Introduction - Nick

[NoPainNoGain]

Hello Rangers,

Let me start off by saying thank you for giving me the opportunity to be a member of this valuable website as well as for your efforts in preparing those of us with goals of making it to the Regiment. I know it is not something you have to do and in most of your cases you were not privy to this information at the beginning of you own path, which makes it even more commendable.

I will now attempt to tell you a little about myself and my reason for deciding to take upon the difficult task of becoming a Ranger. My name is Nick and I am 21 years old. I was a college student for 3 semesters. I avoided military recruiters and my grandfather's (who is retired Air Force) encouragements to join the Marines like the plague in high school and college because I was honestly not a fan of our former president and did not know much about the military in general. I do not identify specifically with either political party but I tend to hold more of a liberal, rather than conservative, viewpoint and was very excited when our current President was elected though I do not agree with all of his policies or undertakings thus far. From reading through the forums, I realize my own beliefs are at odds with a majority of the members here but that is simply what I believe and I hope you can respect my ideals as I respect yours.
Anyways, the thought of seriously joining the military crossed my mind around January 2010. After holding a few crappy jobs and ending up back at my mom's house for the first time since I was 17 and realizing that I needed a strong change of direction, I began the process of talking to recruiters for the Army and Marines around the time of my 21st birthday last August. I was not sure at that time what I wanted to do but I knew I wanted something that would push me harder and farther than I had ever been. I did not know much about the Rangers

[Steadfast]

Welcome to the site Nick. Someone will be along to aid you in your transition to this site.

First item on our agenda is to change your name. Since you are not yet in military - you can not use Army in your name.

Give me a few names you might like to switch to by PM (private message). I will have to see if any of them are available for you.

[NoPainNoGain]

Thanks Ranger Steadfast.

I will PM those names to you shortly. I did not mean to post that intro (that's why it just kind of cuts off), I was trying to indent a paragraph using tab and somehow ended up submitting it and couldn't figure out how to take it back. I kind of type in a stream of consciousness and end up deleting half of what I originally type haha. I finished typing the intro I wanted in another window. If I PMed that to you as well would it be possible for you to edit my post for me? I do not see the option to edit it myself.

[al_2ndWolfhounds]

Welcome and thank you for your desire to serve.

Opinions and beliefs vary but we are all patriots and the greatest supporters of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We respect your right to have any opinion you have; as you posted you don't expect us to agree with yours no matter how wrong we may think they may be.

You this site extensively to research then implement your physical and mental preparedness.

[Steadfast]

Thanks Ranger Steadfast.

I will PM those names to you shortly. I did not mean to post that intro (that's why it just kind of cuts off), I was trying to indent a paragraph using tab and somehow ended up submitting it and couldn't figure out how to take it back. I kind of type in a stream of consciousness and end up deleting half of what I originally type haha. I finished typing the intro I wanted in another window. If I PMed that to you as well would it be possible for you to edit my post for me? I do not see the option to edit it myself.

Just press copy and paste your original intro or "quote" it and repost it. It is a good idea to press preview tab several times & if your using a laptop/netbook - watch wrists don't hit click buttons - they sure do mess up a post - like poof!

[NoPainNoGain]

Hello Rangers,

Let me start off by saying thank you for giving me the opportunity to be a member of this valuable website as well as for your efforts in preparing those of us with goals of making it to the Regiment. I know it is not something you have to do and in most of your cases you were not privy to this information at the beginning of you own path, which makes it even more commendable.

