MOS

uboat509 · 05-18-2006, 12:12

I have a question for the other QPs here. How many of you were selected for your first choice MOS? Those of you who were not, do you ever wonder would it would have been like to get your first choice? I am asking because I was selected in my second choice MOS, 18C when I went to SFAS. I liked be an 18C but during the entire two years that I was an 18C I never got to run or even attend a single demo range becasue they all got canked. The only 18C specific stuff that I ever got to do was S4, hand reciepts and 1,2,3 reports. The Bravos ran ranges, the Deltas perfomed medicine, the Echos made commo, the Alpha did whatever it was that he did and the Zulu ran the team but I never got to blow anything up. It was frustrating. It wasn't that we didn't try to get ranges but demo ranges in Germany can be hard to come by and the ones that we did get ended up getting canked. My first choice had been 18D and I thought seriously about reclassing right up until I went to the 18F course. 18F is the best job I have ever had and I am too late in my career to change anyway but still try to get any medical training that I can. I was just wondering if anyone else had similar experiences.

SFC W

**Pete** · 05-18-2006, 15:39

Are you a demo man or an Engineer? (X)

I had little use for demo men. Now a good engineer, well now.......

What's the difference between a demo man and an Engineer? An Engineer can do everything a demo man can but also a whole lot more.

Pete

I took pride in being an Engineer. Bridges (building & classification), Building Construction, Route Recon and the hundreds of other related items. I got other MOSs but the 18C was the most useful.

How many Team Sergeants will send their Engineers down for a week to help with building Habitat for Humanity homes? I would.

Warrior-Mentor · 05-18-2006, 15:55

I got my first choice (18A).

That's too bad. We had 18Ds running demo ranges and training, 18Bs building things, 18Cs writing CONOPs, you name it, just to force the guys to cross train. They'd get with the SME, learn the subject and teach it...kept guys from getting bored with their MOS too.

x SF med · 05-18-2006, 17:42

When I was in, we were required to cross train and do admin stuff - so that the team / company could run efficiently and everyone was ready to 'move up' into more senior positions.
I thought the greatest honor I received was (as an E-4p, E5) I was asked by my CO to be the acting XO for the company, and my CSM backed it fully. I was an 18B ath the time, and as recognition for a job well done (all you Companty XOs out there, I feel your pain and frustration, a thankless job) I was given the chance to reclass into 18D (yup, the chance to go back through Phase II, TDY). But we got chances to do real life demo/engineer training - as the state of MA needed some buildings removed, and our 18Cs really used it as an in depth exercise, IEDs, clearing UXO, and a lot more, we rotated through commo courses too in the same exercise. I was always kind of disappointed that I didn't get 18C originally.

SRT31B · 05-18-2006, 22:10

How could you be disappointed?

At the end of the day when you get home, you take your uniform off and look down at your shoulder and see you've got "the long tab." The rest of us are hoping we get the opportunity to even attempt to earn any one of the MOS's.

If I'm one of the ones who gets picked up when I get to selection, sure I'd love my first choice, but at the end of the day all that matters is if I can say, "I'm a Special Forces soldier!"

SF is SF is SF... thats how I see it anyway, could be wrong...

uboat509 · 05-18-2006, 22:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete

Are you a demo man or an Engineer? (X)

I had little use for demo men. Now a good engineer, well now.......

What's the difference between a demo man and an Engineer? An Engineer can do everything a demo man can but also a whole lot more.

Pete

I took pride in being an Engineer. Bridges (building & classification), Building Construction, Route Recon and the hundreds of other related items. I got other MOSs but the 18C was the most useful.

How many Team Sergeants will send their Engineers down for a week to help with building Habitat for Humanity homes? I would.

It's not that I only wanted to demo, I just would've liked to have also done demo. How's this for irony though? Right after I graduated the 18F course the engineers on my team were finally able to secure a demo range that did not get canceled and then a few months later when I went to ANCOC I discovered that they did not have an 18F ANCOC so I had to go through as an 18C and again I got to got to a demo range. I have done more demo since I stopped being an engineer than when I was one.

SFC W

uboat509 · 05-18-2006, 22:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warrior-Mentor

I got my first choice (18A).

Funny you should mention that because I had a team leader who, when he came toward the end of his team time fervently wished that had gotten an enlisted or warrent MOS. He even briefly considered resigning his commision until mama found out and she changed his mind.

SFC W

NousDefionsDoc · 05-18-2006, 22:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by SRT31B

How could you be disappointed?

At the end of the day when you get home, you take your uniform off and look down at your shoulder and see you've got "the long tab." The rest of us are hoping we get the opportunity to even attempt to earn any one of the MOS's.

If I'm one of the ones who gets picked up when I get to selection, sure I'd love my first choice, but at the end of the day all that matters is if I can say, "I'm a Special Forces soldier!"

SF is SF is SF... thats how I see it anyway, could be wrong...

Don't ever use the term "long tab" on this board again.

QRQ 30 · 05-19-2006, 07:34

We weren't given a choice. It all depended upon what was needed.

Now a good 12B was the head scrounger in the team and worth his weight.

I don't know if I would have chosen commo, the way it was put was Commo or nothing.

I learned to enjoy the job. I was the "most protected" member of the team. I hope things haven't changed. We were all SF troopers who just happened to have special additional skills.

Warrior-Mentor · 05-19-2006, 09:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by NousDefionsDoc

Don't ever use the term "long tab" on this board again.

Why's that Doc? I've not heard or taken it in a derog manner before you mentioned it.
Just curious.

QRQ 30 · 05-19-2006, 09:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warrior-Mentor

Why's that Doc? I've not heard or taken it in a derog manner before you mentioned it.
Just curious.

DITTIO!!!

**Pete** · 05-19-2006, 12:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warrior-Mentor

Why's that Doc? I've not heard or taken it in a derog manner before you mentioned it.
Just curious.

I'd think it would be context and use. Start to use it and it becomes habit. Next thing you know the phrase is popping up everywhere and used by everybody.

Kinda' like "Are you a real Green Beret?"

Pete

x SF med · 05-19-2006, 13:05

No, but my hat is

I'm a Special Forces Soldier. Actually, SFC ML used a different word in an airport when asked that question by a civilian, I almost lost bladder control.

edited to post correct rank, he had just been promoted.

QRQ 30 · 05-19-2006, 14:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by x_sf_med

No, but my hat is

I'm a Special Forces Soldier. Actually, SFC ML used a different word in an airport when asked that question by a civilian, I almost lost bladder control.

edited to post correct rank, he had just been promoted.

Y'all are going to say I'm an a$$hole but IMO such responses belie the concept of "Quiet Professional" and, in fact, indicate quite the opposite. Not all civilians, normilitary for that matter, are as educated and up on SF like we. A little courtesy goes a long way.

Warrior-Mentor · 05-19-2006, 14:39

Concur with Bronto, er, ...I mean Terry about the courtesy.

I've heard Long Tab and Short Tab used for years reference the SF and Ranger Tabs. Never took them to mean anything more than the physical measurements of the actual tabs themselves.