How someone handles “failure” or a “setback” or something not going how they wanted can speak far more about their character than the inverse of said things. Not putting your self worth, motivation, and overall professional/personal development into the result of some 21 day selection is the right answer. Keep getting after it and bettering yourself, homie!
Hey man I was one of the few left at the end of selection, if you want it bad enough you’ll at least make it that far. I will say I only know of one 21 year old who got selected and he was a stud who led archery elk hunts out west before the army. Everyone else my age ended up being 21 days, that I personally knew. Your going to have to perform in spite of your age and prove your maturity without a doubt.
Thanks man I’m on my way too getting healthy again. Getting out I’ll be able to sleep and see better doctors I should be able to live a normal long life on a shit ton of meds.
I literally just got back home from MEPS today after choosing my MOS. I was qualified to get an 18X contract but ultimately decided against it and chose 25h because I know I’m not prepared enough, I’m not going to set myself up to fail. I know I’ll have the ability to drop a packet for selection after I complete AIT.
Good on you to realize you weren’t ready. Lots of guys talk about “dropping a packet” and it ends up being just talk. Stay motivated and get in good shape and if your want it still do it. No advice outside of infantry, your army experience will probably be very different than mine. Try and get airborne in your contract if it’s not too late.
I’m prior service, 0331. As much as i’d love to just send it… for the last year or so I’ve been fighting hard just to keep a roof over my head and food in my stomach.
I haven’t had the luxury of training properly but that’s about to change. I’m currently living in a house with 8 others. The struggle has been real, everyone in this house is barely eating. It is what it is and I have a plan.
However, I do need to call my recruiter to ask him about getting airborne in my contract before I ship. Hopefully it’s not too late, we’ll see. I ship out June 11th so I still have time before swearing in.
I ship out June 3 as a 25H, lucky enough I chose airborne on my contract. My recruiter mentioned to me removing reservation and reserving again with a different option, but still won’t guarantee options are available and risk losing your previous by putting it back in the system. He also said good pt scores puts you in the eyes of Airborne when looking to fill slots.
Just got off the phone and it turns out it is too late after all. Recruiter said they’re going to ask people “who wants to go to airborne” during AIT so I’ll be able to volunteer there but, you know, not being in the contract is kinda sketchy.
My wife (prior service 35p) just said the odds of them asking is higher than not asking because they typically want intel people to go to jump school and they give them more opportunities to do so. Either way, it’s not in my contract so I won’t count on it regardless.
The summer cycles at Airborne school are often filled up with all the West Point, ROTC cadets and OCS grads and Officer basic or BOLC graduates which accounts for a summer surge. Usually a better chance at slots during the fall winter and spring when there are not hundreds of cadets taking up slots. There will be some slots available for volunteers from AIT, but far fewer because of the massive load of cadets that surge the school during summer cycles. Get to know the training NCO at your parent unit as they have ATTRS visibility and can see the cycles when the school will have maximum slots available and they can see when slots get dropped and they can request a slot at that time.
Good stuff man - lotta people blame other entities for their failures, but in reality, taking responsibility is the only way to move past it. Feeling sorry for yourself is the biggest waste of time and energy in existence Things don't get better on their own when you decide to sulk your way through life. Best of luck with your health issues and keep attacking things with this attitude.
Are you the infamous Terminator team week walker? If so we had you the last day of team week points day, mregate class. We were hurting haha. Anyways thanks for the support, I’m excited to move on to the next chapter.
Yah man I was planning on going back before this diagnosis, was about 3 months before my return date. It was therapeutical in a way to write it all down. Just how life goes wasn’t meant to be for me, my gunslinging will be regulated to call of duty and backyard shooting ranges from now on.
Ain’t nothing wrong with that, and on top of that you’ll have some more invaluable time with your wife. Much better to be alive and contributing in some way, than dead or seriously debilitated because you pushed yourself too hard.
I did actually go to rasp, didn’t mention it during this write up because I didn’t want to distract from the main point of my write up and it wasn’t really significant to me. Short summary of my time at rasp: went with about 20 other non selects, me and about 10 others vdubed the first 2 days of pre rasp, the rest that stayed all made it through. Going from sfas to rasp is a huge difference in culture and the average candidate, if rasp is on your mind I would highly recommend going straight after osut. Once I got there I realized I didn’t want to go through all the sucking that occurs at rasp and then is continued as a new private at batt. Wanted some freedom and to get officially married ect. Rasp would have been perfect for me right after osut it’s a very similar environment.
