Basic Soldiering
 

It never ceases to amaze me that some folks will have an opinion of what it is that makes an SF Soldier.

It's hilarious sometimes to see the looks on some peoples' faces when a guy they've known for years who sports a big handlebar moustache and maybe a ponytail or mullet, who always dresses in dockers and polo shirts shows up one day clean-shaven with whitewalls in class-As with fruit salad over the shoulder.

Same man, different wrapper. Has nothing to do with Quiet Professionalism.

When my 9-year old says some day he wants to be a Soldier, a diver, an engineer, a dentist, a driver, a free-faller, and a helicopter pilot, a lot of adults will smile and say "That's nice." Heck, I've had guys on my ODAs with all those tickets and life-experience that made me look like I just graduated from day-care.

It always brings a ray of sunshine into my life when an NCO steps in and makes on-the-spot corrections. Not to be an asshole, but to teach and discipline right then and there.

Ah, to be an old fart and appreciate the phrases, "Let me explain the rank structure of the United States Army to you, Skippy," and "Is that space I see between your heels?"

Five-O check your PMs

A common misconception
 

Doc,

It's a common misconception that is rampant among 18x's. Being an 18x myself I seem to recall being told things along the same lines from my recruiter and the SF liason that came to visit us in Benning.

It makes for a good line for the kid to tell his folks.

Gruzzen.

18D
 

The intial post here was to clarify or provide information regarding civilian counterpart qualifications or tracks for those interested in the 18D MOS. Recruiters can have a lot to say. I was attempting to provide accurate and timely information to some uniformed soldiers. It was apparent that some of the information being put out wasn't accurate. My intial post was deleted so I don't see a need to regurgitate the information.

Before NDD or KYO gets you
 

Moose-
Fill out your profile.
Introduce yourself in the correct thread
Read all the stickies

Be very glad I got to you first.

Actually,

I gave him much of the same advice a couple of days ago and edited his post accordingly-
Appareantly he felt the need to retract my edit instead of following instructions:rolleyes:

Eagle

Eagle-
Wait until NDD, TR, TS, COL Jack, DOC, et al. get to him. The only thing in his profile is 'soldier' - he's going to wish he wasn't if they track him down. FTFSI is too good for him.:boohoo I believe the XX with extra adipose layers is warming up for the encore chanson, n'est pas? I believe it is going to be "La vie en rose"

Mr. Moose,
You have until PT time tomorrow (0530 CCGT) to unfook yourself and comply with the instructions given you by my Brothers.

And now for the encore presentation....

Rucksack in the Hall,
Awaiting pickup,
Snuffy's gonna bawl....

Mr. Moose,
You are a No Va at this station. FTFSI. You may attempt a re-test at a later date.

It seems to me we have an 'OH&TM' with Mr Moose (Bullwinkle??)

Even after an extra 12h from NDD.

Yeah well...
I have e-mail from him now asking about my credos:rolleyes:

Eagle

Eagle-
I can see it now:
Hey dude - are you really SF - prove it to me - tell me who you are, what you've done, and the teams you've been on.

What a friggin scream, he's vetting you. Kids got balls and no brains - send him to the 2/75 or 82.:munchin

what they are being taught in basic
 

kind of off the subject, but here goes, national guard soldiers go to basic with the regular army guys, so they are being taught the same crap. or better yet, not remembering the same crap that they are being taught. weve had guys come back and have no clue how many types of ambushes there are. by the saem token, i have a 1SG who believes there is a near, far, and deliberate ambush. how exactly do i answer that lol

there are near, far, deliberate, L shaped, linear and pretty much any kind of ambush somebody wants to think up. My PSG is fond of saying 'there is an infinite number of solutions to any given tactical problem', and there is an infinite number of tactics, techniques, and procedures, SOPs and ways of doing things that people have come up with over the years, some just work better than others. In my experience they don't just give people the rank of 1SG because they ask for it, he's been around a while and knows a good deal more than yourself, so you might want to do a lot less smack talking about your senior NCOs and a little more listening and researching, but thats just me.