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Katalmach

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Joe C suggested I give you fine gents and update on me

As some of you know, I got med boarded out of the Marine Corps 8 years ago, and spent every minute of it hating myself for it, as it was due to a failure on my part.

5 years later, I decided I'd try my hand at the Legion, and started getting ready. Got in the best shape of my life, learned some French, and almost bought a plane ticket in early 2019. Then miraculously I was informed by an army recruiter I talked to years back, that I was eligable for a waiver. I started in March of last year.

Tomorrow I swear into the US Army as an infantryman. After training, I get to attend Javelin school and will be assigned to a weapons squad as an assistant gunner (In the Army National Guard, we pick everything from our job, down to our position within the platoon. It's a great system)

I learned a lot from this forum, about diet and fitness. I quit smoking at the urging of Le Petit Caporal, and others. Got into really great shape. Found some bravery and confidence I didn't know I had. Also, learned a lot about carrying myself to success and how to make a plan. I'm going to take that advice into my career with the U.S Army

My other goal besides just succeeding at my initial training, is to find a slot for sniper school. Hopefully in the future I will get to cross train with the Legion. I think that would be an intense experience, and one I'd cherish forever

Wishing you all well with your journies through life and into the Legion
 

Le petit caporal

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Glad to hear, grunt
Has the Javeline school have anything to do with the missile?
Feeder is the begining and some has to do it....You will not always be one, some other blue will take over and you will go towards some thing else
No quiting (apart thé smokes..well done you
If only i could practice what i preach, Amen
 
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Joseph Cosgrove

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I've noticed that there has been over 40 views of Katalmach's thread and only 3 people have taken the for seconds to wish him well. You could even copy and paste me if you like - it isn't one of my patented quotes (yet).
 
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Katalmach,

Best of luck man. The Guard can be difficult to balance with civilian life but there are many opportunities to find a full-time position within the Guard. What state are in? (You don't have to answer that on here if you don't want to)

I'm deployed with the Guard in Africa right now. We work with the French everyday and they are putting dudes in the ground. Their Commandos are doing some cool things. I hope you get a chance to train with the Legion or any French unit for that matter. They consistently strike me as tough and smart.

For anyone that is interested, I just started reading Appel by Joel Struthers. Seems good so far. I recommend it.

I think many on here will appreciate this. Other than the French Commando units, the Legion is the only French unit that every Commander will stop a brief and ask questions about. Even at very high levels the mystic of the Legion still captivates people.

Again Katalmach, congrats and best of luck.
 

V 2.0

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Congrats man, I hope you'll find what you're looking for.

Maybe down the line you can tell us how Army life is different from USMC life. I honestly don't know what the National Guard does, so for a start you could enlighten me. o_O The American military is complicated.

Also, grats on ditching the cigs. It's one of the rare habits thats expensive, unhealthy and disgusting at the same time...
 

Ex-Pongo

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Joe C suggested I give you fine gents and update on me

As some of you know, I got med boarded out of the Marine Corps 8 years ago, and spent every minute of it hating myself for it, as it was due to a failure on my part.

5 years later, I decided I'd try my hand at the Legion, and started getting ready. Got in the best shape of my life, learned some French, and almost bought a plane ticket in early 2019. Then miraculously I was informed by an army recruiter I talked to years back, that I was eligable for a waiver. I started in March of last year.

Tomorrow I swear into the US Army as an infantryman. After training, I get to attend Javelin school and will be assigned to a weapons squad as an assistant gunner (In the Army National Guard, we pick everything from our job, down to our position within the platoon. It's a great system)

I learned a lot from this forum, about diet and fitness. I quit smoking at the urging of Le Petit Caporal, and others. Got into really great shape. Found some bravery and confidence I didn't know I had. Also, learned a lot about carrying myself to success and how to make a plan. I'm going to take that advice into my career with the U.S Army

My other goal besides just succeeding at my initial training, is to find a slot for sniper school. Hopefully in the future I will get to cross train with the Legion. I think that would be an intense experience, and one I'd cherish forever

Wishing you all well with your journies through life and into the Legion


This is how you do it!

Well done.
 

Katalmach

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Congrats man, I hope you'll find what you're looking for.

Maybe down the line you can tell us how Army life is different from USMC life. I honestly don't know what the National Guard does, so for a start you could enlighten me. o_O The American military is complicated.

Also, grats on ditching the cigs. It's one of the rare habits thats expensive, unhealthy and disgusting at the same time...

Unfortunately, I never made it to the fleet. I couldn't tell ya! I know enough about the Guard to say that it's just an aspect of the army that is a reserve component, but still has combat arms. It's like a small state-run army that answers to the state governor, but can be called up for federal service. They are every bit as well trained and equipped as active duty soldiers, they just get to train less. Tons and tons of Guardsmen serve in other public service jobs. There's even a special forces unit you can try out for

Katalmach,

Best of luck man. The Guard can be difficult to balance with civilian life but there are many opportunities to find a full-time position within the Guard. What state are in? (You don't have to answer that on here if you don't want to)

I'm deployed with the Guard in Africa right now. We work with the French everyday and they are putting dudes in the ground. Their Commandos are doing some cool things. I hope you get a chance to train with the Legion or any French unit for that matter. They consistently strike me as tough and smart.

For anyone that is interested, I just started reading Appel by Joel Struthers. Seems good so far. I recommend it.

I think many on here will appreciate this. Other than the French Commando units, the Legion is the only French unit that every Commander will stop a brief and ask questions about. Even at very high levels the mystic of the Legion still captivates people.

Again Katalmach, congrats and best of luck.

I'm with the 29th Infantry Division, my friend. Grey side of the Yin Yang (Virginia!) Who are you with?

To everyone, I appreciate the well wishes
 

dusaboss

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I'm with the 29th Infantry Division, my friend. Grey side of the Yin Yang (Virginia!) Who are you with?

To everyone, I appreciate the well wishes
Glad that you succeeded. Do you have boot camp or something similar in army or not?
 

Katalmach

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Glad that you succeeded. Do you have boot camp or something similar in army or not?

Yes. I will attend 22 weeks in a row at Ft. Benning, down south. 1 week of processing, 9 weeks of basic (which I have to redo since I have been out of the military over 5 years), and then 12 weeks infantry training. Then graduation. Then I go back to my home state

Today I ran the beep test for the army. They only do this once, before you ship to training. I made the minimum, barely, level 6, shuttle 3. I lost track of how many beeps, but I was wheezing at the end

As I was wheezing, a sergeant said "Die on your own time. Form up"

I forgot how much I missed the suffering
 

Crawdad

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Down South is in Georgia?
Have family living there

That's correct; Fort Benning is just south of Columbus, Georgia; Columbus being right across the Chattahoochee River from Alabama. Fort Benning sort of is for us what Draguignan, Pau and Saumur are for vous-autres; it's where Cavalry, Armor, and Infantry soldiers are trained, and our Airborne school is there.
 

dusaboss

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I don't know how this gonna work. It's not like Taliban is state with one leader respected by all other. It's more like a many local warlords In I doubt US strike deal with everyone of them.
 

Katalmach

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November 30th would be 9 years since I was kicked from the U.S Marines. I head to Ft. Benning in 5 days, to become a U.S Army Infantryman. Feels crazy to look back on everything. Kind of like the last decade of my life is flashing before my eyes. I still think about the Legion sometimes. What an adventure it would have been

I was supposed to ship April 7th. I had promised updates to some people here. The Covid delayed my ship out date until August 11th. I will still come back to say hello. When I return I will finally have my own internet and place to live
 
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