Ranger School

[B 2/75]

Originally Posted by scrambledeggs

anonymous

LOL... you're the ONLY 'anonymous' person in this thread. All other posters are vetted / well-known veterans. They certainly aren't hiding behind any moniker of anonymity.

[scrambled eggs]

Originally Posted by B 2/75

LOL... you're the ONLY 'anonymous' person in this thread. All other posters are vetted / well-known veterans. They certainly aren't hiding behind any moniker of anonymity.

Well, we all have to start somewhere.

[SOTB]

se -- if you're an officer, then the common thinking is that you are educated and a trained decision maker. As such, take a step back and realize that some of your posts are simply digging holes -- like the one above.

You received an answer(s), it/they was sincere, and you could even find more sincere answers awaiting you if you cease the hole digging. OK, the hole digging won't change the sincerity of the answers, but it might change the flavor....

[scrambled eggs]

Originally Posted by SOTB

se -- if you're an officer, then the common thinking is that you are educated and a trained decision maker. As such, take a step back and realize that some of your posts are simply digging holes -- like the one above.

You received an answer(s), it/they was sincere, and you could even find more sincere answers awaiting you if you cease the hole digging. OK, the hole digging won't change the sincerity of the answers, but it might change the flavor....

Got it, thanks. I don't mean to dig holes or disrespect. This was my first question in this forum, I'm learning fast.

[MikeC2W]

Just curious, are you male or female?

[Gray Rhyno]

Originally Posted by Hot Mess

if an AMBO is only going to take you seriously if you have a short tab...

I'm going to guess that most ambassadors couldn't even explain the difference between a Ranger Tab and an EGA, nor do they care. In most cases, you're just another guy in funny clothes interfering with their "diplomacy". Or you're a servant there to fix things for them so they can get back to "diplomacy".

[B 2/75]

Re: Ambassadors

Chances of a CA bubba actually briefing an Ambassador: Slim to nearly zilch. If you're a COL, then your chances are better. As a bubba... LOL.

I did brief a DAO on a couple of occasions, in a tiny embassy (Suriname), and got to meet the assistant to the Ambassador, so maybe that counted?

Actual Embassies (note the big E) with layers on layers of staff, and an Army puke of almost any flavor is just that... a bag of puke... to be avoided at all costs.


ETA: That's my experience after being a CA officer from 92 - 09. Many, many deployments, and from what I've seen, DoS folk are generally antimatter to DoD. The oppose us like matching poles of a magnet.

[MakoZeroSix]

Originally Posted by scrambled eggs

I think no matter what anyone says people want a tab for credibility. If they say they don't it's a lie. So yeah, I'll admit to that. But I also want one because I like those hard, crappy things that you gotta get through. It's a rewarding feeling personally.

Not even in your wildest dreams does anybody from DoS (Or anywhere else for that matter) give a rat's ass about a Ranger tab. Most in DOS probably have no idea what it even is, and if they did, would gasp and think you were some kind of fucking retard and neandeal for volunteering to go to a school where you don't get to eat or sleep for 8 week. Don't worry about trying to impress those guys- they are the most worthless individuals you will come into contact with downrange. But if you do want to impress people in an embassy or whatever, the #1 thing you can do is to communicate in an articulate and thoughtful manner with them.

Just try to focus on what you need to do to not be a burden to the SF teams in the country. That is all.

[Hot Mess]

Originally Posted by leopardprey

Considering half of the people in the State Dept. are Mormons, and the other half are Homosexuals -

Man, you can't beat that Mormon Mafia. Those bastards are dug in like Alabama ticks. But I will say this, they love America.

[MacDuff]

Originally Posted by Hot Mess

Man, you can't beat that Mormon Mafia. Those bastards are dug in like Alabama ticks. But I will say this, they love America.

I never met a Mormon until I got to DLI. Boy did I learn quick. A good quarter of the 229th at that time was from the Mormon Militia. Good folks.

