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Old 02-20-2016, 20:16   #1
akidd
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What I've Noticed/ My Best Advice

This read might sound a little crazy, but bare with me because it's the truth. It opened a lot of insight to me once I realized this. I have two completely different points to prove as well. I hope some of you stay interested enough to read it all the way.
While looking at all the pipelines to these SOF I've noticed some strong similarities. From conversations and interactions with former/ active duty SEALs, SWCC, EOD, Green Beret's, Rangers, Marines, You name it, they all have something in common. It took me a while to finally place my finger on it, but I can now confirm it from time spent looking into the SF pipeline. It's not that their all in awesome physical shape, or have a high level of intelligence (and some don't) but everyone of these guys has incredible people skills. I don't mean they can all keep a good conversation, and are extroverts who can handle the center of attention at a party. By no means was one of the SEALs like that in anyway, most of them I know are actually rather quite and keep to themselves. It's more their ability to read people with an accurate judgment of others. I remember within not even 10 seconds of me meeting one of the frogmen, who is now a mentor of mine, he called me out and pin pointed what kind of guy I was right there. He didn't even know me. Same thing happened with the other SOF guys I met. It wasn't a bad thing either. It was always helpful, uplifting, and very much appreciated in the long run. By no means am I gullible to words just because I look up to somebody. I'm actually very stubborn. At some points in our conversations they would say things that literally went along with my life at the time and gave me advice I probably wouldn't find anywhere else. It has amazed me, and just inspired me even more to be like these guys every day. I don't think they developed these skills from the years of doing their job and deployments around the world, I can almost for sure say it was something they were born with. To be honest, I think it takes somebody with the same eye to recognize that. Not trying to boast by no means, but most of the guys who I saw them interact with, didn't pick up on this and it went right over their heads. Recognizing this now gives me a better idea of what kind of guy these programs are looking for. It's a reason they say it's all mental. Not all these guys I met were 6'3" 225. Yes, they were all strong, and durable, but not big (but yes, a few were). As of matter of fact the Master Chief Navy SEAL I met was about 5'7" 150 lbs. soaking wet fellas. But again, very good with people. The last thing I noticed was the second most important. ALL special Forces/ Ops guys had a incredible strong grit about them. Grit is key. You can tell how they carried themselves that there was a never quit, hard working attitude about them. You just knew it. Not because of their job title, but how they were. You can see it in there eyes. I know it sounds weird.

The second point I want to make, is my new perspective on going into SF. Before, and I'm going to get some hate for this I'm sure, but I wanted to be SEAL. Long story short, certain waivers couldn't be approved, and upon me getting selected for a contract to BUD/S I had to be turned down. Sucks. Sucks real bad. But I wasn't about to sit on a ship and wait 2-4 years to cross rate to still not be guaranteed a shot at BUD/S. No way dudes. So I moved on and now I'm here trying to join the army under an 18x contract. And I must say I'm pretty freaking excited. I got a good feeling about it. Anyways, while training for BUD/S I read every book (BREAKING BUD/S, Which breaks down almost every evolution at BUD/S), watched every movie, documentary, pretty much whatever had SEAL on it, I was about it. Well one day it all clicked. just like the paragraph above, while I've been looking into the SF pipeline. I had been developing this expectation of what training was going to be like. I thought I had it all figured out. Little did I know, trying to foretell what was going to happen in training was my biggest mistake. This caused me to overthink everything in my training. "How can I prepare for this, what kind of fins, boots, this and that do I need?" I was leaving myself no room to learn.

There's a story that goes like this. A young man wants to be a warrior, the best of warriors. So he goes to a Master. A decorated veteran. He says, "I want to be the best and most highly trained warrior, as you are sir".

The master says, "Sit down young man, I'll fix us some tea and we'll talk about this".

So the boy sits down, and the master brings them each a cup of hot tea. Already the boy is asking questions like, "What do I need to be doing? How much should I train, lift, run or swim? What kind of sword should I use? What's the best armor to wear?"

As the boy is talking, the Master continues to pour his cup of tea until it overflows onto the boys hands and onto the table. "What are you doing!? Have you gone mad"?

The Master replies, "Young man, your mind is like the cup, and the tea is all of your thoughts, come back when you have emptied your cup, and given yourself room to learn".

The boy thought the Master was crazy, and went on to train to join the ranks of other elite warriors with this mindset of knowing it all. As his body layed broken down, his mind and spirit fading away from his once high hopes, he quit. He went home to work in the fields with his father.

See I was that boy, and my mentors were the masters. Going into the army with an 18x contract, I'm not going to dwell on things as a civilian that I know they're going to teach us along the way such as Land Nav. Call me crazy. But I see a lot of people on this site begging for information that is making them overthink everything! I truly believe that the only thing we need to worry about as candidates is being in the best physical shape as possible. Everything else, I'm trusting the cadre to teach me. The biggest reason for not completely knowing whats coming, is because it will force you to take everything one step at a time. I mean damn, It's going to be overwhelming for some. A lot of information, mind games and evolution's. Thinking about how much more you got will bog you down faster than anything, and from what I've heard most quit because of that. Everybody I know whose quit through these SOF pipelines said it was because of that reason or just not being physical prepared enough. It's not about the best guy, its about them picking the right guy. Who can learn, adapt, suck it up, and take it one step at a time. I mean if I was a cadre this is what I would look for. Some of you might say to keep my two cents on this because I'm not there yet, so take what you want from this brothers. Good luck.

