which route to take
 

I plan to join Special Forces in the future and I figure going the Ranger route would help me prepare for the demanding training. but after doing more research on this board, I found out that its hard for someone serving in the regiment to attend SFAS. So would this be possibly be a bad route to go?

Fill out your Profile.

Finish High school first.

Wave my hand, you dont know what you want,
Move along Move along.

jamel:

You can go either route. SF isn't about badge collecting, BTW.

Odds are extremely high that you will not make it into either organization. Get back to us after you make it into the Ranger Batt.

You think "you know a lot about SF"? I really doubt it. This isn't a video game. It is for real, and this is a wake up call.

Good luck, have a very SF day.

TR

yes sirs.

Jamel,
...its "yes gentlemen" not "Sirs".
Best wishes to you!

With all due respect
 

I can only approach this question carefully, as I'm not a "QP" or never was SF, but I can tell you that my lowly 6 years with the 82nd Airborne were not enough for me, at the time, to have prepared myself for the rigors of SFAS or the SFQC.

IIRC, at the time you had to have at a minimum 5 years of operational experience in an Airborne unit, in a combat arms MOS. This would have limited the supply of candidates to only the 82nd Airborne, the Ranger Reg, or 173rd Airborne. Perhaps someone that was Airborne qualified and with 101st would have been able to apply, but I'm out of my depth, therfore one of the "QP's" can answer and make corrections to my statement. I'm only speaking of the early 80's when I was on active duty with the 82nd Airborne.

Several of the men that served with me, E-6's applied, some finished SFAS, some did not, and came back to the 82nd Airborne with thier tails between their legs. These same men were the top of the crop of our Battery with many years of Airborne and combat arms experience. Just goes to show that even an experienced Airborne soldier is not an automatic approval for selection to the SFQC. Point being, that there is no easy way to get there, and I highly doubt that I had what it would have taken to meet the grade, even with 6 years of combat arms experience entirely with an Airborne unit. :(

My class in 1984 had a number of initial entry soldiers.

They just asked at Basic and every one of them who made it through AIT and Airborne came to the SFQC.

TR

Success Rate
 

TR, out of curiosity what was the success rate of initial entry soldiers once upon arrival at SFAS and SFQC ?? Did this endeavor prove a dismal failure rate or where candidates chosen upon entry to SFAS due to being the "TOD DOG" out of AIT and BAC ?? Obviously you made it, and had the "Right Stuff" but how many of the other candidates found themselves at the 82nd Airborne ?

Respectfully

You do understand that SFAS was not conducted separately from the SFQC till 1988 or so?

At the time I attended in 1984, many AD soldiers just applied for the SF training to get PCSed back to CONUS from Korea, Germany, etc. and arrived with no intention of attending the Q Course. They just showed up, failed the PT Test or Swim Test, or terminated. Then they were reassigned around Bragg IAW their MOS.

The initial entry soldiers did fairly well, though there were a lot of maturity problems. Some made CSM, and some fell by the wayside. Just like any other group.

TR

Then get back in yer lane. Here's a hint for you: Anytime you feel the need to put the highlighted statement above in your post, you are out of your lane. Specially if you feel the need to put it in the first sentence. It's what's known in the intel world as an indicator.

Thank you kind Sir for your response. I suppose since SFAS was not introduced until 1988 one could start a new thread as to the necessasity of such a pre-req for selection into the SFQC. I'll let the QP's respond to such a comment. I can only take guesses as to why the SFAS pre-req to being selected was established.

NDD, Roger that !!!

Respectfully

82-
There was a semi official "SFAS" at the time TR is talking about - it was called "prePhase" and it was tough - I can't say if it was as tough, tougher, or easier than SFAS, having never attended SFAS. We rucked and PT'd constantly, patrolled, did land nav, and casual duty around SWC, and other parts of SF that needed bodies to get work done, or training dummies. You could fail prePhase, or VW, or get recycled due to injury... It got you ready to go to what was then Phase I. I was on what is now an 18X contract, as were a bunch of people I went through OSUT with - all of us had done at least 3 yrs ROTC in college, advanced training, and 5 of us were already ABN qualified. My class had Rangers fail or withdraw, 18 x's do the same, and others from Combat Arms Branches follow suit. Part of the Q is to weed out people who are badge seekers, and it works well - to qualify and/or disqualify SF soldiers.