I will now attempt to tell you a little about myself. My name is Nick and I am 21. I was Varsity basketball player in high school and played several other sports in my free time. I was a college student for 3 semesters. I held a few crappy jobs and ended up back at my mom's house for the first time since I was 17. I had been entertaining the idea of the military for a while and around my 21st birthday last August I began the process of going into some local recruiting offices. I wanted a challenge, to be part of something bigger, get a strong chance of direction, and a foundation for my future. After hearing about the Rangers and learning what I could about them from the limited information I could find, I knew immediately that was what I wanted to do. I attempted to get option 40 in my contract but settled for 11x on 20090930. After coming across this site and dealing with my recruiter's BS I realized that if being a Ranger was something I really wanted, and it was, that I would have to take steps to guarantee that I would be granted the opportunity to see what I was made of.
I told my recruiter I wanted to renegotiate, he said OK, then later basically tried to intimidate me into shipping with some lies about it being too late and not being able to reenlist for at least 6 months if I did a reno. I ended up at the hotel, scheduled to ship from MEPS the next day but felt strongly that it was not what I wanted and had my mom's friend drive two hours to pick me up and bring me home. I signed out of the hotel, basically told my recruiter on the phone to go fuck himself, and left. The next day the CSM for the recruiting company came to my house with the 1SG because he was in town doing inspects.
They wanted to know what had caused me to decide against the Army, I told them I just wanted to renegotiate for option 40 and my recruiter told me it wasn't possible. They said it was a lie, the CSM got on the phone and got it put in my contract shipping the next day. I was not able to ship because of a minor traffic ticket I had received while in DEP. It was easily dropped but I had not taken care of it before because I was not planning on shipping (the court date was a week later) and my recruiter actually told me it wasn't a problem. Anyways, I did a reno on 20100201 for another 11x contract with the CSM and 1SG's promise that they would make the necessary calls to get me option 40. I had pulled my credit report and had something in collections (which apparently they don't contact you about these days?) which I have since paid. I am now waiting on the proper proof from them because I have a receipt for the payment yet it doesn't indicate that it was a settlement amount so they will not approve my security clearance. I am schedule to ship 20100407. Hopefully everything gets taken care of and I can get option 40 by then. I was told that will probably push my date back. Otherwise I will have to do another reno.

Sorry for the long intro but my story is pretty confusing and hectic. I just want the opportunity to prove that I am deserving of being part of the Regiment. If I get that opportunity and fail, I will accept it but I at least want the opportunity.

Physical: I'm 5' 7" and a half. 158lbs.

In 2 minutes:
Pushups: 102
Situps: 57
Pullups: 17
5 mile run: 1 hour

My run time is horrible but you don't do distance running in basketball and I learned the hard way (twice!) what shin splints are. My running has improved from 3/4 of a mile to 5 miles in 3 weeks. I have the speed I just needed the endurance and leg durability. I'm going to focus on speed work rather than endurance now and I should be able to get that down to 45-50 minutes easily before basic.

Again, thanks for your time and your help Rangers!

OK, there we go. That's my actual intro. Disregard the last one.

Thanks Ranger Steadfast. I now realize what I did. Pressing tab, rather than causing an indentation, scrolls through the 'Save', 'Preview', and 'Submit' buttons. So I guess I tabbed to 'Submit' without realizing and pressed 'Enter' or something. Won't make the mistake again.

[NoPainNoGain]

Thanks Ranger al_2ndWolfhounds.

[snafu]

5 mile run: 1 hour

We all start somewhere. Welcome, now go run!

[NoPainNoGain]

Haha apparently my pedometer is broken. I dropped it a few weeks ago on cement and either that or the fact that I never programmed my stride length are causing it to give inaccurate readings. I suspected it was off since I dropped it but I was focusing on increasing distance so I didn't worry too much about it. Now that I'm focusing on time and speed, I was trying to experiment with fast paces for longer distances. I was getting some strange readings. According to the pedometer, if I run at a full sprint I'm only going at a pace which translate to 8 min/mile which is definitely not right. So I did a short run which according to my pedometer was .78 miles in 11 minutes (I stopped to walk for about 1-2 in the middle). I then compared that on a website I came across called http://www.walkjogrun.net" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; which allows you to trace your running route on Google Maps/Earth and calculate distance, speed, etc. For the same exact route, it's 1.36. Big difference.

[Ranger Bill]

Welcome and congratulations for enlisting to serve our country. I wish you the best in obtaning the terms in your contract that you want. Be sure to read and heed the ROE PM I have sent you.

[HakweeRgr]

Welcome to the site, make sure you take full advantage of this website. There are many forums to help you with your future endeavors.

[Ranger Ron]

Welcome to ArmyRanger.com, young man. If you will look, listen and pay attention to details, you can learn a great deal here.