[Fubar]

Originally Posted by MakoZeroSix

Not even in your wildest dreams does anybody from DoS (Or anywhere else for that matter) give a rat's ass about a Ranger tab. Most in DOS probably have no idea what it even is, and if they did, would gasp and think you were some kind of fucking retard and neandeal for volunteering to go to a school where you don't get to eat or sleep for 8 week. Don't worry about trying to impress those guys- they are the most worthless individuals you will come into contact with downrange. But if you do want to impress people in an embassy or whatever, the #1 thing you can do is to communicate in an articulate and thoughtful manner with them.

Just try to focus on what you need to do to not be a burden to the SF teams in the country. That is all.

Who took over Mako's account? Or are you overdosing on the Prozac again?

[Maas]

Gotta learn to ignore the wannabe trolls.

[MakoZeroSix]

Originally Posted by Fubar

Who took over Mako's account? Or are you overdosing on the Prozac again?

What now? You find this to be an uncharacteristic statement?

[Fubar]

Originally Posted by MakoZeroSix

What now? You find this to be an uncharacteristic statement?

It was to the point, factual, and without a hint of sarcasm. Are you okay?

[MakoZeroSix]

Originally Posted by Fubar

It was to the point, factual, and without a hint of sarcasm. Are you okay?

You mean making profane and degrading comments about an entire governmental organization, as well as making a dismissive comment about an entire branch of the Army, and basically insulting the OP in a backhand manner is not in keeping with my usual MO?

I mean it was factual and contained good advice in it as well, but it was still wrapped in an awful package.

[HighDragLowSpeed]

I was just an enlisted guy in a non-high speed role that traveled 250-300 days per year for 4 years and interacted routinely with Embassy mil groups, country team types, and admin folks given that we even drew money from embassies for every mission that we did and settled with the embassy upon return. If you do work end up working with embassy guys, tab or no, they think in terms of "presence" instead of "mission" and they'll frustrate you quickly.

In my experience in the 1990s which is somewhat dated now, we wore suits while onsite as a vistor at most embassies. This could be for any number of reasons but, there is much to the gay/left comment above, and you'll quickly learn State folks don't like uniformed guys running around. I can recall only a few embassies in which we wore uniforms and, in both of those cases, the milgroup had a physically separate facility form the embassy meaning we wore uniforms to the milgroup and suits to the actual embassy.

The embassy size and overall importance of your mission will determine who you brief. As an enlisted guy I routinely briefed the milgroup and often the country team but the CTs only in the smaller embassies or more backwater countries. The MILGROUP staff will take care of those briefings in larger embassies. Ambassadors? Not so much particularly if they are political appointees. I think that I briefed ambassadors 3-4 times in 4 years on that job but at least 2 of those were because I was also briefing the President of the host nation involved.

So most people had no idea of my background. Again, this wasnt to hide it for some high speed reason, it was because the uniform of the day was a suit.

Where tabs will get some level of traction is with the host nation militaries which interestingly you seem to have excluded form your comments. I hardly wore my tab downrange and usually only for briefings with the host nation military. We'd wear suits for briefing host nation civilian orgs again due to the "scary factor" of uniforms.

[DC]

In a previous life I spent quite a bit of time briefing DCMs and RSOs in the ME and SE Asia. DOS has a well earned rep in line with everything mentioned above IMO.

They become much easier to work with once you understand what their mission is. And realize that in their world, uniformed people are for guarding gates and opening doors typically.

[Boyo72]

Originally Posted by MikeC2W

Just curious, are you male or female?

Considering the content of this conversation an answer to this question could prove interesting...

[MeatLasagna]

I worked for an officer who asked me, in private on multiple occasions, if going to Ranger School would help make the other soldiers respect him. I told him no, but told him that the reasons he was wondering about that (the self-doubt, the misguided thought that respect was based on what you've done and not what you are doing, and the idea that it could be fixed by a tab) were certainly parts of the reason why they didn't respect him.

I would add if the concern is respect from embassy-types then you should ensure that you can handle your liquor (physically and mentally) and do not accidentally throw the remote controller for the Wii into their flat screen.

[The Fat Guy]

Gents, the OP has not signed in since his last post here.

Maybe he is on vacation.