Introduction - Collins

[dirtythirty]

Hello everyone. I am Collins, and I am about to enter my first year of college. I am a civilian who is considering seeking out and signing an Option 40 contract upon graduation four years from now. I am from Atlanta, Georgia, and have always had enormous admiration for the armed forces. I have been drawn towards the 75th Ranger Regiment by my desire to give back to my country, my lack of patience with complacency, the brotherhood, and a drive to go far beyond where most would stop. Furthermore, I want to spend my time in the military doing what I enjoy, and the missions that Rangers undertake sound like my dream job.

My high school coach is a pre-GWOT Ranger veteran, and he has been there to answer some of my questions since I first became interested at the beginning of the summer, but the amount of information and support here has been outstanding, so I hope to join this online community. To start, I would like to better understand the differences between Regiment before and after 9/11.

I am playing lacrosse in college, so that should help with my physical improvement, but I still have a long ways to go both mentally and physically - the former more so than the latter. If I choose to take this path, I will scratch and claw for four years towards my goal before I am finally able to say that I am sufficiently prepared to join the 75th Ranger Regiment.

If any of you all joined after college, please let me know what you did to remain focused, as college has all sorts of distractions. Also, it is time that I start learning just how things go in the military, so if I say anything in any way that would not fly in the Army or anywhere else, let me hear it. I could use the extra PT.

PT Scores:
Pushups - 51
Situps - 61
Pullups - 18
Mile - 6:10

[CharlieRanger1FFV]

Welcome to the site, Collins.


RLTW!!!

[dirtythirty]

Thank you, Ranger CharlieRanger1FFV.

I recently finished up a 40-mile 4-day hiking trip on the Appalachian Trail with some other incoming freshmen. I was held back to the group's pace, so I loaded my pack down as much as the leaders would let me, and ate less food to increase fatigue. We hiked 13 miles the first day, and my pack weighed around 40 pounds.

I am enrolling in a basic ROTC course that does not involve a commitment to the military, but covers topics like land nav, map reading, weapons maintenance, marksmanship, first aid, repelling, and patrolling. In addition, the gym is about 100 yards from my dorm, making training very accessible.

I ran a 6:10 mile this morning after running sprints on 5.5 hours of sleep. My pushups, situps, and pullups have not shown significant improvement. Just the possibility of taking a crack at RASP has improved my work ethic and attention to detail every day, but I have a lot more improvement to go.

[Jim]

Collins, If you want to earn a place in the 75th Ranger Regiment, you came to the right site. We take pride in the fine young men who pass through armyranger.com in their life journey. Please begin by reading the FAQs as well as selected threads and stickies. Most questions you might have are already addressed. The search feature, located on the top right of this page is your friend. Please review the requirements for the APFT. Is it your intent to enter service as an officer or do you intend to enlist? Never, never quit!

[dirtythirty]

Ranger Jim,
I intend to enlist. This basic course does not require a commitment to the military and is only available for first year students, so I am only going to take this course and will not pursue the ROTC program further. It meets once a week, which I can manage.

[rangerjd]

Welcome to the site Collins. Your PT needs a lot of improvement. Give everything you've got, every time you give and never, ever quit. RLTW

[dirtythirty]

Rangers,
Just want to stay active on the forums. I have been browsing through all different posts, and have Ranger Silverback's APFT improvement post bookmarked. Recently, the images on that thread (viewtopic.php?f=42&t=8368&p=107166&hilit=pushup#p107166) have not been appearing. Does that happen to anyone else?

Anyways, I took a preliminary APFT with my ROTC instructor evaluating it and scored 270. I received a 75 on the pushups with 53 reps, a 95 on the situps with 75 reps, and a 100 on the 2-mile with 13:00. Anything less than a strong 300 on the APFT is unacceptable, so I will continue to strive for that goal. Fortunately, I have an opportunity to improve tomorrow with an official APFT.

Lacrosse workouts have replaced PT, but frankly our coach takes it far too easy on us. His programs have not pushed me, so I need to do extra workouts. From what I have seen on several other threads, I guess I will face the same issue at BCT and Airborne. Hopefully I can make it over to PT after some of those workouts when my schedule permits.

I am briefly participating in ROTC to gain whatever Army experience I can, and if I decide to pursue becoming a Ranger I will enlist after college. However, many of the older cadets at ROTC have told me to reconsider enlisting, arguing that being an officer has more perks, but I understand that the path to the 75th Ranger Regiment is longer if you want to be an officer. I will search the forum for the pros and cons.

[dirtythirty]

Roger, rangerjd.

[dirtythirty]

Rangers,
I tried a new pushup strategy and it clearly did not work out well, however, there is no excuse for doing this poorly.

Pushups: 36
Situps: 69
2-mile run: 12:55

[Jim]

Rangers,
I tried a new pushup strategy and it clearly did not work out well, however, there is no excuse for doing this poorly.

Pushups: 36
Situps: 69
2-mile run: 12:55

There is no magic -- do more pushups.

[dirtythirty]

Roger, Ranger Jim.

[dirtythirty]

Rangers,
Just updating my latest APFT score.

PU: 55
SU: 72
2 mile: 13:19
Score: 262

[rangerjd]

You need to make sure you add pull-ups to your APFT. PT till you puke and then PT some more. RLTW

[Jim]

Collins, it has been more than 3 months since your last post. What's up?

[dirtythirty]

Ranger Jim and all Rangers,
I apologize for leaving you all in the dark. I have spent this time checking my gut and did not want to waste anyone's time if I was not totally committed. Since I last posted, I have signed an ROTC contract and have been giving my best effort every time I put on the uniform. My PT scores are as follows:

Pull-ups: 75
Sit-ups: 88
2-mile: 12:45
Pull-ups: 16

Once again, I apologize for the delay and hope that you all understand the reasoning behind my absence. I am following the cadet guidelines posted on this forum and have sent a PM to Ranger KW Driver.