Introduction-Robert

[hokie15]

Hello Rangers,
My name is Robert and I am currently a 20 year old junior at Virginia Tech. I have not yet met with a recruiter but plan to in the next month with the intent of enlisting with an 11x option 40 contract after I graduate. As I looked through other introductions I noticed they all said why they wanted to be in the 75th Ranger Regiment, so I will do the same and try to be brief. I can not say I always wanted to be a Ranger, but I have always admired the SOF. It started in fourth grade when, at the time, my sister’s boyfriend’s brother died in the war by jumping on a grenade to save his men. For some reason, I originally thought he was a SEAL but recently I found out he was a Marine. Nonetheless, I was amazed by that and it sparked my interest in SOF. Despite this, I never considered enlisting in the military after high school because I was accepted into Virginia Tech and bought into the mystique that all SOF were 6’6 and super human. Instead, I went into college with the intention of going into law enforcement but realized I wanted to do something different after reading Fearless, the book about the SEAL Adam Brown. My research began with the SEALS and Marine Recon because my dad was a Marine officer from the Naval Academy and my uncle was an enlisted Marine who actually tried out for Recon but didn’t make it. At the time I never looked into the Army because I liked the challenge of a maritime environment and was obviously pushed in the direction of the Corps. I seriously considered dropping out of VT during my sophomore year so I could focus more on training, which I had been doing for a couple months, and then enlist early. Before I did, however, it dawned on me that I should check the regulations regarding hypothyroid, which I have had for many years and never figured it would be a hindrance. I checked the regulations and it said that only already qualified SO personnel could get a waiver for hypothyroid but no candidates. I did a lot more research and asked around and kept getting no’s so I refocused on law enforcement.
This past December I started to research once again and finally looked into the Army and started reading all about the Rangers. A lot of my information came from SOFREP.com, which is run by a lot of former military and particularly SOF, with the two main faces being a former SEAL and Ranger/SF. There I learned what all the Rangers have done in the past decade and how wrong peoples' conceptions of the Rangers are, so I looked into the requirements but figured I would get the same result. After combing through all the Army regulations it appears as though someone can enlist with an 11x option 40 contract if their hypothyroid has stable levels for 6 months prior to testing and didn’t get it as a result from hyperthyroid. According to that I should be fine, but I haven’t gone to see a recruiter yet because I realize they can’t know everything and wanted to gather all the information possible.

To sum all this up, I want to be in the Regiment to hopefully serve with the caliber of individual that makes it through selection and to be part of a brotherhood that holds themselves to a certain level of excellence and doesn’t budge from those standards. After being told no and thinking this was no longer a possibility I realized I actually wanted this and it wasn’t some passing desire. I appreciate and thank the Rangers on this site for taking the time to read this and apologize for its length. In addition to any advice, if any Rangers have experience with hypothyroid I am all ears.

I conducted a self-administered APFT with the following results: 58 pushups, 76 situps, 14 deadhang pullups, and 13:58 2 mile. I am not even close to satisfied with those scores and since I have quite a bit of time my goals are 100+ pushups and situps, sub 12 min 2 mile, and 20 pullups.

[Jim]

Welcome, Robert, good to see you onboard. I see you have established your PT baseline. And you know what you have to do. Most questions can be answered using the search feature, located on the top right of this page. The search feature is your friend. Never, never quit!

[Bronco]

Welcome hokie15.

PM inbound.