Real nice change in plans

[HerdROTC]

Well here I was thinking that I'd be on my way to Sage or Mtn. Warfare. Turns out that I am headed to Airborne class 34 on 29 June!! Yes!

[Aries]

pussy..

but congrats

[Associate289]

good job, make sure your wear your ranger challenge tab

[Aries]

good job, make sure your wear your ranger challenge tab

hahahahahahahhahahaahahaahahahahahahhahahahahahahh a

Associate made a funny.

told you that you would be back on your knees in no time.

[larly3]

Yeah and you'll get to hear the enlisted tell you about what the "real army" is like. They know everything after having just come from basic....

[Aries]

Yeah and you'll get to hear the enlisted tell you about what the "real army" is like. They know everything after having just come from basic....

and thats another good point. jr enlisted think they know all.

[larly3]

Yea definitely wear the ranger challenge tab, you'll score cool points with the real rangers.

[HerdROTC]

Haha, oh yea, I'll be sure and ask the blackhats if I can try their hat on while Im at it

[Associate289]

dont even ask, just take it from them

[neo]

Wear your damn RC tab and be proud. You'll get respect for wearing it and not being a pussy about it.

[Aries]

and neo makes a good point. why are yall so afraid to wear it around real rangers, but yet brag about it like the thread is real gold?

[neo]

You'll get punsihed and alot of shit talked to you.. Hell we got it from the TAC's at NALC as well. But, take the shit like a soldier and you'll get more respect then hiding that you did RC or cowering when picked on.

[Wes]

Friends don't let friends become "Ranger Challanged"

[AirborneAli]

Have fun, keep quiet, feet and knees together. Congrats! And drink water.

[Aries]

seriously. i have more respect for the RC kids that will go somewhere and wear their tab and get shit for it than the ones who are to afraid to take them off. I love the "out of respect for the Rangers" excuse they try to give. the RC tab was designed out of respect for the Rangers. so flaunt it, say "yeah i am in college but one day I want to have a real tab and I have a lot of respect for you real tab wearers" and get over yourself

[neo]

hooah

[HerdROTC]

Haven't we all beaten the topic of the tab to death about 400 times?

[Aries]

nope

[neo]

never

[killernurse]

*thwack* there, that should about do it...

[Gambit]

*I'm not dead yet! I feel happyyyyy...!*

[killernurse]

he's almost dead...

[Aries]

I think I'll go for a walk.

[neo]

As soon as this discussion ever dies some FNG logs on and tells us all about their Ranger Challenge tab. Which is fine, more power to the kids for being the best they can be within their ROTC units. It is important to strive for excellence... But, this debate will never die.

[grnberet12]

Wear it with pride...You have to do more than just sign on a piece of paper to get it. Anyone who thinks otherwise is more than welcome to come and join our unit for 0500 PT sessions Monday through Saturday.

[Aries]

Wear it with pride...You have to do more than just sign on a piece of paper to get it.
what are you referring to here my good friend?


Anyone who thinks otherwise is more than welcome to come and join our unit for 0500 PT sessions Monday through Saturday.

been there, done that. didnt like it.

[Gambit]

Wear it with pride...You have to do more than just sign on a piece of paper to get it.
what are you referring to here my good friend?

Sounds like the RC tab to me...

[neo]

0500? Whats that?

[K2]

As soon as this discussion ever dies some FNG logs on and tells us all about their Ranger Challenge tab. Which is fine, more power to the kids for being the best they can be within their ROTC units. It is important to strive for excellence... But, this debate will never die.

As the FNG who happens to be the XO of our RC team...kidding.

Seriously, in my BN we don't even wear the RC tab. It's kind of a joke. We know we're the best but we don't have to flaunt it. We just do our own thing and blend in with the rest of the BN at lab. We don't do this extra training for the recognition, we do it because it's going to make us that much of better soldiers than the cadets who don't do it.

[Aries]

doing RC is not going to make you a better soldier.

knowing your FMs, knowing how to train, knowing how to talk to your troops, knowing what being a leader is. knowing how to care for your soldiers. that will make you a better leader.

All RC is gonna make you is more physcially trained. im sorry dude, learning how to tie a one-rope bridge doesnt mean shit when it comes to getting your soldiers from one end of the sandbox to the other. or those 10K ruck runs are really gonna help when you have a soldier that is having marital problems and you are the only one he will talk to, or when one of your SLs gets a DUI... you get the point.

RC does not make you a better officer
P/Rs doesnt make you a better offices
you make you a better officer.

