Introduction- Josiah

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americanmax
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Introduction- Josiah

Post by americanmax »

Hello Rangers,

My name is Josiah and I am 17 years old. I am currently a senior in high school. I plan on majoring in business analytics before enlisting, Lord willing with an 11X contract with Option 40.
I plan on keeping my eyes open and "mouth" shut, and look forward to learning as much as I can about the Rangers before enlisting.
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Disinfertention
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Re: Introduction- Josiah

Post by Disinfertention »

Welcome to ArmyRanger.com Josiah,

There is a lot of information on the site and even more out there on the web. Ensure you leverage that before coming to us with questions. Glad you found the site.

You gave a pretty brief intro, which is fine. I'll see if I can pull some information out of you! Sounds like you are planning to attain a 4 year degree before enlisting... is this correct? Why are you going to school first if that is the case. Many folks enlist out of high school and do distance learning for their undergrad degree.

Do you play any sports in school? How would you rate your current level of fitness? Have you administered a self APFT yet?
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CharlieRanger1FFV
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Re: Introduction- Josiah

Post by CharlieRanger1FFV »

Welcome to the site, Josiah.


RLTW!!!
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americanmax
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Re: Introduction- Josiah

Post by americanmax »

Thank you, Ranger Disinfertention and CharlieRanger1FFV!

Ranger Disinfertention, you are correct, my plan is to complete a four year degree prior to enlisting. The primary reason why is because I feel I need the extra time to mature before serving.

However, I have considered distance learning while enlisted. In fact, I have already dual enrolled in several college English and math courses via a distance learning program, while taking a few classes at a local community college as well. Although I enjoy the flexibility of online courses, I retain more of the material covered when taught in person. I am applying to several colleges, but would be fair to say that I haven't ruled out distance learning entirely.

As to my physical fitness, the only sport I have played in high school is cross country, which has gotten me into fair shape. In addition to the running, our "at home" regimen emphasizes pullups, weighted dips, flutter kicks, lunges, and isolation work in the gym. Until about a month ago, I assumed that the dips and flutter kicks were decent substitutes for pushups and situps, but I was wrong.

I self administered the APFT last week, results were as follows:

Pushups: 43 (absolutely terrible, I know, but I am working hard to improve it and do them daily)
Situps: 63 (again, terrible, also doing them daily)
Pullups: 18 palms facing away
2 mile run: 11:35
5 mile run: 34:41

Not sure how relevant it is, but I am 6'3 and 185 lbs.

I know that I have a long, long way to go with pushups and situps. I also plan to being rucking 3 times a week once cross country is over in November. This website has been very informative, and I hope that with the PT advice offered here, I will be able to add 30 reps to each exercise in a few months.
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Re: Introduction- Josiah

Post by IntelToad »

Welcome here Josiah, if you want to be a Ranger the information here will help you out. You need to grab it.
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Re: Introduction- Josiah

Post by Disinfertention »

Nice follow up post, Josiah. First free advice is to perform and not make excuses. You got 43 pushups. No one here is rating you or berating you over it. It's a means for you to track your progress and for us to hold to the idea that this site is here for you to improve. Dudes on this site say they do 90 pushups in 2 minutes and aren't satisfied. You should never be happy with your physical fitness. Some person is always a little faster or a little stronger. Or knows someone who is. Do your best and strive to do better.

I would never encourage someone to enlist instead of getting an education. But if the only reason you are going to school is to "mature" you are wrong. You won't mature in school. You mature through real life experiences. The DoD gets all kinds of "mature" 2nd LTs and they are far from it. If you think you can get that at a university, good luck. I would say get an education early because you can or you want to. If you want to mature, there are recruiters for every branch of the military that will claim the most maturity from 4 years of service :)

Both of those responses may sound harsh... just take them with a grain of salt. And tell us again why you want to go to school first!
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Re: Introduction- Josiah

Post by americanmax »

Thank you, Ranger IntelToad!

