I agree with abc_123.
I had the pleasure of meeting 18Ddave on an exercise a few months ago (I was the public affairs guy from Indiana), and discussed my interest in the unit with him. He was the deciding factor for me to really devote myself to SF. His team was amazing; knowledgeable, very professional, and above all, inspiring.
I recently tried out with 20th Group when they made the state transition and it seems like a very effective, well-run program.
By day 2 we had 5 men left, of the 35ish that we started with, including myself. The entire event was a real gut-check and it seems like a vital weeding-out process to really keep the candidates with the most potential.
The problem was, on the last event no one met the required time. Two or three of us were within seconds, 20 or less, but the remaining candidates were at least 5-7 minutes off.
Due to that, all of us were dismissed. no board.
Now, this is just my opinion, and I am clearly biased, but wouldn't it be better to keep those candidates that are close, remediate them, mentor them, then send them to selection?
Regardless, they will be training each drill weekend they attend with the training team, and if that were the case, they can hone their deficiencies and rectify them.
Now, for example, one of those candidates, which is one of the best guys I have had the pleasure of working with, is pursuing a career path with 19th Group.
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Originally Posted by abc_123
I will have to disagree.
Potential candidates that meet the minimum requirements fro SFAS that have completed packets (valid physical, PT test etc.)should be processed and sent .... as soon as possible.
Your "go" rate should approximate that of the rest of the Army. If not, the question that it begs is who is your program weeding out that ultimately would be assessed as trainable?...or have dropped off the net for waiting.
Perhaps processing more than 20 packets a year and sending more people to selection at a lower success rate, would result in more SF Tabs coming out of the pipe; with the end result being a unit that doesn't go downrange shorthanded or requiring cross-leveling from other units.
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