Since the Rangers of this forum get irritated at short introductions, I will do my best not to disappoint ('
')Introduction
My name is Chuck, and I would like to first say it is an honor to be able to join your community. In short, I did an extended tour as an Infantryman in the 82nd and SETAF, ETSing as a SGT. I served 8 years in the 82nd and SETAF, the best years of my life. AT the end, I got married, and made the decision to get out. This meant never having the opportunity to attend Ranger school or Jumpmaster school. Attending Ranger school was a goals I always "knew" I should do. Now, this is a deeply private scar I will always carry.
The time I spent with the Paratroopers of the 82nd and SETAF were the best years of my life. I directly transitioned into the guard and "reclassed" to 74b, Information Systems Analyst. These following years in the guard ended up being the worst. Only now have I finally recovered, now able to move on in my career.
Beginning
I joined up and started out life as an 11B1P back in 90 and served in C co. 1/504 PIR till 95. My first squad leader, was former French Foreign Legion, crusty, old and mean. Approximately 75% of my company had their mustard stains from Just Cause. Those years were the best camaraderie so far I have ever experienced. We jumped in with the Canadian Parachute regiment before they disbanded. Went to JRTC, in Arkansas before they shut down and went NG/DOE. We jumped Indiantown Gap before it closed down. In 93 did the MFO, Sinai with our chocolate chip BDU's. Hit the 50th anniversary of Market Garden, though no jump because of the PUSSY Air Force pilots in Europe.
Vicenza
Reenlisted and went on my merry way to Vicenza, A 3/325. My life changed when I worked for two semi-famous Rangers in Italy, starting late 1995. One who was a very public figure there in Vicenza was a Vietnam Ranger in the 173rd and author of "Platoon Leader." He was the man directly responsible for bringing the 173rd back to life in Vicenza. The provisional unit crest for the SLB was the Venice lion with mirrored 173rd wings. The other was my platoon sergeant, a former Ranger from 3rd Bat. who was shot up amazingly bad in Somalia with some really nasty scars. I think he was mentioned in Black Hawk Down, and was a SGT at the time. First time I met him, he and a SPC were drunk, jumping off the A co. barracks onto a pine tree that was next to it, over and over.
I was sucked up into the SETAF Lion Brigade, Provisional and worked a pouuuuuuuuge job as a driver/"Aide de Camp." for the commander, and various others till I hit an early DEROS the very end of 97. Essentially I was on a 2 1/2 year vacation from what I had known before, almost like brainwashing me to become an officer (':)'). My Italian tour was some of the most amazing times. Oh, we also kept getting deployed all over the place the whole time, but no shooting....
Non-tactical SETAF stuff
During my time in SETAF in Vicenza I had the amazing opportunity to serve on the SETAF Parachute Demonstration Team that was ran by a couple of Golden Knights. They had us jumping into Caserma Ederle out of the UH1's SETAF kept around for as "protocol birds." We would end up doing our spirals directly over the Italian prison, and landing out on the target, in the middle of the baseball field. This scared the shit out of me as a cherry-ass skydiver with 30 jump. If the wind changed dramatically, there were not any outs; if ya fucked up you were hurting, to say the least.
Back to Bragg
1998 DEROSed my ass back to Bragg to of all places, S3, 3rd BDE, 82nd. I ended up shortly in B 1-505. The return to Bragg, and now to the 05 was the start of me making some bad decisions. Probably made one of my biggest mistakes was I did what I always preached to others not to do, a quick "Army" marriage. Here is where I turned down Ranger school, and Jumpmaster. Refused a golden dove in the hand from my 1SG to reclass to 74b, Information Systems Analyst, that happened to be my exact choice, and going to where I wanted to go (the only place I really could go actually, Divsion HHC). As a "pogue" in Italy, I actually worked a 74b position for 6 months and had decided I wanted a career in computers and computer networking. All this to make my wife happy, oh yeah, I got out. We were divorced two year later.
How to monkeyfuck yourself
In 1999, I ETSed as a SGT directly into the Guard, "reclassing" to a 74b (Information Systems Analyst), assigned to HHC, 129th Signal Battalion, in Bel Air, MD though I would normally drill at Ft Belvoir, VA. My original goal was to get an assignment to ACERT in Belvoir. As soon as I was assigned to that paragraph/line number, I immediately became non-promotable until the reclass was finalized. I was basically promotion fucked until I could get the MOS officially changed. Three years later actually went to Gordon for the school. This could have been cleared up through working closer with the readiness NCO. In the Guard, this person actually does everything in the company and usually has the political clout to get the CO to go along with what they want to do. I manufactured a problem though.
Because of a decent job I had in Raleigh, NC, I remained in Fayetteville, of all places in my house lease with my wife. You gotta give it to the Chevy S10 Blazer, 90 model, they can take a freaking beating and keep on working. I had a 160 mile a daily commute to Raleigh. Drill in Maryland was 450 miles one way!! I went from 120,000 miles when I got it in Jan of 98, to 250,000 miles in 2001, only changing out a water pump, and one fuel injector.
Being so far away from the unit and not normally drilling with the "normal" company, didn't allow me to have the kind of face time I really needed. I basically screwed myself over on this one, and it really wasn't necessary.
Saving grace
Then came the Bosnia SFOR rotation. This ended up getting me quite a few good things and one was the school date for the 74b course at Gordon.
As soon as I finished reclassing in December of 2002, I "jumped that sinking ship" and transferred to the Oklahoma guard in January (try that active duty!). I am now in a far superior job environment to where I was in Maryland. I am now in a position that qualifies as where I wanted to be. Now, I having completed my long range first and second level job objectives I decided on when I ETSed.
Present
I am also fortunate to be able to start drawing the full GI Bill plus kicker. For you guys who have it, I am telling you, this is an amazing resource. Many states will wave tuition. Combined with the DoD higher ed money, you get the whole GI Bill/college fund for non-college expenses. I also found out the 4 year Universities are far superior to the 2 year ones because of their far greater resources for the student. If you have a choice, it is worth it to take the plunge.
Sucks
No matter how "good" it gets after I ETSed, the the bonding and trust never will return. There is nothing like the Airborne community, and there is nothing like combat arms. The other side just doesn't know what they are missing out on, and never will.
Welcome to the site!
