Off to RASP!

[Jim]

Cisco, that's why we are so detail-oriented at this site. Looking back, what would / could you have done to improve your performance?

[cams]

They will not take you back as a voluntary withdrawal. That's just a nice way of saying you quit.

Good luck in the 173rd, it 's a great unit with a very impressive and gallant history in this nations wars.

Rusty quit on day 2 because his leg hurt huh?

Let this be a heads-up for the DEPS/OPT 40's here, these guys had plenty of time to prepare physically, and both quit, mentally.

When a Ranger tells you to stop fucking around here with jokes or news postings and other such chatter, it's not because he feels like being a dick to the new guy, it's because he wants you to succeed and knows the difficulties involved for you to succeed.

[K.Ingraham]

You let the prospect of failure get to you and punked out. Hindsight is 20:20, at least you wound up in a great place to overcome that new monkey on your back.
It sucked to have to come back here and admit what you did, but thank you for posting. It's an insight for others to consider.

Jim asked a good question.

Rusty found an excuse to quit, rather than a challenge to overcome. He won't be missed. If he had a real injury, the medics would've held him over.

[packmule]

A friend of mine quit RASP and got sent to the 82nd. A couple months after I got to Batt he got blown to hell by an IED. Case in point if he had never quit he would probably still be here. Something to think about

[Jim]

A friend of mine quit RASP and got sent to the 82nd. A couple months after I got to Batt he got blown to hell by an IED. Case in point if he had never quit he would probably still be here. Something to think about

Packmule, I've never met you; but damn, I like your attitude. You're gonna do all rightl in Battalion.

[Cisco4711]

Ranger Jim,

To answer your question: I shouldn't have gotten complacent throughout Airborne School and Holiday exodus. Sure I still performed better than your average person, but I was put in a class filled with studs, literally(well the ones that stayed). If I would've kept the conditioning I had when I left OSUT and not slacked off, I would probably still be there. Being able to endure all the smokings and Cole Range wasn't a problem for me, but like I said I was going to get peered/dropped based on my performance because I was usually one of the last guys to finish events.

[goon175]

Well bro, you tried and things didn't work out. If everyone made it, then that scroll would mean little more than any other unit patch out there. I have to assume it wasn't a wasted experience for you, as you probably learned a little bit about yourself on the way, and alot in retrospect. You have this advantage over your peers in italy with you who just went straight from BAC to there duty station. Take what you have learned and be the best paratrooper you can be, and looking at the recent alumni to come from the 173rd, you have some big shoes to fill.....

[K.Ingraham]

I was going to get peered/dropped based on my performance because I was usually one of the last guys to finish events.

Cisco,
By coming back here you've taken an important step, acknowledging your mistake. But now you're blowing it by trying to sell that rationalization. You quit, period. The POSSIBLE, maybe even probable, peer drop was not a done thing until it was done. You seized on that excuse to make failure certain by flushing what you were told a hundred times "never quit".

Like Goon said, you now have brutaly honest self-knowledge. Hopefully, that monkey on your back won't let you be weak again.
A wise man, that Ranger Goon.

[Jim]

Ranger Jim,

To answer your question: I shouldn't have gotten complacent throughout Airborne School and Holiday exodus. Sure I still performed better than your average person, but I was put in a class filled with studs, literally(well the ones that stayed). If I would've kept the conditioning I had when I left OSUT and not slacked off, I would probably still be there. Being able to endure all the smokings and Cole Range wasn't a problem for me, but like I said I was going to get peered/dropped based on my performance because I was usually one of the last guys to finish events.

Thanks for the insightful response. You should not have worried about peer ratings (but that's hindsight on my part) or being the last to finish. Remember they call the Cadet with the lowest standing at West Point "the goat" --but they also call him Lieutenant or Sir.

[Cisco4711]

Roger that Rangers,

I dont regret going to RASP in no way whatsoever even though I failed. I learned so much about myself, and I recieved some very exceptional training. The 2 weeks I've been here, I have made an outstanding impression on my chain of command and I atrribute that to the training I recieved at RASP. I'll drive on and keep living up to the high standards that I learned at the course because it will serve me well throughout my career.

My unit is big on sending people to Ranger school, I plan on coming back to this forum to announce my success; until then, thanks everyone on this forum and goodluck to all to endeavor to pursue the scroll.