Ranger Disinfertention,

Understood! I will do my best to get my PT scores up, no excuses.

I have given it some thought and talked to a few mentors; they closely mirrored what you said in that no university "brings about" maturity. However, the school that I am hoping to get accepted into (should know in the next few weeks) does not accept any GI Bill funding or federal aid of any sort, and my best bet for any kind of scholarship within the school is to go after my senior year of high school. Essentially, I am still leaning toward college before enlistment because of scholarship opportunities only available immediately after high school, and because I feel that the time would not be wasted.
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IntelToad
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Re: Introduction- Josiah

Post by IntelToad »

Just curious what school does not accept GI funding, or federal.

Also, your run times are very good.
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Re: Introduction- Josiah

Post by Disinfertention »

Think that is a better response to going after an education compared to your initial response. Sounds like a somewhat unique school to go to.
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Re: Introduction- Josiah

Post by americanmax »

Ranger Disinfertention and Ranger IntelToad, it is a somewhat unique school and I have not found anything like it. It is Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, VA.

Ranger IntelToad, thank you! Cross country has helped alot with run times, I hope I can maintain and decrease the times as I continue to gain weight.
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Re: Introduction- Josiah

Post by IntelToad »

Huh, never heard of it but I'll have my younger son (11th grade) check it out because he is thinking pre-law.

We have been looking at this one as well which is interesting, check it out-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John% ... /Santa_Fe)

There's something to be said for going to a small school, I did my undergrad at Penn State main campus and my freshman astronomy class had almost twice as many students as the total enrollment at Patrick Henry !
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Re: Introduction- Josiah

Post by americanmax »

Ranger IntelToad, from what I've heard, they are somewhat similar, and I have looked into both. However, PHC is roughly five hours from home (I live in Tennessee), and I would prefer to spend as much time with my family as possible before enlisting.
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Re: Introduction- Josiah

Post by americanmax »

Hello again Rangers,

I have been accepted to my preferred college and will be attending in the fall. I am undecided on either business analytics or strategic intelligence. This means I have 4 years before enlisting, unless I participate in ROTC through college. I am very much on the fence about ROTC. All the career officers I have spoken to have strongly recommended it, but their career path and outlook on military service are quite different from mine.

I will be talking to a recruiter sometime this week, a few of the questions I have are: can payments on college debt be put on hold while in the military? Will having student loans affect my ability to qualify for a security clearance? I also have a few questions about ROTC itself, as my college does not have an ROTC program and I would need to participate through another school's program.
If it's alright, I'd like to post an update here with the recruiter's advise, just to make sure I don't make an important decision based on incorrect information.

As far as physical training goes: by using the information here and from conversations with people on this site, I am improving rapidly. My last test was as follows:

PU: 62
SU: 78
CU: 16
2 mile run: 12:02
5 mile run: 34:39

Still a long ways to go, but the progress is encouraging.
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Re: Introduction- Josiah

Post by Disinfertention »

Great to hear from you Josiah,

Nice work on getting accepted to your school of choice. That's great news. Don't take that for granted and earn your spot there every day.

All those questions are going to be best answered by a recruiter or by doing some google work. I'd just be guessing or having to google them myself. Please do post your answers here and we can at least see if they pass the common sense test.

In most cases, ROTC isn't something that is going to make or break your career. If you have any thought of becoming an officer directly after school I would do ROTC. If you are sure about enlisting I don't see ROTC as that important. I do not believe you need to start ROTC until your junior year and you can still commission if you want to. Let us know what you find out.

Those are some great numbers, it shows you've been working at it. My favorite part is that you didn't try to put any excuses in parenthesis this time! Never be ashamed of the work you do if you tried your best. Just improve and keep on it.
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mootaz23
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Re: Introduction- Josiah

Post by mootaz23 »

welcome ....i hope u become a ranger
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