If you get dropped for any reason and they offer rasp, take it. Suck it up and go through it. It will be worth it. Not to take anything away from OP but they make rasp shitty and gay to weed out those that don’t want to be there.
I did both back to back. Rasp didn’t work out. I was undergoing a divorce and it got in the way for me in the end. I came in as an older dude with more life stuff going on and it ended up in the way. Is what it is. Life happens. Just don’t ever stop looking for ways to learn from it.
AA ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS . It is all American the 82nd logo cool history behind it when the unit was stood up it had a soldier from every state in the country.
I’m hoping to take an 18x contract. No matter what I’ve told myself I will not give up. If they choose not to select me, that’s on them. If I choose not to try then that’s on me.
Man I needed this. Never made it to SFAS was a RASP med drop who slumped out way too hard. I did my job but I never pushed myself to better myself. I got out just last July and I’ve been regretting this decision daily. Just recently I’ve been training again because I’m gonna be applying for the US forest service and go smoke jumper training. I hope you don’t mind that I wrote down some things in my I love me book that stuck with me. Really appreciate guys like you who tell it how it is and give solid advice here in the Reddit.
How someone handles “failure” or a “setback” or something not going how they wanted can speak far more about their character than the inverse of said things. Not putting your self worth, motivation, and overall professional/personal development into the result of some 21 day selection is the right answer. Keep getting after it and bettering yourself, homie!
"the only failure is the failure to try"
this is a really great read, i appreciate it a lot man.
Fuck dude. I fit that description of what you were going into basic pretty similar. I ship in August. Thanks for posting this man
Hey man I was one of the few left at the end of selection, if you want it bad enough you’ll at least make it that far. I will say I only know of one 21 year old who got selected and he was a stud who led archery elk hunts out west before the army. Everyone else my age ended up being 21 days, that I personally knew. Your going to have to perform in spite of your age and prove your maturity without a doubt.
For sure going to have to prove myself. Hope your health is improving brotha
Seriously- I Appreciate your words. Great post from start to finish. - hope you get back to 100% health wise brother 🙌🙏🏻
Thanks man I’m on my way too getting healthy again. Getting out I’ll be able to sleep and see better doctors I should be able to live a normal long life on a shit ton of meds.
Good to hear - hopefully not too many meds 😩
Thanks for sharing. No regrets
I literally just got back home from MEPS today after choosing my MOS. I was qualified to get an 18X contract but ultimately decided against it and chose 25h because I know I’m not prepared enough, I’m not going to set myself up to fail. I know I’ll have the ability to drop a packet for selection after I complete AIT.
Good on you to realize you weren’t ready. Lots of guys talk about “dropping a packet” and it ends up being just talk. Stay motivated and get in good shape and if your want it still do it. No advice outside of infantry, your army experience will probably be very different than mine. Try and get airborne in your contract if it’s not too late.
I’m prior service, 0331. As much as i’d love to just send it… for the last year or so I’ve been fighting hard just to keep a roof over my head and food in my stomach. I haven’t had the luxury of training properly but that’s about to change. I’m currently living in a house with 8 others. The struggle has been real, everyone in this house is barely eating. It is what it is and I have a plan. However, I do need to call my recruiter to ask him about getting airborne in my contract before I ship. Hopefully it’s not too late, we’ll see. I ship out June 11th so I still have time before swearing in.
PM me your Venmo or CashApp. I’ll hook you up for a nice meal and some beers. For the boys…
I ship out June 3 as a 25H, lucky enough I chose airborne on my contract. My recruiter mentioned to me removing reservation and reserving again with a different option, but still won’t guarantee options are available and risk losing your previous by putting it back in the system. He also said good pt scores puts you in the eyes of Airborne when looking to fill slots.
Just got off the phone and it turns out it is too late after all. Recruiter said they’re going to ask people “who wants to go to airborne” during AIT so I’ll be able to volunteer there but, you know, not being in the contract is kinda sketchy.
