Intro: Jimming

[Jim]

You are fortunate this summer because of the variety of experiences you had. You should do a little introspective examination of yourself. What have you learned? How has your experience shaped your expectations of yourself?

[Lefty]

Good sitrep.

In addition to Jim's question, what did you learn from observing the others who completed the course?

When is your family trip?

[Jimming]

Ranger Jim and Ranger Lefty,

What have I learned?
After looking at my experience and looking at myself before and after the trip, this is what I have determined; I am capable of more than I have ever imagined and I am a much more competent leader than I though I was. Though they are two seemingly simple things, they are very important to me. For all of the years that I have wanted to be a Ranger, I have always lacked confidence in my ability to push past fatigue and the urge to quit. After having gone through the course and experiencing some hardships, I have confidence that when faced with a challenge in the future I will be able to push past fatigue. I also feel that I can trust myself not to quit. Before going on the course I also wasn't sure how I would do as a leader. I had never really been put in a serious leadership role before. During the course I stepped up a lot and put myself in leadership positions. Now that it's over, I know that I can lead successfully and no longer have any worries about that in my future.

How has my experience shaped my expectation for myself?
Like I stated in the last question, I am now confident that I can push past being tired and that I will not quit. I expect myself to live up to this now, and I hope to keep these simple lessons with me for a long time. I developed a new and better work ethic during the course, so I expect myself to work a lot harder now. The last big expectation I have of myself is to be more willing to help others. During the course I volunteered a LOT to take weight from other peoples' packs, I helped people almost daily with maps/cooking/setting up camp/etc, and I helped leaders who weren't sure what to do. I am not normally like that, so I expect myself to carry that over to my day to day life and into the military when I enlist.

What did I learn from observing other who completed the course?
I learned that motivation and mindset means a lot more than your physical ability. I know I have said that 10 times already, but it was very clearly demonstrated at the course. Looking at one of the guys there who wasn't motivated at all, he struggled constantly. He whined a lot, refused to take extra weight, didn't help others set up camp, etc... His negative mindset and shitty work ethic screwed him over because he was constantly in the back, nobody liked him, and I personally don't think he learned anything by the end of the course. Things were basically the opposite for anyone else there who was motivated and who had a good mindset.

Ranger Lefty, my trip is next week and I'll be doing more hiking up and down the Rocky Mountains.

[Jim]

Good SITREP! Given the cost of Outward Bound, you should consider yourself fortunate to have supportive parents. Never, never quit!

[Jimming]

Rangers,
I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I should give you an update. I am far overdue for a PT score update, however I have recently come down with mono, so I can't workout or get any real exercise for the next 3-4 weeks. I will be doing my best to get well, and I will post PT scores as soon as I can. Hopefully my fever will die down in the next week, because I was planning on visiting my recruiter sometime soon to talk about signing my contract in a couple of months.

I will keep you posted,
Jimming

[Jimming]

Rangers,

I am sorry that I haven't been on recently. As my last post stated, I had mono. During the time that I was sick, I lost some weight, and a lot of strength. I was fully recovered and given the good-to-go by my doctor just over 2 weeks ago, and since then I have been working out and eating a lot to regain my strength and lost weight. I put most of the weight back on and have gained my strength back and then some, which I would attribute to my diet. I have started eating much healthier and have a solid meal plan. I have not been keeping up with my cardio lately. That is going to change for obvious reasons. I have been very occupied with school lately, so I haven't been visiting here very frequently in the last few weeks. Hopefully that won't be a problem anymore, and I will be making more frequent visits to read and learn.

I have begun to study for the ASVAB, and plan on taking it as soon as I feel ready. Most of the information is easy and self explanatory. I will be concentrating most heavily on the mechanical and shop stuff. I was not able to visit a recruiter anytime recently. Hopefully I'll be able to see my recruiter soon. My parents are very reluctant to see the recruiter lately because they know that I will be wanting to sign a contract early in 2014. At the moment, they do not plan on co-signing my contract, so I am going to work to change their minds.

My PT scores for this month:
Pushups - 100 (2 minutes) - I feel like my form was bad. Next time I test I will record it or have someone watching me closely.
Pullups - 20
Situps - 74 (2 minutes)
Run - I will post my run score in the next 72 hours.

[Jim]

All the tasks are graded as one event. Next time do them together (include pull-ups). Never, never quit!

[PocketKings]

All of these experiences are money in the bank that will pay dividends. It's always good, when the suck counts, to be able to look back and have experienced it in some form or fashion before. As much as I got yelled at in the military, I could remember back to 'Camp Cadet' when I was a kid (PA State Trooper program) and recall how I felt then as a 15 year old kid, and that it didn't seem as bad. As cold as Ranger School got, I still had my coldest FTX in ROTC at Ft. Indiantown Gap, PA. As hard as I rucked in the Army, I rucked harder as a kid bombing around West Virginia, Wyoming, and the Poconos with various groups.

It may seem like it's not 'real life' stuff compared to the Army, but it builds a base that builds you up.

[Jimming]

Rangers,

Roger that Ranger Jim. Next time my PT test will be done together and posted together. And I did include pullups this time.

Roger that Ranger PocketKings! I won't take those hard experiences for granted, and I plan to put myself in those situations again. Just like you are saying, when I'm am in a crappy situation, I want to be able to look back at my past experiences and say "I've been here before, I can handle this".

My 2 mile run time was 13:57. It's not great, but I'm glad my scores didn't drop too horribly. The coming weeks are going to be very cardio intensive until I can get a 2 mile run time far less than 13 minutes.

[Lefty]

In June you stated you had issues with shin splints from running. Do whatever you can to prevent this as you work on your run times.
Shin splints and stress fractures from running ended the hopes of two promising mentees I knew.
As has been said, you have been fortunate to gain the experiences of this past summer.
Continue your work towards the goal. Be sure to read and re-read all the posts on this site pertaining to recruiting and preparation.
Begin thinking of the tasks you need to outline.

[Jim]

Jimming, always pay attention to Ranger Lefty's comments. Never, never quit!

[Jimming]

Roger Ranger Lefty. I was running on concrete a lot when I got shinsplints. I'm going to be running more on grass and soft ground to prevent shin splints, and I will also be careful not to overtrain. I have been making frequent stops on the forums to read and learn, and I will continue to do so. Pushing out 50 for replying so late.

Roger Ranger Jim.

[Bigglestheman]

Jimming you're going to lose weight and muscle at OSUT. Not to be pessimistic about it, but it depends on the DS and most of the time you get 1 hour for personal time, which isn't enough depending on all the crap you have to do wash clothes, shower, pack ruck (if you have a ruck march in the morning), and various other crap you'll have to do.
I had to wash my PTs everyday because some shit bag stole almost all my PT shirts and shorts from the dryer.

That leads to MARK EVERYTHING YOU OWN WITH YOUR FULL NAME!!!


Another piece of advice. When they have you out at the range at your sitting around doing nothing take one of your notebooks and write out your goals it's always nice to see your goals on an organized piece of paper (Plus it kills time). It's better than sitting around in your IOTV waiting for someone to fuck up and get everyone smoked.

[Jim]

Excellent advice; and a hell of a lot more current than anything Ranger Lefty or I would tell you.

[Jimming]

Roger that Bigglestheman. Your comment has motivated me to create a journal of all of the advice that I collect on this forum and from other sources. I regret not starting it sooner.