SITREP- Slov

[Slov]

Rangers and mentees,

I am currently at the MEPS hotel with my fellow 11x Option 40 buddy. We are actually rooming together. In less than 12 hours I will be starting my journey to becoming a soldier, and Airbone Ranger. I am disappointed for not finishing my task list. I did not keep my word. If I took time off work before leaving I could have finished the task list, but I didn't. My task list is on page 120 in the " Five Mentees Report Here" thread at the bottom. I will be giving it my all. The Option 40 mentees shipping out tomorrow on this site are CCJ, BME, and I. We will try to link up at some point. BrentK and Lokiian will try to hook up with us as well, but they are a week ahead of us according to ship date. Gargling and Yossef didn't respond to our PMs. It will be awhile before I post on this thread.

[Jim]

Excellent. Please keep us updated on your progress and encourage the other mentees to communicate with us. Never, never quit

[Slov]

Rangers and fellow mentees,

I just wanted to post an update since I have been gone for a while. I graduated OSUT a few weeks ago and I'm in Airborne School right now. I have learned a lot in the past few months. Many guys I knew dropped their Ranger contracts before Airborne, and some are now dropping them. The number of Option 40 guys in my OSUT class is dwindling. Guys who I thought had more of a chance of success than I did dropped their contracts. That surprised me honestly since I'm still standing here. The hard part has yet to come, but I am almost there. I received my Alice pack in the mail from home so I will be rucking along with running.

Some words of advice regarding OSUT and Airborne... Don't listen to the private news network. Do the right thing. I knew guys who had 300 plus PT scores, and qualified for Ranger. Some of those guys families had strong Special Operations lineage and would kill for a opportunity just to attend RASP. They got fucked over due to paperwork and not having it in writing before joining. They earned their slots in OSUT but never got them due to a paperwork mistake. DO NOT BE THAT GUY. Wait for the Option 40 at MEPS. You will never regret waiting for it.

Listen to the Rangers on this site. I still know the Ranger Creed by heart. Not one option 40 guy I know even knows the Ranger creed. You will be far more squared away if you listen to the Rangers on this site.

Oh, PT on your own as well throughout the pipeline. You can hit weights if you want. I want to, but I need to focus on pull ups and push-ups. I pretty much am good on everything else. Focus on form. All the way up, all the way down on pull ups and push ups. Otherwise, the reps will not count during the PT tests and you will look stupid as fuck. I looked stupid as fuck because I never did push ups right and I had to pretty much start over and do them properly. If it wasn't for my push-ups... I would have easily gotten over 300 on my PT test.

I am trying to communicate with the fellow mentees that shipped out the same time I did months ago. CCJ seems to be the only one asking. I will be seeing where he is at and if we can PT together.

That's all the advice I can think of and give. The hard part is yet to come. Thank you for your time Rangers.

Edit: BME101 shipped out the same time 5-6 of us did. He actually ended up in my OSUT class and I knew who he was. He was recycled at the end of our OSUT class due to an injury since he couldn't complete the requirements. I can't remember if he dropped or kept his Option 40 contract.

[Jim]

Good SITREP. What phase of BAC are you in? Never, never qio9t.

[Slov]

Ranger Jim,

My company just finished week 1 of BAC. We got off work early today since we finished all the training the day before. 2 more weeks to go until the end of BAC. One thing I noticed was the amount of non infantry going to airborne school. The majority of people going were non- infantry.

Edit: Another piece of advice. The PT test is a joke. The Black Hats are only worried about minimum standards and will tell you to stop after you reach the 180 score mark on the PT test. I'm not kidding you at all. Volunteer as a road guard during OSUT and ABN if you can. Yes, it's fucking stupid, but you will be working on sprinting a lot in the process. Use any tool you can to make yourself stronger. Carry the SAW and 240 if you can while at OSUT. It will only make you stronger. Do it on the rucks including the 12 mile and Bayonet March. The runs at airborne school are designed to have the lowest common denominator in mind I feel. So, just do the runs and exercise on your own. I do and it helps.

I actually felt weaker at OSUT and had to PT on my own to maintain my numbers. The only things that helped were the sprint work outs to reduce my time. That's it.

[Jim]

Good SITREP, Slov. Have you been in contact with any of the other mentees? Never, never quit!

[Slov]

Ranger Jim,

The only other mentees that I am still in contact with is CCJ. BME was actually in my OSUT class and got recycled due to not finishing the 12 mile ruck due to an injury. I do not know his status. CCJ seems to be in the Airborne class behind me. I graduated on the 26th from Airborne. I sent him a message tonight, but he is the only mentees still frequently active. It's the weekend so hopefully we can get together and PT.

Update for Rangers and future mentees:

So I arrived at Pre RASP earlier in the week. Let's just say it was really fun. We were given a time back after chow and had to run down to the RASP barracks down the road from Airborne school. It's only 1/2 a mile I believe at most, but Rangers can run pretty fast. We arrived to the staging area and unloaded our bags from the bus. That was another time hack. After that, we were told to drop all our shit and dump it all out. We failed to meet this time hack ( do you see a recurring theme here?). So we were dropped for 25 push-ups, BUT we were given a lecture on +1 for the Airborne Ranger in the sky. Ironically, I remember reading about this on ArmyRanger.com. After a short smoke session 15 percent of our class quit for some reason. They wanted to quit before they got there though and didn't want to deal with any of it. We came with around 70 and we have mid 50s now in terms of our class numbers. It wasn't even a physically exhausting smoking. They simply didn't want to be Rangers.

