Introductions V

[Anon]

Hello everyone!
Thank you all for the work you have done and continue to do.
Much respect for the efforts of the QPs, ACs, and guerillas.
This forum is a great resource and it is fortunate that it's open to non-QPs.
First encounter with Special Forces was as a banquet waiter at the Pinehurst Resort, working a dinner/speech function for gentlemen that had triangles printed on their beer glasses. They left an impression.
Favorite thread so far is SF/Redneck engineering.
Here to lurk and learn, am interested in hard work with good people in bad places with no credit.

[gtate]

I joined this board more than a few years ago but never introduced myself or posted. Based on the profile names on here I know many of you because I see code names that I recognize from my time in C/3/7 when it was still on Ft Davis in the early '90s. Or maybe that's just a coincidence...

Anyway, I spent from 1985-2001 in 7th Gp and from 2001-2004 in USASOC on the staff and then retired in Oct 2004. Way back in the day when they still existed, I spent from 1980 to 1985 in he 11th SFG reserves. For the last 12 years I've done both the contracting thing and the GS thing (currently still doing the GS thing). Where I work now I'm surrounded by a bunch of civilian engineer types who couldn't spell Army or Special Forces (figuratively anyway) if their lives depended on it. It's a totally different culture and one I've always struggled to adapt to. As we get older it's amazing how much I miss the people and culture that were the influences that shaped who I turned out to be. So, I thought I'd login and say hey. Maybe participate a bit.

[rcg10]

Hello,

I am currently AD USCG preparing for the SFAD/SFRE within the next year.

This site has provided great insight and appreciate all the guidance from the QPs.

-R

[spaike97]

Greetings,

I'm an international student from China who is trying to join the military in the US.

I grow up reading stories about America and Special Operations(The Quiet Professional; Lone Survivor; Rogue Warrior; First In; The Mission, The Men, and Me; etc.)

I finally worked my way to a college here a year ago and had the greatest year in my life here in the States. I love this country when I was a kid, now that I'm here, I loved it even more and decided that I want to serve in the military because it is in service to the nation I love, and is a career track I always wanted to pursue.

I was lucky enough to find out a program called MAVNI which allows those who possess the language/cultural background the military needs and are able to pass a SSBI to enlist, and I'm going to enlist under that program next year if it is still there. I don't know how far I'll go, but I'm here, and I guess I'll find out.

[Chucko]

Hello friends. My name is Chuck.

I am a former Green Beret Sgt. from 1970-1973. I resided off base in Fayetteville most of the time while in the service and worked in a Weapons Pool issuing and fixing weapons used by trainees .

I am retired from John Deere and found I had time to reminisce about the days in the military and found this sight, among a couple others, that interested me.

Maybe I will run into some old friends on this sight, although unlikely. Sooo, if you know anyone who worked in that particular pool at the time, let me know. Have a nice day.

[PFFlyer]

Hi, my name is Phil and I am currently a team leader for a SFOD-A at 5th SFG.

[JG88]

Hello everybody, My name is Jessie, I'm a prior service E-5 in the Tennessee Army National Guard. I've been coming to this website for a few days now and searching the threads. I am currently considering signing an 18X contract and trying out for SF. I'm here to learn as much as I can from the QP's.

Thanks

[sweinbe]

I am 19 years old and an ROTC Cadet. I am highly interested in SF and I am excited to learn from all of the resources available. Hooah!

[I4031]

Greetings,

I am a 27 year old Assistant GM/COO at an independent telecommunications service provider in rural Iowa. I have a deep desire to serve this country, and I am extremely interested in contributing to the SF mission. At this point, my primary focus is on researching all that I can before reaching out to a unit in the 19th or 20th Group.

Thank you to all of the QPs and other personnel who have sacrificed for the good of this nation and humanity as a whole. You are true inspirations and the standard by which good Americans should strive to live. Thanks, also, to all who give their time and talents to operate this site. It has been extremely helpful to me, and I appreciate the opportunity to learn about your world.

Best regards,

I4031

[BigJimCalhoun]

Hi Everyone,

I just moved to Fort Worth and am in temporary housing. I am looking to buy a home once my house in Colorado sells.

Looking for any advice regarding the area.

[Gears]

Former 11B. Currently, I'm finishing up college and getting in shape. The plan is to get an 18X contract next year.

25m: Max APFT by end of 2016.

I know that's an incredibly long time, but I'm trying to build and legitimate base on which to build from. That way I can start a more intense routine to prepare for SFAS circa mid-2017.

Much respect to everyone on this site.

[Mandalorian]

Howdy,

My name is Andrew, and I'm currently in the 18D pipeline at USAJFKSWCS. I will be reading a lot and posting very little, if at all.


"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do."

-Edward Everett Hale

[Jackrabbit]

Hello--

I'm a recent college grad, working in security consulting, and just signed an 18x contract a few weeks ago. Here to keep my mouth shut and ears open.

I worked for a few summers as a whitewater/backpacking/rock climbing guide in college, got my EMT-Basic in 2011, and recently did a summer as a county ranger at a very busy reservoir/wilderness area. Those experiences, along with bosses and coworkers at my current job, are what led me to Professional Soldiers, and the recruiter's office.

[Beuford23]

Hello everyone,

My name is Brad and I proudly serve my country. Years and years ago I began a search to document the service history of my Uncle's best friend. When googling for more information, this site came up. Anyways, there's not much more I can say about me in an open forum other than I will try to contribute here as best and whenever I can.

