Choosing the correct path

[Charlesjn1989]

Good Morning Everybody,
Thank you all in advance for all of the help that this forum has, and will, provide me with. I have been lurking around searching different topics I wondered about for a week or two, and here is one question I have. I will cross-post this in the NG SF Groups forum, but i wanted to gather as much information as possible and thought more people would see it here.

As someone who is planning on enlisting in the Guard (i am in GA, no SF unit here), I get the benefit of choosing where I go, not just what I do; but I want to make sure that I make the right decision for myself.

I want to be in Special Forces at some point in my career. In fact, I am hell bent on it.

I have seen on some other posts here and in other forums, there are some people who are not so keen on guys enlisting, doing 18X all the way through and ending up in a group without any outside soldier experience. I understand that.

I have also heard people say that as a guardsman, if I can try to enlist as a support soldier with an SF group, i will gain a lot of valuable experience before trying to go to SFRE->Selection->Q-Course, etc.

And then of course, there is the other option, which would be for me to enlist in GA, gather skills and experience, train physically on my own and then do an SFRE to try to get into a guard SF Unit.

As someone who is in a leadership position at a group, would you rather receive a new guy fresh out of 2+/- years of training that you can mold into an SF soldier of your liking; or would you rather receive a new guy who has real-world applicable experience, who has then gone through SFAS/Q-Course?

If your ideal pick were the latter, how much would it benefit said soldier to have experience with Special Forces by working in a support position, or are these support positions just like their AD counterparts, but simply part of the Special Forces unit?

I want to make sure that i make the right decision in my career so that I can be the best soldier possible when it comes time.

Thank you all,

Charles

[TrapperFrank]

I would rather receive a mature individual, that does what he is told and listens.

[Joker]

It all depends upon the man. I have seen some SF babies do one and done and others that stayed 20-30+ years and were outstanding troops. Of the five that were in my units that got their tabs revoked, and another that was booted out of the Army, all came from the conventional units.

[Charlesjn1989]

Thanks for the replies and input. The ability to be led and take direction from superiors is definitely something i know i will have to have. And i feel like i do. And as for Joker's input, i guess it depends a lot on the individual, not how they got there.