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Old 08-31-2016, 08:30   #1
BishopRealTalk
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Offered Pre-Ranger/Ranger before I sign 18x

QPs,

As my profile states, I currently serve in the National Guard. I am seeking a conditional release from the last 11 months of my contract in order to sign an 18x contract. The Guard just offered me Ranger school without the need to extend my contract and I would leave for it in less than a month. If I accepted the slot, I would be required to finish the remainder of my contract thus delaying my 18x contract by a year. Should I go ahead and take the Ranger School slot? or should I continue on the current path of 18x first?

Thanks in advance for your answers and I apologize if this is in the wrong section.
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Old 08-31-2016, 11:03   #2
Astronomy
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Take the Ranger School slot. If you graduate, you'll be a whole lot better prepped (both physically & mentally) for many aspects of SFAS/SFQC. If you don't make it through Selection/Q-course, you'll have something under your belt that's useful in your current MOS.

If your Guard unit is offering Hooah School with no extension strings attached, I'd say someone in your unit wants to set you up for success in attempting the SF pipeline. It's a favor to you. They're seeing just how motivated you really are and offering you a freebie to help you succeed in your career path. Take them up on it. If you get recycled in Ranger School, you might be there for a good chunk of that remaining 11 months anyway...

Do Ranger School this fall, recover, spend a few months getting balls out physically ready for SFAS, and start the SF pipeline next summer. Sounds like a decent plan to me.

Although Ranger School slots are there for ODAs, you'd be on your SF company's Schools Order of Merit List. Other folks would be ahead of you for available slots. Then you'd have SF deployments that bump you out of availability for specific classes. Better to snap at an offered Ranger Class now. A cherry GB with a Ranger Tab has a little bit more credibility upon arriving at his first ODA. It tells your future team mates something about you. If they know nothing else, they know you've made it through two tough challenges (Ranger School & SFQC).

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Last edited by Astronomy; 08-31-2016 at 19:25. Reason: typos/grammar
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Old 08-31-2016, 14:27   #3
UWOA (RIP)
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Astronomy has given you very sage advice; I went through the opposite way ... SFOC then Ranger school and although I was a 31542 (it was 1971) which is a Special Forces Infantry officer (there was no SF branch at the time), I would have been better prepared for SFOC (the forerunner to SFQC) if my attendance at the schools had been flipped (I didn't have Ranger school as a part of my VolIndef contract package out of OCS).

And don't think you might not undergo recycling a phase of Ranger school. My Ranger class, 5-72, started with over two hundred students and after the 'city' phase (Benning) and the mountain phase (Dahlonega) we'd see almost fifty to sixty recycles from injury to flesh out our class and replace the DORs and injured students who were in our cycle ... so it happens frequently. We graduated only 153 from a total of more than three hundred who went through our class at one point or another ... and not all of them got the tab, either!

.
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Old 08-31-2016, 19:15   #4
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Take it!
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Old 09-01-2016, 15:19   #5
Bettendorf
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Delay SF training for a year to go starve in the woods with some chicks for 2 months?

Seems a bit silly to me.
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Old 09-01-2016, 15:50   #6
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Ranger

There are 2 kinds of people.... Those that are Ranger Quallified, and those with an excuse as to why they aren't. LOL.

In all seriousness, go for it! Ranger School will only help your understanding of not only infantry leadership, but your trainees' point of view as you teach, coach, and mentor them. After all, SF is mostly about training and leading surrogate infantry formations.

Just an old ass Team SGT's point of view.....
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Old 03-13-2017, 13:03   #7
BishopRealTalk
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Thanks for the wise advice everybody and I apologize for the delay in responding. I elected not to attend the school. My unit at the last minute attempted to get me to sign a 6 year contract extension and rescinded the ranger school offer when I declined to extend. I am told my conditional release is imminent and I will be signing my 18x contract shortly there. This forum has been a game changer for me and I appreciate everyone's willingness to help us dream chasers.
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Old 03-13-2017, 13:37   #8
Astronomy
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Well... some days chicken, some days feathers. Looks like they threw out a shiny lure and hoped you'd rise from the bottom like a large-mouthed bass. No worries. Proceed with your 18MOS plans. If you make it through the pipeline, you'll have eventual opportunity to attend Ranger School anyway. When that time comes... take it.

Good luck.
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Old 03-13-2017, 17:26   #9
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Says more about your CMD than it does you. Screw them. Go PT and get your Long Tab.
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Old 03-13-2017, 22:31   #10
BishopRealTalk
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I'm just keeping my head down, eating right, doing tons of PT, and trying to get into the correct mindset for this endeavor. Unfortunately my unit had many good soldiers ETS due to mismanagement. I look forward to once again being in an environment of highly motivated people pushing each other to be the best soldier possible.
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