt, not that this is a deal breaker. But i have a new found love for the water and i would like to challenge myself further in my hopeful SOF career and soak up all the experience and possible courses they will offer.

My recruiter submitted my med-read to MEPs on 1/11/, he and I are anxiously waiting to here back. I am eager to go after all the training i have put in the past year and a half. However the more time i have to train the more chance of success at SFAS. So that is a good thing, I just need to sit tight for a little bit until i get my opportunity.

I will post an update when my process starts moving again.
Click to expand...

It was the lack of 20/20 vision and being 'technically' color blind which knocked me out of the SARC pipeline in the early 90s. Since that was before the interwebs and instantaneous flood of information, I had no idea until after I was in. I went on to be 8404, loved most of it.

Drive on, and always have a PACE plan. Sometimes life says "no".
 
Devildoc said:
It was the lack of 20/20 vision and being 'technically' color blind which knocked me out of the SARC pipeline in the early 90s. Since that was before the interwebs and instantaneous flood of information, I had no idea until after I was in. I went on to be 8404, loved most of it.

Drive on, and always have a PACE plan. Sometimes life says "no".
Click to expand...

Yessir, I understand even at this point i will probably be denied the 18x contract i am looking for, but thankfully the internet in all of its glory has shown me that it is quite easy to enlist under some form of 11 designation and try out for an 18 series contract when you are in initial stages of training.

I know my chance will come, only a matter of time.
 
Haven’t posted in a while so here it goes. I just scored 3/3 on the dlpt for turkish. I’ve been working as a 0000 at NASNI for about 2 months now. Already did some corpsman coverage and took on a couple collaterals while working at primary care, so I’m happy with my clinical progress. I’ve been sick/injured on and off for about 5 weeks, dying to get back in the gym. Enjoying SD, looking for opportunities to train and get more qualed in every aspect. If you’re in the area and wanna train/hang out shoot me a message!
 
SESW said:
Haven’t posted in a while so here it goes. I just scored 3/3 on the dlpt for turkish. I’ve been working as a 0000 at NASNI for about 2 months now. Already did some corpsman coverage and took on a couple collaterals while working at primary care, so I’m happy with my clinical progress. I’ve been sick/injured on and off for about 5 weeks, dying to get back in the gym. Enjoying SD, looking for
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
First and foremost, HOLY SHIT THIS THREAD IS AMAZING! It's like Viagra for a freedom boner, one of the most motivating things I've ever read. Thank you all for the contributions to this.

I've been lurking here for a long while and some long term goals have been adjusted since my introduction. I am still working Mental Health with little chance of snagging a retraining slot. I'm now looking into applying for a conditional release to transfer to the Army with a long term goal of applying for Ranger. Spoke with a recruiter and currently they are not offering opt. 40 for prior service, so it looks like I'll have to go the long way for it. From what I've seen on the forum and other research, it's a long process to get the conditional release so I plan to use that time to turn my office job fitness level into Ranger ready.

Not much of an update, and it will be very slow at first as I just recently PCS'd overseas, but after reading this thread I can see all processes take their time. All in the pipeline, keep driving.
 
Received my A&S notification this morning. The selection board decided to give me the opportunity to try out. T-59 days.
 
Not an update for my pursuit of the beret, but I moved on to the interview process for my number one choice of police department in the state with the Group unit I want to join. I went all the way to the Chief’s interview with this department last year and was not selected for one of two slots they had open. I was number 3 or 4 on the list. I feel good about passing the board, psych, poly and background once again though.

I’ve also reached out to the recruiter for the SF Guard unit I want to join and set up a meeting when I am in town.
 
Graduated from RTC and have been in a hold awaiting a med waiver. In the meantime I have had the opportunity to work with BUDS prep instructors and a Rescue Swimmer on base. Just trying to be a sponge and get what I can from those who have BTDT before my prospective pipeline starts. Between them and the forums here I have been given a great amount of info.
 
I'm a Junior in HS hoping to become a Marine officer. I hope to eventually become a SOF officer, but I am focusing on my immediate targets now. I took the ASVAB and got a 94, so I am pretty happy with that. I just got my ACT scores back and ended up getting a 30, so a solid score, but I hope to improve to at least a 32 or 33. I am preparing to start the process of applying to USNA and I am working with several mentors to improve weaker areas so I can be a more competitive candidate. I haven't found any USNA grads here so far, but if any are reading this I would love to speak with you.

I was also just recently finished up physical therapy and was cleared for full activity after two knee surgeries last year. I'll need to get these cleared by DoDMERB, but my surgeon was adamant that I shouldn't have any problems.
 
Good afternoon gents,

It's been a while since I first posted in this thread. I just completed the TACP apprentice course and got my beret today. I'll be heading to SERE shortly and then on to my duty station where the real training starts!

Thanks,
Jon
 
jmik008 said:
Good afternoon gents,

It's been a while since I first posted in this thread. I just completed the TACP apprentice course and got my beret today. I'll be heading to SERE shortly and then on to my duty station where the real training starts!

Thanks,
Jon
Click to expand...
Congrats, where are you going to be stationed at?
 

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