[Holt]

the more you know *star flies across screen*

[Gambit]

True, but the experienced gained in either of the activities you mentioned WILL make you a better officer. P/R in particular: does marching around learning how to throw a 10 lb. weapon 15 feet make you a better officer? No. But it gives you a hands-on reason to learn discipline, precision, marching, and other things central to military life. And if you have a leadership position, learning how to train, coach, or actually lead that group will give you experience that will be essential to your career in the military, no matter how short lived. I wasn't on the RC team for long enough to get a leadership spot, but I'm sure it's somewhat the same. These things make you do a certain set of activities not so that you can use them later (although that's the added benefit), but so that you get the experience of having done them.

[K2]

Exactly. It's not building the rope bridge or disassembling a rifle in 20 seconds that's going to make me a better soldier/leader. It's the extra training we commit ourselves to and the leadership expierience gained from it, as well as the knowlege of learning how to work as a team. Doing a grenade assault course will do nothing for me except ensure I can throw a grenade accurately. However, leading a squad sized element through 5 missions on an FTX will help me become better than the kid who sits at home and drinks beer all weekend and watches ESPN. The hands-on practical expierience gained from leading AND following will make for superior officers, not the individual technical tasks themselves.

[scotts963]

Amen Brother!!!!!!!!!

[Aries]

yeah. but dont walk around with your head up your ass thinking you will be a better officer for it cuz of that. ive already done the west point v. OCS v. ROTC future officer comparisons here. lets not get into the RC one as well. you will only be as good as you allow yourself to be.

im sorry, I just have a jaded opinion cuz the RC guys here walk around like they are Gods gift to earth (and the combat scroll that is in the battalion thinks they need to get their heads out of their ass as well)

[K2]

You and I aren't neccessarily disagreeing here, aries. You argue that it is the person's own willpower that makes the officer great.

I agree whole heartedly, and the people in RC (or PR or whatever club you choose to do) are making that committment to do the extra training. They are choosing to better themselves, which goes hand in hand with what you're saying.

So maybe it's not that RC makes good officers, but that the good officers do RC (or insert whatever deserving club/extra training goes here)

[Aries]

see.. you were good until the last line dude.

the commitment to extra training i fully agree with. good officers read, learn, train, know about what they were doing (see or read "We Were Soldiers" (he was a West Pointer by the way :-)). Good officers dont necessarily have to be part of a club.

BG Brooks USMA '80 (black guy you always saw doing the CentCom briefs during the war) and his brother BG Brooks USMA '79 were both shitbags while they were plebes at the academy. they did Rugby to get out of doing duties as plebes, and then during buckner decided they were gonna be good cadets. one was brigade cmdr, the other a reg cmdr. neither (from my knowledge) did any other type of event other than rugby (although rumor had it that Brooks79 was an Alpha). They both made 1 star in 19/20 years. my point? you can be a great officer and not do anything having to do with extra training, as long as you desire it.

but honestly, I agree with the fact that we have beat this horse to many times.

so here in my hand is one of Wes' many weapons (i think ill use the shotgun, I cant miss with that) pointed at the horses head.

BLAM!!

[Gambit]

*picks up shovel, starts digging grave before anyone else comments*

[Associate289]

neither (from my knowledge) did any other type of event other than rugby


A-fucking-men

[neo]

I love my RC scroll. Even though I haven't been in ROTC for two years I hang it at a position of honor in my office for all to see. I then tell them cool stories about a ruck run, or a one-rope bridge, or something. I especially brag when someone comes up to me and is a combat vet, because I know just waht its like from my two day competition at Ft AP Hill.

The thread that makes my tab on my A's is actually spun with gold inside of it. It shimmers as the sun hits it when I used to walk across campus with my chest puffed out. I dont understand why the hot girls dont fawn over me and my beautiful tab with ROTC ribbons. Damn... I do look good.

[HerdROTC]

Gotta agree Neo, no one can say they are a true RC person unless they've been to an AP Hill Ranger Challenge Comp. I hear we are getting cadet Bronze Stars next year for the rigors they put us through there.

[neo]

Gotta agree Neo, no one can say they are a true RC person unless they've been to an AP Hill Ranger Challenge Comp. I hear we are getting cadet Bronze Stars next year for the rigors they put us through there.