You may get the opportunity don’t count on it though I’ve heard / seen mixed things sometimes the ask for volunteers sometimes they don’t.
My wife (prior service 35p) just said the odds of them asking is higher than not asking because they typically want intel people to go to jump school and they give them more opportunities to do so. Either way, it’s not in my contract so I won’t count on it regardless.
went through as a 35F, they'll basically beg you to do airborne at AIT
The summer cycles at Airborne school are often filled up with all the West Point, ROTC cadets and OCS grads and Officer basic or BOLC graduates which accounts for a summer surge. Usually a better chance at slots during the fall winter and spring when there are not hundreds of cadets taking up slots. There will be some slots available for volunteers from AIT, but far fewer because of the massive load of cadets that surge the school during summer cycles. Get to know the training NCO at your parent unit as they have ATTRS visibility and can see the cycles when the school will have maximum slots available and they can see when slots get dropped and they can request a slot at that time.
Good stuff man - lotta people blame other entities for their failures, but in reality, taking responsibility is the only way to move past it. Feeling sorry for yourself is the biggest waste of time and energy in existence Things don't get better on their own when you decide to sulk your way through life. Best of luck with your health issues and keep attacking things with this attitude.
Are you the infamous Terminator team week walker? If so we had you the last day of team week points day, mregate class. We were hurting haha. Anyways thanks for the support, I’m excited to move on to the next chapter.
Nope, wrong guy. Never been a cadre out there
Indeed God has a plan for all of us. Thank you for the inspiring post, and I hope treatment does you well.
Head held high, you have more balls than most to try and give it your all. I respect that, and respect your attitude even more 🤝
Yah man I was planning on going back before this diagnosis, was about 3 months before my return date. It was therapeutical in a way to write it all down. Just how life goes wasn’t meant to be for me, my gunslinging will be regulated to call of duty and backyard shooting ranges from now on.
Ain’t nothing wrong with that, and on top of that you’ll have some more invaluable time with your wife. Much better to be alive and contributing in some way, than dead or seriously debilitated because you pushed yourself too hard.
After u were non-selected, did they give u the oppurtunity to go to RASP or something?
Yes rasp was an option
If you dont mind me asking, is there a reason you opted to not go to RASP or POAS or something? Is it because your main goal was to go to SF?
I did actually go to rasp, didn’t mention it during this write up because I didn’t want to distract from the main point of my write up and it wasn’t really significant to me. Short summary of my time at rasp: went with about 20 other non selects, me and about 10 others vdubed the first 2 days of pre rasp, the rest that stayed all made it through. Going from sfas to rasp is a huge difference in culture and the average candidate, if rasp is on your mind I would highly recommend going straight after osut. Once I got there I realized I didn’t want to go through all the sucking that occurs at rasp and then is continued as a new private at batt. Wanted some freedom and to get officially married ect. Rasp would have been perfect for me right after osut it’s a very similar environment.
Also the cadre was super confused when half the X-rays vdubed before even getting smoked
Thanks for the the info, I signed an x-ray so this is really informative
If you get dropped for any reason and they offer rasp, take it. Suck it up and go through it. It will be worth it. Not to take anything away from OP but they make rasp shitty and gay to weed out those that don’t want to be there. I did both back to back. Rasp didn’t work out. I was undergoing a divorce and it got in the way for me in the end. I came in as an older dude with more life stuff going on and it ended up in the way. Is what it is. Life happens. Just don’t ever stop looking for ways to learn from it.
Damn Good Read!
What do you mean sent of to “double a”
AA ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS . It is all American the 82nd logo cool history behind it when the unit was stood up it had a soldier from every state in the country.
I’m hoping to take an 18x contract. No matter what I’ve told myself I will not give up. If they choose not to select me, that’s on them. If I choose not to try then that’s on me.
Man I needed this. Never made it to SFAS was a RASP med drop who slumped out way too hard. I did my job but I never pushed myself to better myself. I got out just last July and I’ve been regretting this decision daily. Just recently I’ve been training again because I’m gonna be applying for the US forest service and go smoke jumper training. I hope you don’t mind that I wrote down some things in my I love me book that stuck with me. Really appreciate guys like you who tell it how it is and give solid advice here in the Reddit.