Regards

[Diet Coke]

I've posted here under a couple of emails as much as 5 or so years ago. That didn't last long. Put my foot in my mouth and was soundly rebuked. It's a good thing to be told when you're wrong.

It's been a long time, so it seems appropriate to reintroduce myself. I frequently read conversations in the forums to get some thoughts and perspectives on current events.

As a youngling I was awed by the Green Berets. I did not know any but I read and heard about them. They stood for honor, strength, courage, duty. There was something special about them, some element of their character or spirit. I aspired to that. I think it was the idea of 'the strong and good' that had such impact. Most people I knew were either bad and strong, or good and weak.

I am 26 years old. Taught myself to read before kindergarten by pointing at the words and reciting from memory in my Dr. Seuss books that mom would read to me. Was exposed to some persuasions of Christianity at an early age that some might say were a few feet off the deep end, and became completely fanatical. Later on lost my faith in my teens. Found it again recently. It's good.

I was never a normal kid by any means. A lot of things probably didn't help much, like when I was one of probably less than ten white kids in a south Dallas middle school. I was already a lonely and sensitive child, and the other kids messed with me pretty hard until I learned to act as insane and as freakishly as was humanly possible to get them to steer clear of me.

When we moved to New York state, and I wound up in a rather affluent and urbane school, with much softer peers. It wasn't difficult to start aggressively preaching gospel, damning other kids to hellfire as fornicators, picking arguments with teachers over evolution and global warming, disrupting history class with diatribes memorized out of Buchanan era political books such as 'The Menace of Multiculturalism.'. Might have been truth in some of it, but the intent there was only to be against everyone.

I was essentially never out of trouble and during a brief anarchist phase in 10th grade, I went around the school before the teachers arrived and inserted an open staple into every keyhole so that when the key was inserted, it bent to the pin, and the door would not unlock. That was the end of my already dismal public school career and I started working to pay for a schools-worth of doorknobs which needed to be replaced.

Inexcusable on my part. I was pretty against anything about the 'system' or the government or authority in any way. Not that I have love for the federal government now, or think that federally controlled public school is a great idea that has had great success. But the smart thing to do would have been to shut up and get through with it as long as I was there, and start planning affordable private school franchises.

I've pretty much always been working since then, went from dishwasher to doing commission sales of hermit crabs, heating pads, wind chime decorations, cell phone accessories, and fake bling jewelry for turkish people. Left it for a supermarket job close to home, and got on in the bakery under a very good manager, worked as a baker for between 5 and 6 years.

At this point I felt trapped and was beginning to despair, so, I said to hell with it all, might as well strike on out and see what would come of it. gave my boss a couple months notice. Sold my stuff, saved my money, studied things i'd need to know, got into shape. I took a backpack with a sleeping bag and a couple small tarps, some nalgene canteens, etc, and started walking across the country. Slept beside the highway in brush, or on game land. Had a lot of great experiences and learned a lot, especially from meeting people.

I walked south first since spring had barely begun to break and I lived in New York. walked through Pennsylvania, took a right at Maryland. Walked through West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois. The side of my family from where I was born, (Dallas, Texas), and that I had not spoken to for almost 20 years found me on the internet and were travelling through the area so I met with them for a little bit before continuing on through Missouri, and into Kansas. I was walking into Wichita when some gypsies asked me if I wanted a job, said they did travelling work. I had to get a job at some point and it sounded like an adventure. Went right to work.

I spent the next year or so driving a circuit around Kansas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, and Arkansas, painting and repairing barns, and climbing way high up on huge grain setups on big farms. They sure aren't afraid of heights. In case you're wondering, my boss was a decent fellow and didn't rip anyone off and I wouldn't have worked for him if he did. We did good work and didn't take the payment until the farmer was happy. A few of those gypsies you would want to keep an eye on. They're alright folk, love america, keep to their clan and do what their fathers did.

I got tired of living in motels, driving all over but going nowhere, and came to live north of Dallas on my grandparents property. I took a job at a local dean foods ice cream factory, and went from manual labor in the freezer warehouse, to supervising and inspecting staged orders, comparing files for accuracy, and keeping an eye on trucks that were going to cross the border. I've been offered a union carpentry apprenticeship, or might go in with a friend of the family to help him with a charity he's setting up.

I'm pretty well set up and have taken some time off to reflect. Take stock of what I've learned, and how I've grown, and consolidate my thoughts and philosophy, take account of what I have done and what I have not done and what I ought to do now.

I may never have the capacity for gratitude and humility sufficient to answer the blessings I have received despite how wrong I've been. I can look back and see that even when I was a great fool I was being guided. Even at my lowest point, there was something that I remembered. Perhaps I'm beginning to understand the meaning of unconditional love. I don't know, it's something, and it's good. It's much more than I deserved. I count myself lucky.

There are two reasons behind my decision to reintroduce myself in the introduction thread. Besides that I can't think of a place it'd be more appropriate.

First of all as a report, submitted for review to those who are better than myself and so gave me something to look up to. I think if I post it here, a Green Beret will at some point will read it, and that's good enough for me. Although if you have a criticism I would certainly care to hear it, can't pretend that I'm uninterested in being assessed.

Secondly, to thank you for your service (that goes for everyone in the forces), and thank you for the role model, the legend, that you have all contributed towards creating and preserving. I know that as individuals you are ""only"" guys doing their jobs with tremendous guts, brains, and character. But that ideal that meant so much to me... cost me nothing at all. I felt that I must say that this has not been lost on me.

Not my plan to jump into conversations or anything, just came to say this.