SITREP - Kamber

[Jim]

Well Kamber you have certainly had an event filled two year enlistment so far. Great SITREP. Tell us more as you progress. Never, never quit!

[Kamber]

Good evening Rangers,

I just got back from Max Gain, the 18E Course FTX, yesterday and wanted to check in with a brief SITREP.

Max Gain was most definitely a ball buster, but everyone on our team came together, worked hard, made it happen; we all passed. It really feels like time flew since I started MOS phase 5 months ago. The course is broken up into multiple blocks, each block covering a different type of material and lasting 1-3 weeks in length. I won't get into the details since there's no need to mention that kind of stuff on the internet. What I will say, however, is that the civilian cadre that teach the majority of each block were extremely knowledgeable and true SME's, I am very thankful to have had them as instructors. I've learned a ton over the past couple months, way more than I could possibly retain verbatim; thankfully we were provided ample resources and reference material to lean on for later on down the road, including said instructors. One constant that I've noticed is how commo, by nature, is an ever changing beast. Looking towards the future, I'm excited to discover and learn about new hardware, software, SOP's, and methods to the madness. As it stands, we have 1 week of instruction left, then we'll be officially finished with the Echo course and moving on to Robin Sage. Our class is scheduled to leave for Robin Sage on March 6; I'm excited to get started with this final CULEX of the SFQC.

In other news, our class was recently given current language/Group assignments. I got Korean/1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), which was a surprise to me seeing as how I'm a native speaker of Mandarin Chinese. It should be interesting to learn a new language though, and I'm quite looking forward to it.

We were also informed recently that those of us who wear prescription lenses will be receiving ICL eye surgery before reporting to Group. Our pre-op's are scheduled for early March, and if all goes well, we should be undergoing surgery shortly after returning from Robin Sage.

That's all I have for now, Rangers; I'll be sure to post another SITREP after Robin Sage.

- Kamber

[Jim]

Kamber, you are still in training? Wow, you have been in schools for twenty-eight months. That's amazing. Never, never quit!

[Kamber]

Roger, Ranger Jim. It's been a long road, but certainly a worthwhile experience in which I have both learned and grown immensely. I have Robin Sage, possibly language school, and possibly MFF left to go. I'm hoping to graduate in either May/June if I can skip language phase by testing out of Mandarin Chinese, or in October/November if I am to take 6 months of Korean language training. According to the 18E NCOIC, MFF is now officially being integrated into the tail end of the SFQC by sometime around the end of this fiscal year, hence why SWTG and the SWC surgeon are pushing to get our eye surgeries performed as soon as possible.

[Kamber]

Good evening Rangers,

I returned from and successfully completed Robin Sage on April 4th. After getting back, our class in-processed into the language section. My target language was switched to Mandarin Chinese due to being a heritage speaker. Those of us who were assessed to be proficient to a 2+/2+ or higher based on a diagnostic assessment administered by the academic language specialists are being accelerated through and having OPI's scheduled.

As such, I'll be graduating on June 11th with Class 291. While I know I'm going to 1st SFG(A), specific battalion assignments have not been assigned yet; I'm hoping to land in 1st BN over in Okinawa. My main focuses between now and graduation are to improve my UBRR score as much as possible and hone my language abilities to ensure I achieve a 3/3 on the OPI when I take it. I'll also be receiving ICL corrective eye surgery at the end of this month. MFF is still up in the air, as I have to have had the eye surgery done at least 3 months prior to attending said course.

It's been an amazing 2 year experience here at Ft. Bragg; coming to selection and going through the Special Forces pipeline has been a huge challenge but one in which I've learned so much from. I can definitely say that I've grown more as a person in the past 2 years than I could ever have hoped to do as a civilian; I wouldn't trade this for anything. The best part is, this is just the beginning. Though finishing the SFQC is a signficant achievement, I recognize that above all, I need to remain hungry and humble. I'm looking forward to serving the Regiment proudly, meeting the operational challenges of being on an ODA, and continuing to learn and further myself in any way possible.

Time really flies; I still remember finding this forum as a senior in high school and aspiring to one day serve in a SOF organization amongst men such as yourselves. Thank you Rangers for this amazing resource, it has been a source of endless knowledge and motivation throughout my journey.

- Kamber

[rangerjd]

This is a great SITREP, way to drive on. My son is an 18D in 1st Group and he spent 3 of his 12 years in Oki. I was happy when he got 1st Group because we live just 40 minutes from Ft Lewis. You'll love the area up here although the rain will drive you nuts sometimes. RLTW

[Jim]

Kamber, I can't tell you what a pleasure it has been observing your progress over the past couple of years.

[PocketKings]

Congrats.

Have you, by any chance, read the 'Yellow Green Beret' series of books?

[Kamber]

Good evening gentlemen, it has been quite a while.

Ranger Jim:
Thank you, sir. It has been a privilege to have received guidance and encouragement on these boards from men such as yourself.

Ranger PocketKings:
I have not. I just did a quick Google search, and the series does seem quite interesting. I may very well give it a read sometime in the near future; thanks for turning me on to it.

SITREP:

I successfully underwent ICL corrective eye surgery at the end of April. Due to suffering a tailbone injury in May, my graduation date had to be pushed back one class. Thus, I ended up graduating the SFQC with Class 292 on 13AUG2015. I also got married two days before that, on the 11th; cheers!

Our class was one of the first pilot classes for the "MFF-for-all" initiative, so getting school dates, report dates, and PCS orders cut was somewhat of a messy business and not narrowed down to an exact science yet. I hope that the trial and error we went through has served to streamline and un-fuck the process a bit for future classes. I wasn't able to attend MFF due to my recent eye surgery, so I cleared Fort Bragg at the end of September and took 40 days of PCS leave.

I reported to JBLM in early November. In-processing post took a mere 3 days, but it took me about 3-4 weeks to in-process Group. I'm about done now, with just an Ammo Handler's certification class left to attend this Thursday. I've spent the past 4 weeks on my company's ODB, but I'm blessed to be going down the hall to an MFF ODA come this January and to have secured an MFF slot for this February. It looks like we have a busy year coming up, and i'm excited to be joining the fight. It's been quite an awesome experience getting to know the new work environment thus far. There is so much involved in the day to day operations of Group that you don't learn in the SFQC, but that is to be expected. For now, I'll be busy continuing to chug the firehose and learn the ropes.

Wishing everyone a safe, warm, and happy holiday season!

- Kamber

[rangerjd]

Great job Kamber, you showed up here in Washington just as the rains got serious. If you don't mind the rain, this place a a great place to live and train. Good luck at Group.