Introduction

Gator85 · Post by **Gator85** » February 2nd, 2007, 1:17 pm

Hello Rangers,

My Name is Chris and I am 21 years old and I currently attend the University of Florida. I would be a cadet with Army ROTC here at the university right now if I didn't fail a section of my DODMER last April. I did not fail due to a physical problem but was failed on psychiatric grounds. When I was a kid,14 years old, I made a bad decision and tried to take my own life by hanging. To say the least I failed by the grace of God,rope actually snapped, and since then my life has taken a 180 from where it had been and I have devoted it to serving others and now I want to serve my country as I have wanted to do since I was a kid. Since I was informed by the RO at Battalion I have been in a 9 month process to get that black mark on my past waivered and it has taken me everywhere from getting denied by the Surgeon General of the United States to my Congressman taking up my plight and helping me to get a chance to prove I am still not the stupid 14 year old kid I once was. I am currently required to meet with an Army Psychologist, probably at Ft. Stewart, and hopefully I will hear from my RO about what date that will take place. I was told to give up and find something else to do with my life when I first got rejected(after the RO told me I shouldn't of admitted the fact I tried to kill myself, but I refuse to lie), but I knew it would bug me for the rest of my life if I didn't exhaust every means possible in order to get a chance to prove that I warrant the privilege to lead Soldiers.

The reason I am here though is to learn everything I possibly can about what it takes to lead Soldiers into combat. I want to go Infantry as I believe they are the ones in the military who make the biggest impact both on a macro and a micro level.The Rangers and others here know more than I can possibly fathom and I hope you will all be willing to teach a,hopefully, future piss-ant butter bar how I can do it to the best of my ability. This summer if all goes through I will be attending LTC, Airborne, and possibly Air Assault schools. I plan on going into these schools with an incredibly open mind because I know that I know absolutly nothing. Thank you all for your time and any advice and information I will take from this website that you all have put so much effort into.

-Chris

Everett Ruess · Post by **Everett Ruess** » February 2nd, 2007, 2:03 pm

Welcome

RTO · Post by **RTO** » February 2nd, 2007, 2:13 pm

Welcome to the site. Thanks for your desire to serve our country. Good luck with your plans.

msg_dman · Post by **msg_dman** » February 2nd, 2007, 7:37 pm

Nice intro, I wish you the best.

Bravo57 · Post by **Bravo57** » February 5th, 2007, 12:05 pm

Welcome, Good luck

Gator85 · Post by **Gator85** » February 5th, 2007, 8:05 pm

Thank you Rangers Bravo57, msg_dman, RTO, and Everett Ruess for your welcoming remarks. Once again I am thankful to have this site and it has already helped me immensely. The push-up guide is kicking my ass, but in a good way as I hope to perfect my APFT score before I head to LTC and hopefully Airborne school this summer. Right now it's a scraggly 274 with only 65 push-ups and 67 sit-ups respectively.

-Chris

cams · Post by **cams** » February 6th, 2007, 7:17 am

but was failed on psychiatric grounds. When I was a kid,14 years old, I made a bad decision and tried to take my own life by hanging.

I'd say yes, it was a very bad decision, hopefully you've grown a bit.
We all do stupid things as children or teens, that's why we rely on our parents or guardians so much to square us away. Hopefully you had someone to help through those times. You're honest it appears, to say the least.

But, and I say but, that is the first sign of a quitter, weak of mind and not strong of soul.

What would happen if you were getting your bag shot off and the world's exploding around you? Would you revert to taking the easy way out again and fail your comrades, or stay and fight like a madman to get your Brothers out, so that they may live.

to get a chance to prove I am still not the stupid 14 year old kid I once was.

Concur. Everyone deserves to prove that they have grown and learned from their own mistakes, especially those made as an adolescent.

but I knew it would bug me for the rest of my life if I didn't exhaust every means possible in order to get a chance to prove that I warrant the privilege to lead Soldiers.

In what way do you 'warrant' this opportunity, this is by no means a menial task young man, why do you deserve such a shot?

We have several Ranger Officer's on this site, and I'll let them expound on this with you, you better get behind some cover.

because I know that I know absolutly nothing.

You're correct in this assumption, so why not go enlisted, prove yourself while coming up though the ranks that you have grown and are not a hazard to those soldiers around you. The intense pressure of training alone will weed you out if you're weak of mind.

I believe that is your only option in my opinion, I sure as hell wouldn't follow an Officer into a firefight if I thought he would quit halfway through.

Crazy, but brilliant and couragious, ok.
Weak, but folds under pressure and falls apart, no fucking way.

Why should you, Chris, be so chosen as to lead troops into battle?

Why is this so important to you as an individual?

Charlie 51 · Post by **Charlie 51** » February 6th, 2007, 7:54 am

cams wrote:Crazy, but brilliant and couragious, ok.
Weak, but folds under pressure and falls apart, no fucking way.

Why should you, Chris, be so chosen as to lead troops into battle?

Why is this so important to you as an individual?

Well said Cams!

Chris, why did you pick this site for your therapy? I can appreciate that you want to learn more about Rangers and leading troops in battle and blah blah blah, but why did you need to tell a painfull story to a bunch of fire eating, hard charging assholes that are going to give you the info you want the hard way? And a lot of info you don't want to hear.
Not many in here are going to take pity on your situation nor do many care about ROTC wannabe O's talking about Rangering already before they have actually led troops. There is a reason very few butter bars ever see the light of day in BATT.

You see, you must get time leading a line platoon in a regular Army unit and then when most of your buddies are going off to be XO's, or whatever, with their newly minted silver bars you go to a Ranger Battalion and learn that, even though you just spent 2 years leading a line platoon, you are going to do it all over again except this time the men your leading know a hell of a lot more than you do. Can be a real ball buster for the weak of mind.

