Introduction - Steve

[4_LOM]

Welcome to our little corner of the intertube.

You appear to have a pretty good handle on your career, and I wish you good luck. It might be a good Idea, since you'll be hanging out at Ft. Benning anyway, to get yourself through the Basic Airborne Course....more options on unit assignment. Also, the chances of going through RASP II and into the 75th Ranger Regiment as a Second Lieutenant are very, very slim. Normally Plt. Leaders in the 75th are First Lieutenants with a very successful Plt. Leaders tour behind them. Unless you're Ralph Puckett's son....forget it.

Ranger Slowpoke,

From my understanding after talking to a few IN 2LTs that commissioned from my school about follow on schools, Airborne is pretty much guaranteed after Ranger School but I do not have official orders for it. I have a cousin that was Airborne and he refers to me as a "dirty leg". I definitely want my Airborne wings so he can stop holding that over my head.

I will be going to a SBCT after I leave Benning. I am not sure if Strykers Leader Course is a guaranteed school for me to attend at Benning, but I am interested in that course as well. I am focused on IBOLC and Ranger School. Once I accomplish those goals, I will focus on follow on training to better myself as an Officer.

[4_LOM]

Welcome, Steve. Please tell us more about yourself. Where do you go to school? Being detailed combat arms is a good way to begin your career. You want to complete Ranger School as soon as possible. I spent a lot of time on the Army Staff, and it was not unusual to see AG officers with a Ranger Tab. All them were combat arms at one time. Some were reclassified due to wounds, almost all of them wore a CIB. That should also be one of your goals while detailed Infantry. We have extensive RS information on this site -- take time to read as much as you can.

Ranger Jim,

I realized in my previous post, I did not provide much background information about myself.

I come from a military family. My Great Grandfather was in the Navy during WW2, my Father retired as an Army 1SG, and I have two cousins that left the Army. I am the first member of my family to go the Officer route after my Father strongly encouraged me to attend college instead of enlist.

I was not necessarily the best kid growing up in High School as I loved sports and hated school. In college, the accessions process for ROTC made me realize how important grades were.

As far as college goes, I participated as much as I could in my Battalions programs and received a 2.5 year scholarship which I am thankful for. I was a member of my programs Ranger Challenge team and Color Guard team and I enjoyed my time on both. I am very competitive and Ranger Challenge was great since we got to do a lot of hands on training that most Cadets do not do such as using an ASIP radio, dissassemble/assemble an M240B, and live fire exercises. I did many Color Guard events for retired Veterans. After we presented the Colors, I was able to speak with of WW2, Desert Storm/Shield, and OIF/OEF veterans and I learned a lot from them. What I enjoyed the most from speaking with them, was all the entertaining stories they had during training and deployments.