18X article

[Dan]

http://www.fayettevillenc.com/print?...9&type=article

[Warrior-Mentor]

Thanks Dan. Good article. Glad to hear that 18Xs are re-enlisting at the same rate as the active guys...was hoping it would be even higher.

The two biggest questions when 18X program was started in 2001 were:

1. How good will the 18Xs be when they get on a team?

2. At what rate will they re-enlist?

Those were the two real long-term measures of success that were what the program would be judged against over time. Seems both were (for the most part) right on. Most of the 18Xs are doing very well on teams and most are re-enlisting.

[Q]

I think a little research is needed here. This 18X program is nothing new. They didn't call it 18X because we were 11B's, 12B's, O5B's, 91B's or 11F's(We called them Junior Intel.) But the programs existed on and off for some years and appearantly they are still using it. In order to get some good numbers JFKCEN should have an idea on how many of us reenlisted and how many times. From my personal experience.....I don't remember seeing any difference in competence. Obviously their experience levels were lower. The guys who signed on with their 1st or 2d hitch already done were shoe in's for reenlisting and probably have a higher rate. Overall we mixed well and made some good teams. I don't particularly care for the "Off the Street" programs, just because of the experience factor. Although at my time of enlistment I was glad such a system was in place. I believe that if they tried to staff a team with all newbies off the street it would have been a disaster. Generally, you would enlist in the Army and go the required route that the Army had in mind for you. I was Airborne O5 and under age for SF. But all bets were off when you arrived at Jump School and went to see the SF recruiter. I did well on the SF battery test and I was already a Commo guy. Which of course they liked. I'm gettin' a little windy here so I'll quit and let someone else chime in.

[Warrior-Mentor]

Originally Posted by Q

I think a little research is needed here. This 18X program is nothing new. They didn't call it 18X because we were 11B's, 12B's, O5B's, 91B's or 11F's(We called them Junior Intel.) But the programs existed on and off for some years and appearantly they are still using it. In order to get some good numbers JFKCEN should have an idea on how many of us reenlisted and how many times.

I don't think anybody's got a database that goes that far back...sometimes I wonder about our record keeping...

Originally Posted by Q

I believe that if they tried to staff a team with all newbies off the street it would have been a disaster.

Agreed, but that was never the goal. The goal of the program was to put one 18X on a team per year...that would give the Team a year to train him up before they had to start training another one.

[Q]

Thats too bad about the records. I thought for sure they would have those types of numbers in the archives. Their I go assuming again.

[Warrior-Mentor]

IMO the problem is complicated when you start trying cross check data between two separate commands...SFQC Grads (SWCS) against re-enlistments (USASFC).

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Warrior-Mentor

IMO the problem is complicated when you start trying cross check data between two separate commands...SFQC Grads (SWCS) against re-enlistments (USASFC).

It gets even more complicated because there was a heap of SF before USASFC.

I came into SF in 1974 as an SF Enlistment Option (Old time 18X).

You have to place yourself back into the time period. The VN war had ended for the majority of US forces. The draft had just ended and we were moving to an all volunteer force. Add in the 70s civilian culture and drugs/race were big issues.

The military command, all straight convention, were having a go at roping the malcontents back into line. SF was a dirty word. The "Zero Defect" Army was starting it's formation. The Army as a whole was not a happy place.

I will say the following only applies to the team I was on and the barracks rats I lived with. Of the 11 who went from jump school with me to the Q course, all SF enlistment options, 6 counting me finished phase one. The clase size was 118 with 34 finishing. We had a better average than the class. But out of those 6 I was the only one who reenlisted. The other five got out.

It was similar for the barracks rats. The vast majority of first termers got out after their term was up. "Q" was in the company at the time and can vouch for the number of young faces flowing through the company at the time.

It was not the job. It was the rest of the Army. It sucked at that time. Around 79/80 things began to open up with better training and more overseas trips. Soon 1st Group opened up and things started to take off. It was almost fun. Enlistment rates for 1st terms climbed. Most of the first term SF guys on my team in 1985 reenlisted. Most of them finished 20 years.

In the 70s and early 80s Commo guys were fed out of the Q course into Signal Company for a year or two before getting to a line company for their last 18 months of so. Then they would be asked if the wanted to reenlist. Not many took the Army up on it.

Some from the conventional army thought they could "escape" into SF. They found out they were in the wrong place and they moved on.

Through it all there were enough people who loved the good times more than they hated the bad times. I was one of them. I could put up with a whole lot of bad just for the good times and great people.

But through it all we always had enough people to do the job. We might have been short handed, might have had to work a little harder and longer but we were working with the best people that could be found in a green uniform, and sometimes a wet suit.

Pete

Some of the 18Xs from today will follow the same path. Some will treasure the time in SF but have other plans and move on. Some like me will be hooked and stay on a team until dragged off down the hallway. But we are all SF.

[Warrior-Mentor]

You bring a good point that also complicates tracking that type of data...the fact that SF wasn't a branch until 1987 IIRC . Guys were 11s or what ever MOS ... not just all consolidated under one series like they are now.