We arrived too late for the next upcoming class this Monday. So, we will be classing up in about 6-8 weeks. Some guys in this upcoming class were waiting for 9 weeks. We will be in Pre RASP for a while. Apparently we haven't done PT here at all either which is disappointing, because I thought there would be change of that from Airborne. It could be just this week with the upcoming class and us being new arrivals.

Within the first 24 hours we were already doing the Ranger Creed. We say the Ranger Creed two times a day. Once in the morning before chow and once before at night. They ask for volunteers to guide the class. A lot of guys don't even know the creed. Only 5 or 6 including me knew the full Ranger Creed out of 50 guys from our Airborne class. If the individual fucks up, everyone does 25+1. I remember doing that on this website as well. If you know the Ranger Creed, volunteer to say it. Don't let your buddies fuck you over. However, guys are learning it at a quick rate. If we don't, we get smoked, do bag dumps, and can loose our weekends as well.

Mentees, THERE IS A REASON FOR EVERYTHING THEY DO ON THIS SITE. Pay the hell attention. Our Airborne Ranger in the sky is due next Tuesday. Random people will be selected to tell the class about their Airborne Ranger in the sky . I already did mine, months ago before I came here.

Ranger Kensongkusei wrote about a lot of overhead lifting done in RASP. On the first day of RASP you do bag dumps full of your packing list over and over. You hold the bags over your head. You'll hold rucks over your head too. All the advice I read, and the assignments given by Rangers are all making sense now that I'm here. I haven't even started RASP yet either.

Volunteer for details at Pre RASP. I'm gonna be here for a decent amount of time. You wake up in the morning, PT if they want, go change, eat, and then sit in a gravel pit waiting for details until 1400- 1600. Trust me, you don't want to sit in the gravel pit all day. If you do sit there, study your Ranger Blue Book once it's given and know it by heart. Make sure you get a study guide ( you'll know what that is once you come here) and study the hell out of it. Everything about Rangers is in the book ranging from the Ranger Creed, extensive history of Rangers, Medal of Honor recipients, and specific battles. You will need to know these things for the history test. How do I know? I was told by Rangers who are waiting to go to their Battallion that the study guide helped them and all the information in that study guide or Ranger Standards Blue Book was on the test. I was assigned to read up on Ranger history on this site as well.

Oh, don't lock your knees either. I did that for the first time when I just arrived to Pre RASP. It turned a easy smoking into a bad one. Don't forget to do +1 for the Airborne Ranger in the Sky. If you do, you will pay. Typically, we were given a long lectures while in the front leaning rest or hold positions of an exercise regarding the importance of the Airborne Ranger in the Sky.

This is my update regarding Pre RASP and the advice I have for future mentees.

[IntelToad]

Good update and information for those coming behind you. Good luck.

[Slov]

Roger, Ranger IntelToad

[Jim]

Slov, Good to see your advice for the DEPs and Mentees. Think you are well prepared for RASP. Never, never quit!

[Slov]

Ranger Jim,

I believe I am prepared or RASP. Since being at Pre RASP I have started hitting the weights. I am realizing at that my overall fitness needs weight lifting to incorporate being well rounded. I need to be stronger for my job regardless if I'm fit or not. However, I try not to over do it and I stick to the guidance on this site and the guidance given by my RASP study guide. Functional movements during weight training is something I want to achieve. On top of that I pretty much study my Blue Book, and RASP study guide. That's all there is to do besides PT, study, and stay on base during the week.

We have been doing PT for the past 3 weeks. The PT is what you make of it, but you still need to PT on your own as well.

I had a glimpse at Cole Range while doing a week long deal for some guys heading to Ranger School.

I have been in contact with CCJ. Romaniak96 is now in our class due to being a recycle I believe. Those are the only mentees I've been in contact with.

[Jim]

Anything new, Slov? Never, never quit!

[Slov]

Ranger Jim,

I'm not classing up. I failed the pull up standard since I didn't lock my elbows out and I kipped on my pull-ups so they didn't count. I was given a 2nd chance but wasn't able to do enough to meet the standard. So, I was dropped. I thought I put in enough work, but it obviously wasn't because I couldn't meet or exceed the standard. I don't know really what to say besides that I failed and ruined a good opportunity. I maxed my sit-ups and my run was 13:40. My best is 13:25.

I asked when I could come back, and I was told 6 months to a year depending on my unit. I know where I'm heading to for now.

The only thing I can do now is chalk this up as a learning experience, because I had a great opportunity and I blew it. My goal is to come back as soon as possible and have a 300+ PT score. Specifically my goals are 15 dead hang pull ups ( no kipping at all), 90 push-ups, and keep maintaining my sit-ups at the 90-100 mark. I want my run to be faster since my fastest run is 96/100 points. I want a 12:00-12:30 2 mile.

I'll be posting an update of when my unit will allow me to come back and I hit my goals I specifically listed. Those will be my only goals along with being the most squared away guy when arriving to my unit. I'm going to have to earn a spot back in RASP for a 2nd chance and not ruin it this time.

CCJ is still there to my knowledge, and he's doing good, but I don't have contact with him now nor can I.