Sitrep- Commissioned and on to IBOLC

[Icarius]

Rangers,

It has been a long time since I have posted. I have been lurking in the background reading and absorbing as much information as possible. I recently graduated and commissioned this past January as an active duty Military Intelligence branch detail Infantry officer.

During my freshmen year I hesitated as to whether I wanted to continue with my education or forfeit my ROTC scholarship and enlist with an option 40. I ultimately stayed the course and continued with education. Since then I have had a buddy from home who has gone on to become a PFC in 2nd Batt. It has been awesome talking to him on the phone and getting to hear about his experiences in the Regiment. I may have missed out on that opportunity. Yet, I have had plenty of good experiences in my education and I believe the officer route is a good fit for me. During my undergrad I stuck with my original major, International Business concentrating in Supply Chain Management with a Minor in East Asian Studies. Due to the nature of my undergraduate program, I unfortunately did not focus on ROTC as much as my peers. However, I was able to spend a total of 14 months abroad in China between two stints (2 months and 12 months) and 6 months working for an health and wellness/ personal care products manufacturer and distributor in Utah doing international supply planning. I primarily focused on inventory management and the development of the company's sales and operations planning initiatives. My internship was a glimpse into the civilian world. While I learned a lot about international logistics and supply planning during my time at the company. I also learned that I am very glad I am not going into the civilian world. I would want to shoot myself if I had to graduate and get a desk job like I had for those six months.

The highlight of my education was without a doubt the time I had abroad. My major required myself to go abroad twice. The first time for two months to travel and study. The main goal of this trip was to familiarize myself with China's culture and gain a basic understanding of the language. It was a great trip but it was little more than a glimpse into Chinese life and culture.

The highlight of my undergraduate experience was my year in Beijing. I would break the year down into three segments. The first five months when I studied abroad at Peking University's Guanghua School of Management, the second five months when I was an English teacher at a migrant school on the outskirts of Beijing and then the final two months when I took a summer Chinese course at the Beijing Foreign Studies University. The first five months was little more than a typical study abroad. The focus of my academic program was not to learn Chinese but to become more familiar with the business environment of China and subsequently all my classes were taught by English speaking Chinese professors. It was a great program and the quality of the students I studied with was excellent. It was awesome to get a chance to live in a truly international environment and have friends from every corner of the world. However, it didn't provide myself with the truly Chinese experience that I was looking for. My future is in the military and while there were lessons that could be applied to the military from this experience. I wanted to develop my cross cultural and language skills. So instead of working for some international company I decided to volunteer as a English teacher at a migrant school on the outskirts of Beijing. The school I worked at was in a significantly less developed area than where I had been before and I was the only foreigner. I chose to live at the school and it was the first time I was in a truly foreign environment. I was forced to use Chinese and lived in a truly Chinese environment with minimal foreign influence. My students were all the children of migrant workers. This meant that while they were all Chinese, they came from every part of China as their parents had moved to Beijing in search of work such as unskilled day labors, cooks, farmers or any number of unskilled work. The experience gave me an unparalleled glimpse into how diverse China is not only culturally but also economically. My students were absolutely awesome. They all come from very poor backgrounds and would absolutely work their asses off as education was one of the few opportunities they have to better their lives. It was the first time in my life I felt like I had a positive effect on people. It was also awesome to see the transformation in myself. I went from a middle class white kid that honestly felt very uncomfortable with my surroundings at the school. To the point where my language skills were good enough to talk about most subjects and I felt at home in even the most Chinese of environments. I felt at home in an environment that was completely foreign. It was awesome. I still had/have much to learn but my understanding of Chinese culture, education, language, and values is much more advanced.

My academic commitment in China was fulfilled after I was done teaching at the migrant school. However, I wasn't ready to come home at that point and moved back into the city where I enrolled in a two month Chinese language course. I was the master of my environment by that point and it was awesome to be able to compare myself to the my peers. Most had little experience in China, just as I had when I first arrived, and I found myself often being the go-to individual when someone needed help navigating Beijing or any situation that comes with moving to a foreign country. By that point I had no problem understanding 95% of what the teacher said and my language learning was mostly limited to developing my vocabulary. I can't write Chinese but at that time I could speak, read and type at a solid level. Unfortunately, once I came home I had one more semester of university and wasn't able to focus on my Chinese. In the last eight months I have done little studying and my abilities have very quickly deteriorated. I wasn't able to take the Mandarin DLPT until about a week ago and didn't score as well as I had hoped. I got a 2+ on listening and only a 1 on reading. I partially attribute the poor reading grade to the fact the test used traditional character on questions about level 1 when I have only studied simplified characters, but my poor performance was primarily because I have not studied in many months. I know Chinese is a valuable tool that could provide some great opportunities in the future. However, I feel that if I am to accomplish my goals my ability to lead, enable, support, inspire and take care of my troops is what will bring me the most success.

I begin IBOLC later this month and I am so excited. I am ready to develop myself as a soldier and I know that there is MUCH that I need to learn. I am ready and eager. My last PT test was back in December and I scored a 291. I have been PTing, rucking, and hiking since.

I am not sure what I want to do in the future. I have researched SF, the Regiment, civil affairs, and Foreign Area officers and right now those are all possibilities that I am striving towards. I am not sure which route I will take. However, I know that before any of those I have to focus on IBOLC, Ranger School and succeeding as a platoon leader. My first duty station is Fort Lewis which I am very happy about due 1st Group and 2nd Batt also being there. I hope to get a deployment in, yet I am not sure how likely that is based off how things are developing in Afghanistan. I will try my best to get a chance to lead troops over there.

I am excited for the future and most importantly I will never quit.

Back to lurking.

[Jim]

Icarius, this is one of the better SITREPs I've seen in a while. What an outstanding experience you had. At Benning try to get any additional training (mortar, airborne, Ranger) to help make you a better Infantry LT. When you get to Fort Lewis, you need to become a Platoon Leader as soon as you can. Once you have platoon experience (and hopefully a deployment), things will have a way of taking care of themselves. Opportunities will come your way, and you can do lots of exciting things.

[PocketKings]

Man, if you can succeed as an Infantry Officer you'll have some pretty good choices as a Captain. Plus, by then we'll be at war with them anyway, so you're ahead of the curve!

Seriously, if you dedicate yourself to the Army like you clearly did as a student you will be ahead of the rest. Keep working on the Chinese - there will be places to foster that. You'll see that it will have little impact as a LT, but later you will find places to put it to good use. Once you get tabbed and well into your PL time (like, 8 months), then I'd definitely look to link up with 1st Group assets to help the language thing along. You have to be careful that your commanders are cool with that first. They can be as jealous as bitches. If they're the right kind of officer, who look after their men, they'll help you develop as much as possible.

Best wishes and don't quit.