How do you eat an elephant? One bit at a time.

Last edited by akidd; 02-21-2016 at 18:18.
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Old 02-20-2016, 20:52   #2
Joker
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1. Post an introduction.
2. Fill out your profile.
3. Your cup is not empty yet. I can tell you that as you still talk too much.
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Old 02-20-2016, 20:53   #3
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Now follow the rules and fill out your profile in Introductions.
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Old 02-20-2016, 21:05   #4
The Reaper
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In addition to my brothers' instructions, frankly, I don't think you can form a valid opinion on what is required until you have at least completed the training, if not succeeded at it.

Without that, all you have is an uninformed opinion.

TR
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Old 02-21-2016, 10:55   #5
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You might also want to invest in a thesaurus and dictionary, and employ them in writing your expositions so that we can understand your English ... not that I'm inviting you to blab some more, DUDE.

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Last edited by UWOA (RIP); 02-21-2016 at 10:58.
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Old 02-21-2016, 11:49   #6
sinjefe
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What a bunch of blather. Why should anyone here, who has BTDT, listen to anything you have to say (that's a rhetorical question)?
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Old 02-21-2016, 12:09   #7
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So, how many times did you refer to yourself? "I" "I" "I"?

If your mentor is a SEAL, then you are in the wrong training program.

You read too much SOFREP.com crap if you really think EOD is SOF.

You are not my Brother in the sense you so carelessly boast.

Just stop. Stop right now.
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Last edited by blue02hd; 02-21-2016 at 12:12.
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Old 02-21-2016, 17:53   #8
akidd
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Well damn, these replies didn't go as planned. I figured I'd get internet responses like this. You cowboys really are serious about some profiles. I now know to be on my game as far as my grammar and punctuation go on this site. I was just throwing my thoughts and opinions out there so others could bounce off what I was saying, and we could get a feel for peoples mentalities. It seems you guys are finding me a bit narcissistic as I was only trying to be helpful. Yikes. Joker, maybe you're right, my cup might still have a good bit of tea in it.

Last edited by akidd; 02-21-2016 at 18:32.
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Old 02-21-2016, 18:34   #9
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Now post your intro in the introduction thread.
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Old 02-21-2016, 19:04   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by akidd View Post
Well damn, these replies didn't go as planned. I figured I'd get internet responses like this. You cowboys really are serious about some profiles. I now know to be on my game as far as my grammar and punctuation go on this site. I was just throwing my thoughts and opinions out there so others could bounce off what I was saying, and we could get a feel for peoples mentalities. It seems you guys are finding me a bit narcissistic as I was only trying to be helpful. Yikes. Joker, maybe you're right, my cup might still have a good bit of tea in it.
How about being smart enough to follow our rules.

We are not children and this is not Facebook. Do not post again until you have done your intro in the proper location and then read all of the stickies for each area.
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Old 02-21-2016, 19:39   #11
WarriorDiplomat
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akidd "ENTIRE POST"

WTF are you talking about? You put your finger on it?? have much anxiety??

Quiet Professional- a term belonging to U.S. Army Special Forces (The Green Berets)
all posters here with that moniker under the handle is a proven SF soldier and do not need your ignorant opinion of what makes us what we are.

You failed at the task of knowing your operational environment and worse yet situational awareness.

The question I have is are you humble enough to just admit you don't know WTF you are talking about and shut up and just read and learn?

You see as soon as you stated you had put your finder on "it" pertaining to SOF and then grouping us all together as having the same "it" then the bigger insult grouping the EOD and Marines in as part of SOF as having "it", you lost us.

The "it" you identified is something none of the multiple educated institutions and psychologist who both work with us, study us and write about the legend that is SF cannot really pinpoint. Our SFAS is a guess to whether or not it gets the right guys, our training is to give those with the aptitude the skills our experience once we gain experience to put the skills into perspective and realize our capabilities and with more time we realize we will never know it all especially not what "it" is. Just because you make it and serve in SOF does not mean you have "it" few men ever truly know if they have "it" until they face the moment of truth.
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Old 02-22-2016, 09:45   #12
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He called us "cowboys". That pretty much does it for me.

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Don't know where I'm goin', but there's no use in bein' late.
I've never been lost. I've been a mite confused at times, but never lost.
I'm not lost! I know where I am; I just don't know where everybody else is.
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Old 02-22-2016, 09:49   #13
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You're not my "brother". Go away.
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Old 02-22-2016, 10:02   #14
akidd
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I'm pretty confused at this point. I went from sharing an idea that compliments the men I respect so much and trying to help people to somehow offending everybody. Seems to be the story of America these days. I'll take this post down.
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Old 02-22-2016, 10:44   #15
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^^^^^FTFSI.....repeatedly.
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