[SC Pete]

To all you Xs out there-- I was a "street baby" (what they called guys who went Basic - AIT - Jump School - Q Course back in the 80s) ; The Instructors hated us, f*cked with us all the time. Wash out rate from Basic to Q graduation was about 90%. Guys that made it to the Q had about a 60% washout rate. No recycle, except medical in those days. I wouldn't trade my career for anything, and any other SF guys out there would probably tell you the same. While nothing sucks as bad as "Army suck", the good times we had in SF, Bill Gates couldn't buy his way into. So what does it take? The passion and desire to do it, the ability to hang on 5 more minutes, and 5 more minutes, and oh yeah, 5 more minutes... I was no stud-- 5'9", 155 lbs. It is all in your head, (yeah, you do have to be in shape), but push the pain, hard times, cold, thirst, etc into a dead space, and hang on a little longer. It always ends. If I could do it, most of you fellas can too. I was just an average dude, w/ no family career soldiers. Bottom line, you have to WANT it, not just want to be a "Green Beret" to impress somebody, including yourself. Any of you old Sierras or 18s care to add to this?