I'm finally done and it feels damn good! Thanks to everyone on this site, professionals as well as candidates, who keep it such a supportive and informative resource. I wish all you guys the best who are about to start, it's a long and often shitty journey but that's what makes it so sweet in the end. Of course rather than the end, it's really just the beginning...

Congratulations Petelink! The odds were stacked against you......and you persevered to become a member of an elite and storied fraternity. Bravo!

Congratulations. You're not done. It gets you in the door of the Team House. Now you have to go to work. Bwaaa! Bwaaaaa! :lifter

As with the first reply in this thread, I will also say that this may not apply as I am not actually either an 18X or a REP-63. But, based on the fact that the aforementioned note was never kicked back then, I guess, I can be counted in as well... :cool:

I pretty much posted a similar bio in the intro thread but now I have just found this one so... I am a prior service F.O., did a couple of tours in Iraq, dig the life, and now I am an NQP at 3/20th SFG. My SFAS date isn't in set in concrete yet, but it will likely be the January '06 class, based on all now-available variables.

Thanks for the informative site Gentlemen (and Sergeants, before I stir anything up :) )

Steve

Welcome and best of luck.
JM

18X 003-05 Arabic 18C

20040105

Well, havent posted in a while - done with OSUT and Airborne School - now at Ft. Bragg in AT with Alpha Co. Start class on the 21st cant wait. Have some buddies in the current class say its the best training they could ever ask for. The TAC Sgt's that PT us are excellent trainers. Makes me look forward to the training during the class. It's hard to believe just this past May I was completely oblivious to all of this. Thanks to all here for the wonderful info - I was leaps ahead of everyone as far as knowing what was in store for us. Finally got our TA-50 today so tomarrow means some nice ruck runs!:lifter

Intro
 

18X OSUT 20060102

18x - 2006-01-06

18X 2005-12-27

Thank you for the great site, I found a lot of the information useful and will use it to prepare for SFAS and the Q-Course (which is still months away after basic, infantry, and airborne)

Just an update: Finished SOPC going to Selection in January - First class of the new year :lifter good luck to all going with me - guess it will be class 003-06..?

18x 20060712

Little late, little old, but why not:

18X, shipping out 20060328. Excited, nervous, stoked, proud.

Why not? Not the attitude we're looking for. You need to PM one of the young gentlemen with a title of "SF Candidate" for some mentoring.

I was referencing "Little late, little old, but why not"- meaning I the last post was in December so my post was a little late and the thread was "old", but why not post. I wasn't applying the late, old, why not attitude towards myself. Yeah, that would be a piss-poor attitude. Sorry for the confusion.

Checking in!
 

I am not an 18x, but this thread appears to be the proper place to post my update.

Last Saturday I finished up my medical with MEPS, and was sworn into the Colorado ARNG (5th Bn. 19th SFG) as a prior-service NQP.

I am looking forward to training with the REC, and getting back to the field.

-RG

18X 20060608 :D

Welcome.

18X Ship 20060330.

Hello
 

Thanks for the opportunity to learn as much as possible before shipping. I am an 18X, I ship June 8th 2006 for Basic at Benning.

Ship Date
 

This is recruit John Clark, scheduled to ship on 20060511.

from a REP-63 to those in the pipeline
 

Hey guys, I graduated in September, am now overseas and have recently been messaging with some REP-63s and 18Xs who've had all kinds of questions. I just thought I'd toss a couple of those answers out here in case others of you out there might have similar questions. Again I'm an FNG on a team and do not claim to know much, but I do know what it's like to be a new 18X/REP-63 on a team and to go from the course right into a deployment.

The best advice I can give is to remember during the course that the skills you learn now may some day directly contribute to your and your teammates' survival. Strange as it may sound this applies equally if not more so to OSUT as it does to all the "high speed" SF skills you'll learn in the Q course. I remember the class we had in OSUT on the Mark 19, I thought hey I'm going SF and this is a regular infantry weapon so I don't really need to remember this stuff. Well guess what my position is on my team when we convoy: Mark 19 gunner. And we convoy a lot. I felt like a turd when I didn't know my head from my ass with that weapon. Pay attention and try to retain as much as possible, you never know when you'll need it.

The other big lesson I've learned is that I'm only a medic when medical shit is going down, otherwise I'm the junior-junior weapons guy, engineer, intel guy, commo guy and grunt laborer. There is so much stuff that has to be done on a team that everyone has to pitch in and help with everybody else's job as much as possible. This is especially true for the medics because at least where I am there is not much medicine to be done. I arrived on the team knowing medicine cold, but because I was a REP-63 I knew very little about other things like heavy weapons, demo and commo equipment. It was a steep learning curve. This goes back to retaining as much as possible during the pipeline.

A lot has been written about physical training prior to shipping for OSUT, but I'll just throw in my take on it: Train for the APFT because that's what you'll be doing most during OSUT. You ruck enough during OSUT to prep you for SOPC and then you do plenty during SOPC to prep you for SFAS. Just getting through those phases and moving right into the next will keep you in shape and give you a huge advantage, especially at selection, versus the guys that come from the regular Army. Remember that a lot of these guys who seem out of shape compared to you have just come from fighting a war and were not afforded the luxury of a regular pt schedule.

Finally, never forget why you're in the pipeline: to fight in the war on terror as an SF soldier. Make no mistake about it, if you get through you will go to war. This applies to Guard guys (like me) as much as to the active guys. I told myself I understood that when I signed up, but I don't think I really did. Never forget it. I'm stoked as hell to be here, being on a team at war is the best experience of my life. Life at SWC sucks a lot of the time and there's very little you can do about it, but life on a team is a whole different story. Don't let SWC get you down, especially you medics!

Feel free to PM me with any specific questions, I'll reply as I'm able. Hope this helps. Later, Pete

Pete,
Awesome post - well said.
Thanks for "giving back" by helping those who would follow in your footsteps.
JM

Starting the journey
 

Signing with B 2/20 as an NQP on Thursday. Very excited and looking forward to a new challenge.

That's a reality check if I ever heard one folks. Congradulations and thanks for sharing.

TFM

18X 20060608

18x 20060607

Well?

Well?

Maybe they got cold feet?

TR

No cold feet
 

No, no cold feet here. Signed on Thursday as advertised. I am assigned to the training Det and will be there up to six months until I leave for SFAS. I would like to thank everyone on this sight for all of the great information. It has made my decisions up to this point much more informed. I look forward to the next step in my journey and this site will be an essential tool in that process I am sure.

18X, 20060712. Thanks for all the info.

18X 20060502

REP 63
 

REP 63, 20061010

18X, 20060511. This is a great website.

18x 13 JUL 2006.


Thank you all for taking your time to share your knowledge and experience with us future soldiers. We all appreciate it.

When you choose your new user name, pm it to me and I'll change it for you. Don't take too long.

18x out of york county PA leave july 13, 2006.

18X from Salinas, CA 20060511.

18x 20060607 out of southern california