Remember that if you step out on this quest you will no doubt suffer through what is required of you mentally and physically, more than you did as a 14 year old kid, how do YOU know you can handle it now?

I'd say good luck but luck has nothing to do with it.

::QR::

Rock Island Ranger · February 6th, 2007, 7:57 am

An amazingly honest account of yourself young Gator. I don't know any Rangers who havent done some stupid crap at one time or another. REAL stupid. I dont know any real men who havent walked a fine line between life and death at one time or another. As you know, realization of life and how damned cool it is is a time when you say...I want to live and do it well. You will have some disappointments, setbacks, and times when you think it sucks. But the REAL men....they keep after it and they dont accept defeat. They just dont know how to say....I quit. Do well....go live the dream.

Invictus · Post by **Invictus** » February 6th, 2007, 8:42 am

Nice intro. Let us know how the eval turns out, and good luck.

Gator85 · Post by **Gator85** » February 7th, 2007, 9:01 pm

Rangers I want to thank you for your encouragement and bluntly honest opinions. I am a person who appreciates someone telling me exactly what they think because it helps me improve myself and there is a neverending amount of improvement to do. I cannot prove why I believe I can lead Soldiers into combat and honestly I won't know till the opportunity presents itself but I can promise this. I am going to work my ass off and focus so hard on my training that if I fail it isn't because I was lazy, it was because I wasn't good enough, even at my best. I am a person who has had the self-doubt and selfishness purged by the grace of God and I am a person who tries his very best to put everyone's needs in front of my own and from what I have heard, mainly from my Father who was a Marine in Vietnam(his accounts of bad officers are one of the reasons I am so focused on becoming one), the main problem with officers is they are more focused on attaining the next pay grade than they are about the well-being and training of their men. I will do everything I can to follow an opposite example of that. It will be incredibly hard for me to do this, but I believe I can and that is the first step to my success.Thank you for your time Rangers.

-Chris

Charlie 51 · Post by **Charlie 51** » February 7th, 2007, 9:15 pm

Gator85 wrote:Rangers I want to thank you for your encouragement and bluntly honest opinions. I am a person who appreciates someone telling me exactly what they think because it helps me improve myself and there is a neverending amount of improvement to do. I cannot prove why I believe I can lead Soldiers into combat and honestly I won't know till the opportunity presents itself but I can promise this. I am going to work my ass off and focus so hard on my training that if I fail it isn't because I was lazy, it was because I wasn't good enough, even at my best. I am a person who has had the self-doubt and selfishness purged by the grace of God and I am a person who tries his very best to put everyone's needs in front of my own and from what I have heard, mainly from my Father who was a Marine in Vietnam(his accounts of bad officers are one of the reasons I am so focused on becoming one), the main problem with officers is they are more focused on attaining the next pay grade than they are about the well-being and training of their men. I will do everything I can to follow an opposite example of that. It will be incredibly hard for me to do this, but I believe I can and that is the first step to my success.Thank you for your time Rangers.

-Chris

Nice retort, drive on with your dream. If you don't make it at least you will know you gave 100%.

You have a great attitude, if your actions match your words you will go far

Gator85 · Post by **Gator85** » April 5th, 2007, 4:42 pm

SITREP

Rangers,

The Psychiatric Evalutation that the administration specialist at the Army ROTC office was sopposed to have my Psych Eval scheduled within 30 days of Feb. 18th, unfortunitly it has yet to be scheduled due to the fact he says the entire 3rd ID and 101st AB DIV have one psychiatrist between the 2 of them and that it is hard for me to get scheduled since I am on the bottom of the totem pole. While being at the bottom of the list is completly understandable it is hard for me to believe there is only one army psychiatrist between Ft. Stewart and Ft. Benning. I talked to the RO yesterday about it who proceeded to tell me the "system is all screwed up" and that he will try to contact one of his friends up at benning. I was curious if one of you Rangers would happen to have any information off the top of your heads that might tell me if the Admin. Spc. is full of shit or not. Thanks for your time Rangers.

Chris

Jim · Post by **Jim** » April 6th, 2007, 5:23 am

Gator85 wrote:SITREP

Rangers,

The Psychiatric Evalutation that the administration specialist at the Army ROTC office was sopposed to have my Psych Eval scheduled within 30 days of Feb. 18th, unfortunitly it has yet to be scheduled due to the fact he says the entire 3rd ID and 101st AB DIV have one psychiatrist between the 2 of them and that it is hard for me to get scheduled since I am on the bottom of the totem pole. While being at the bottom of the list is completly understandable it is hard for me to believe there is only one army psychiatrist between Ft. Stewart and Ft. Benning. I talked to the RO yesterday about it who proceeded to tell me the "system is all screwed up" and that he will try to contact one of his friends up at benning. I was curious if one of you Rangers would happen to have any information off the top of your heads that might tell me if the Admin. Spc. is full of shit or not. Thanks for your time Rangers.

Chris

Somehow, I missed this thread. Please allow me to make a couple comments:

1. Recruiting command can grant a waiver. Why are they trying to get an active duty shrink to look at you?

2. Havin been a team leader, squad leader, Platoon leader, Company Commander, and Battalion Commander; I think the toughest job I ever had was being a squad leader in combat. For the first time, you are no longer "one of the boys." Try doing that first. If you are successful, then think about OCS. There are too many mediocre platoon leaders.

3. If you want to serve in the 75th Ranger Regiment, you came to the rght place. If you want to go to OCS or ROTC, there are plenty of sites that cover those issues.

ArmyRanger.com

Introduction

Introduction

Re: Introduction

Re: Introduction