Again, from my personal experience.... I had faced adversity/diappointment in my pre-Army life....however, the key event that I can remember (nothing spectacular, but important to me at the time ...) happened during my re-test for the STAR land-navigation exam as part of the SF Qual Course (SFQC). I got misoriented (otherwise knon as 'lost') and lost a very large amount of time. I finally got myself reoriented and proceeded to conclude that I had no chance of completing the course in the alloted time limit and had an internal debate on wether or not I should quit right there. I stopped, drank some water, and decided that, although there was no hope, I shoud continue and try to do my best and at least fail with dignity. (This was probably the lowest point in my life as it was at this time that I saw all my dreams slipping away.... ) Additionally, I saw history repeating itself in that I had, as a cherry Lieutenant prior to 'the Q', ended up being medically dropped from Ranger School....HOWEVER, I knew I could never face my parents (who taught me to never quit and to FINISH any fight that I got myself into) or live with myself if I quit.) So, I started to run, and I ran through the water across Scuba Road, back North along th Bowling Alleys ...knowing that I was going to fail. I got to my second to last point and then the instructor at the point told me (I don't know why... ), that I "Neeed to hurry". So I ran. Maybe not fast, but as fast as I physically could with a ruck on my back and a M16 in my hands, and with all the desperation of a young man chasing his dreams. I got to my attack point, and shot my azimuth to where I thought my last point was and proceeded onward...and eventually came upon my final point wiht an instructor and a bunch of sleeping students sitting around trying to care for their worn-out feet.
SUCCESS! I had made it!... Probably the greatest achievement of my life.
And the NCO instructor said. "What took you so F_ing long?, you only had 30min left. You're the last one. Grab a seat and get some water." Looking back on that, I couldn't have wished for him to say anything more. Internally, I knew I had triumphed, but in the grand scheme of things, I was just another student who had barely made the cutoff.
I didn't LEARN anything that day, however, I AFFIRMED a lot. I had LEARNED a lot from my parents and my experiences as an adolescent, however I hd just AFFIRMED them as a MAN.
Thank you for posting. This speaks to my experiences just a few months back at SFAS. After becoming as some would put it "lost" for quite some time in the early hours of the star exam, I wasnt feeling confident at all. I thought I would not be able to finish with my pace and remaining time due to an injury what the 18D later told me was tendonitis. I was med dropped on that 13th day of SFAS and am haunted by those jackson springs woods determined to go back with all my experience from my 1st attempt back in January (04-15) and find all my star points with time to spare! Thankyou for sharing your experiences I will be thinking of you while im trudging through the woods in the dark as I report to 08-15 this friday
