UneasyRider - SITREP SFQC

[UneasyRider]

Rangers,

Many months ago I posted a re-introduction to the forum and I think now is a good time to update my status. Quick background on myself, I completed 4 years in the Air Force before I enlisted into the Army as an 18x-ray. Last January, I went to 11B OSUT, graduated March, and went down the road to Airborne. After graduating Airborne school I moved up to Fort Bragg and signed into SWC for SOPC. I completed SOPC at the beginning of summer, it was an good class with very good instructors and really set everyone up for success at SFAS. I attended the June SFAS class and was issued a whole new meaning for the word "suck". SFAS was pretty brutal, but at the end I was selected as an 18E with French being my language. Exactly what I wanted. Next month I will start the next phase of training, for the time being staying in shape is priority #1. I have no regrets taking the path I have chosen, I am surrounded by the best soldiers I have ever worked with, and am eager to prove myself worthy of being an 18 series soldier.

I will continue to post updates from here on out.

[Dan B 3/75]

Good deal.

Drive on, good luck, and don't quit.

[Zonk 1/75]

living the dream.................... Good for you and good luck

[Dan B 3/75]

Thanks for the update, congrats on making it this far. Don't quit. It gets worse.

Shhhh!!!!

"Doughnut week" is supposed to be kept on the DL......

[Buzz]

Conradulations!

[panthersix]

Wow, that's pretty awesome! Thanks for the update and hang in there!

[Ndog275]

Good luck, don't quit.

[Ranger Ron]

Keep looking forward with your eye on the prize!

[UneasyRider]

Dropping in to send another SITREP.

I recently graduated the CLT portion of the pre-pipeline phase. CLT, I believe stands for Common Leaders Training, certifies the "classroom" portion of WLC & BNOC. We spent a lot of time in a classroom teaching classes on common Army doctrine/forms/general knowledge and small unit tactics. We participated in several team competitions, some decent smoke sessions, and class A inspection. Overall it was a good course and a chance to learn from one another, and those of us who had deployment experience were able to share with guys who had not been downrange yet. By far the best part of the experience was learning from our Cadre and really getting to pick their brains about what it is to be SF. They had a ton of knowledge and honestly 19 days was barely enough to scratch the surface. Our TAC instilled upon us the the first SOF imperative, "Understand the operational environment". I will never forget it.

I had just completed 3mi run/10mi ruck called the Iron Man event when I received a red cross notice that my father had become very ill. There were 2 days left in the class but the First Sgt. told me I had met the requirements for completion and said I should take the emergency leave to head home. Good thing I did, I got to see my dad one of the last times he would be coherent and he passed away 2 days later. Tough time for my family and I, I'm still feeling the effects.

Now we're in language phase, but we have not started yet. We had a week of physical gates to pass and a few weeks of briefings. I've done well on all the gates, 2 pushups off a perfect PT score, top 10 on the 6mi ruck event, and somehow did not drown on the 50m swim in BDUs/boots. I've got a good team, and awesome TACs. I look forward to the challenges that await!

[Slowpoke]

Great SitRep!

Good luck learning to speak Frog.

[soldier7489]

Sorry to hear about your father man, that's gotta be rough especially in such a tense training environment. Hope you make it to the end and good luck !

Sent from my Droid

[Lunch]

Sorry about your loss brother, glad you were able to make it home.

So you got French, eh? If you ever get a chance to let me know who the instructors are these days, I'd appreciate it- I would love to pass a message on to my old teacher if she's still around.

Holy shit- just re-read your earlier message...you got 18E, too? You ARE special .

[UneasyRider]

Roger that Ranger Lunch, Echo & French. I will message you my language block instructors name the first Monday in January when I start learning that Frog speak!

[Lunch]

Good deal, merci.

[UneasyRider]

Dropping in to send out a SITREP.

Finished up language back around May, scored well with a 1+, thanks to my professor. Pushed on into Small Unit Tactics (SUT) Phase but ended up getting recycled due to ... BRM. Still a little upset on that, I sat in between training for a couple of months before I got another "shot" at SUT. This time I killed it, 39/40. At SUT I learned a lot about: Patrolling, OPORDs, WARNOs, sucking, raids, ambushes, sucking, being a SL, getting smoked, imagining weird shit under NVGs, hallucinating. I peered very well, and got a GO my patrol as a SL. Selection has its moments of suckyness but SUT is definitely a bigger hump. I had already planned to volunteer for Ranger School after the course and SUT only solidified that decision. I had a lot of ground to cover at SUT, I was very thankful that there were some very squared away NCOs/Capts to learn from. I was happy to shut my mouth and listen to their words of experience. Next course was SERE-C... best and worst school I have ever been done. Enough said! Looking forward to MOS next.

-UR