I was being sarcastic

[HerdROTC]

I was too

[Aries]

neo you fucking idiot.


cadet bronze stars

think that wouldve given it away. jackass

[HerdROTC]

Well, looks like I might not be going Airborne now. As we all know, Cadet Command is about as one of the most unorganized systems in the world. My PMS had a meeting w/ me today to tell me that there "may not be that slot after all." So who really knows what is going on there. Because of this, I might be heading to AA, Mt. Warfare, CFT (3 weeks at the Point w/ the long gray line), and Sage-in this order. So who knows what is goin on right now. Hopefully find out soon

[Aries]

DONT DO CFT!!!

for the love of God do not do CFT. We picked on the ROTC kids, teh LTs at the units will pick on you even more. It will be good to get in and get out of buckner, but dude, its not worth it. Its LDAC all over again, just worse

[HerdROTC]

Yea, CFT didnt sound as good as Sage did, but Im goin w/ where my Cadre stuck me. Another option they through out was 3 weeks over in the UK training w/ British ROTC cadets. I don't think we're gonna send anyone though. As cool as seeing Britain would be, the Cadre didnt think it'd be very beneficial from an experience stand-point.

[Aries]

umm. the UK will be more beneficial than CFT dude. you can bullshit your way through CFT.. when I was a PSG there we had some serious issues with the ROTC kids in the company. one was a slut, the other was a prick. if you go remember that you are in a different world there, and you will hear a lot of shit talking about ROTC.

[HerdROTC]

Hey Aries, what kinda advice do ya have in order to prep for Air Assault. Im kinda lookin for a no b/s assessment of what to expect and what I can do to be where I need to be come May (if the slot is mine.) I know ya went recently so I figured this would be my best shot

[Beenie]

DONT DO CFT!!!

And they act as if it's the best thing since sliced bread since its at USMA. :-/ I've got a friend heading there this summer from a junior MA... hopefully its worth his time...

[Aries]

Hey Aries, what kinda advice do ya have in order to prep for Air Assault. Im kinda lookin for a no b/s assessment of what to expect and what I can do to be where I need to be come May (if the slot is mine.) I know ya went recently so I figured this would be my best shot

Ruck. Ruckruckruckruckruck.

OK. AA is hard cuz of the tests and the bullshit. make sure if you go that all of your uniform items are perfect. if there are holes in your wet weather bag, get a new one. if there are holes in your BDU's, sew them up. if anything is broken, or dirty, fix it. the inspection is what gets people cuz their shit looks like shit. the confidence obstacle course is another thing. work on upper body strenght, know how to climb a rope the right way and how to vault. listen to directions. be prepared to dumb yourself. the sling load tests are hard cuz people think to much. its easy as hell, walk from one side to the other touching everything. if its not right, you will know cuz they go over it a million times with you. practice flutter kicks, overhead arm claps, squat jumpers, side straddle hop. be prepared to do about 110 of each, in a row, twice. if you go let me know where you go. each place is specific on certain things. example: one of my brothers went through natioanl gaurd up to oregon. they made them do the COC in the rain, anyone ever try to do the weaver in the rain? 101st cuts it out if the damn thing is wet cuz its to dangerous and stupid to do.



DONT DO CFT!!!

And they act as if it's the best thing since sliced bread since its at USMA. :-/ I've got a friend heading there this summer from a junior MA... hopefully its worth his time...

I told you offline babe that its not worth it for a ROTC cadet to go there. especially if you just got finished with LDAC. Buckner is damn good training. you spend the entire summer learning about missions and all the branches. you will get a chance to fire a howitzer, mortars, a Bradley, a Paladdin, more than enough 50cals, and an Abrams. plus the stuff you do in the field is gonna show you a lot about the baisc level of leadership, being a Team Leader. I am jaded cuz i did it twice, once as a yuck, the other as a Platoon Sergeant. I wouldnt want to go back the the Ner ever again.

[HerdROTC]

If I go, It'll mostly likely be to Ft. Campbell. In the past that's where we've sent all our guys

[Aries]

yeah.. then get used to doing 101 (or 1010) of everything. oh yeah, practice saying Aerosol a lot. every time that left foot hits the ground

[Dmd_Fan_CadetCOL]

Congrats!...Airborne school is fast paced and fun, so just keep your feet moving.Good Luck!!

[BadKarma26]

If I go, It'll mostly likely be to Ft. Campbell. In the past that's where we've sent all our guys

I went through Hawaii, much easier from what I've heard about Campbell. Plus I do love the 25th ID guys down there. (GREAT OUTFIT!)

[Associate289]

Plus I do love the 25th ID guys down there. (GREAT OUTFIT!)

since aries isnt here, anyone wanna step up?

[Ezmartini]

I see nothing wrong with the statement.