[blueskiesalways]

I dont regret going to RASP in no way whatsoever even though I failed.

Okay...I bit my tongue with my last post in this thread trying to be nice and crap but now you have written this BS it is time for you to learn some hard truths since you seem to have justified your experience in your little mind that everything is okay. The following is more for DEPs who are about to take the route you did.

First of all, you did not "fail". Saying you "failed" implies you could not pass tasks to conditions and standards. You QUIT. Failing and quitting are two entirely different things. You can train a person who fails to eventually pass. You cannot train a quitter to not quit. So you do not have any regrets about quitting? This one sentence of yours tell me that you do not have the mindset to be a US Army Ranger because quitting is NEVER an option. It appears what you did do was "fail" to prepare yourself for RASP which led to your quitting. Why do I say this? You reported last October that you were only doing 55 pushups at OSUT. This was a year after you joined this site. You appeared to spend more time researching to find a workout plan on the internet the would magically transform you into a stud then actually working out. You had endless posts about this. Oh yeah...you reported all kinds of high speed workout plans you were doing. They didn't seem to help you on your pushups now did they. Of course among these posts, you started silly threads about what Battalion you hoped to be assigned to or questioning the intelligence of 11Bs.

I was put in a class filled with studs

What the fuck do you expect a RASP class to be full of? Why do you think we emphasize "fitness" on this site? You blamed your lack of fitness on screwing off at Airborne and during Holiday exodus. How many warnings about being complacent at Airborne and during exodus have been given on this site? Were you too busy to read these warnings because you were dreaming of what battalion you were going to get assigned to?

Okay...you show up not as fit as you should be but somehow you were getting it done. Sure you were last on everything but someone always is so that is not relevant. You were still managing to get it done. What do you do? You disregard the MOST important two words of advice that has been given perhaps tens of thousands of times on this site and that is to NEVER QUIT. So what if you were peered out. You may have been given another opportunity to recycle and get a fresh start. You may be wearing a Tan Beret today instead of a Raspberry one but you fucking QUIT. Quitting goes against the Ranger Creed....

"Surrender is not a Ranger word."
"Readily will I display the intestinal fortitude required to fight on to the Ranger objective and complete the mission"

Surrender and quitting are the same thing. Quitting shows you do not have the intestinal fortitude to complete the mission. For some reason this is all okay with you since you have no regrets.

My unit is big on sending people to Ranger school, I plan on coming back to this forum to announce my success

Well you made posts about how confident you were about making it through RASP. How did that work out for you? Just STFU about announcing how you going to come back here a success when you make it through Ranger School. Quit talking shit about what you are going to do and just do it.

I do not want you to respond to this post. I do not want to hear any more justifications. Good luck with your new unit.

I just emailed this thread to my 3rd oldest son who is currently in RASP hold....If that doesn't hit home, nothing will!...As some of you know I also have a son who served with the 1st Batt, who's truly hoping his brother makes it to 1st Batt to call in a few favors of extra "smokings" specially for him...Point being my kid earned his slot at RASP ..he enlisted without an option 40 against our advice (he had hearing waiver issures) and he swore he'd make the opportunity HAPPEN....and he did. The easy part is done..now he has to finish it.
For you perhaps, your ego wanted it, but your heart didn't. All the best in the future, you can still be the best at whatever you do. While you may have quit, at least you can hold your head high knowing that you gave it a shot...many haven't. Don't make excuses, if asked stick to the facts...you tried, couldn't cut. That will get you respect...It's not for everybody.

[KW Driver]

Don't make excuses, if asked stick to the facts...you tried, couldn't cut. That will get you respect...It's not for everybody.

Dad got it wrong here. You don't know if you couldn't cut it or not because you quit.

So here's a rhetorical for you (that means you don't have to answer, I'd prefer you didn't, but you should think about it).

What's the next thing you're going to quit? 12 miles into an 18 mile walk through the Itailian hillsides, causing your squad and PLT to carry your gear as well? The middle of a fight at the next Restrepo your unit goes to?

You can't say you won't, because you've proven through your actions that you have it in you to quit. You have to prove to yourself you will never quit again.

Talk is cheap as you've proven here. Actions should be your voice from here forward.

Sincerely, good luck, and I hope you can grow from this experience.