[blue02hd]

You do realize that the 18X program has not always been present? That being said, this forum, not to mention the teams, are full of QP's that have payed their dues in the infantry, as well as every other MOS out there.

My personal story includes time in RGR Bn, as well as 101st before I was accepted to try my hand in SFAS. I personally feel it has improved my performance, and allowed me to bring more to the table to share once I did arrive on an ODA.

Just because you WANT something does not mean you deserve it. As has been pointed out, your pathway to the long tab will be slightly different from others due to your security clearance issue. This is the reality of your situation. You can accept it and choose to arrive at SFAS via a different route, (a route that many of us have also traveled), or you can choose to drop it and excel somewhere else. Pretty simple choice really, but I am not you.

Any attempts to backdoor, circumvent, or "get over" will only prove to others that you are not willing to do the same thing that non- 18x's have been doing for decades: Earn it.

I simply don't see why your challenges are any worse than challenges other QP's have had to face, and defeated.

<Steps off his soap box>