The Staff Sync - Vol.2
Don't get engaged in BOLC. Partially joking, partially serious. In the military it seems like big events such as Basic Training and BOLC graduation are catalysts for Soldiers to pop the question. Although this may work for some, I personally would suggest separating a major life event such as getting engaged from another major life event, such as graduating a military school. It is easy to fall in line with the peer pressure of those around you also getting engaged but just enjoy your youth and your transition to your new job in the Army without the added stress of a "young/immature" relationship.
48...48...48.....Those are the infamous words that a lot of people hear at Ranger School. Unfortunately I failed push-ups at Ranger School a week after graduating IBOLC. Like many others, I thought this would be a "career ender". After failing I reached out to my gaining unit in Alaska and they gave me the option to go to Airborne School and PCS right away to deploy or to go back to Ranger School. At the time it was a no brainer to me to chose the guaranteed deployment as a platoon leader rather than to go back to Ranger School. Within a months time I finished airborne school and was in-processing into JBER Alaska. After in-processing I was on a plane to Afghanistan to meet my unit that had been there for a few months. After a week and a half in the 3-shop, I was given a platoon and immediately started conducting missions.
After coming back from deployment, I decided that I was going to get out of the Army and start a family. This made me not want to go back to Ranger School. That plan obviously changed as you have read when I ended my engagement and went to selection around a year after re-deployment. At that point I did not have time to go back to Ranger School because of selection, PCSing and CCC.
Having a Ranger tab gives you an easy foot in the door, however, it is not impossible to prove your worth without having a tab. Throughout my four years in the infantry I was overlooked numerous times for schools such as Jumpmaster because I did not have a tab. Alternatively, like I mentioned in the last blog, I was afforded the opportunity to be one of the first untabbed XO's in my Battalion. Whenever you meet a new leader, the first thing they do is check your left shoulder, and the first thing they say might be "what happened at Ranger School" or "Where is your tab?" But it is how you present yourself and your own work ethic that distinguishes you from your peers regardless of a piece of cloth. Don't let a failure in the Army, like failing Ranger School or anything similar to it, hold you back from what you want to achieve while serving your country. If you don't have a tab you will be okay.
-Staff
