Since i was a kid i have always wanted to fight the forces of evil. I have alwasy respected and idolised australian special forces and ASIO(anything that is in that field) I have been thinking alot about the direct entry scheme for the special forces. i think that iam a very determined person who is capable of being very fit as i do a variety of sport(rugby,taekwondo, muai thai kick boxing) of sport, and i have seen myself at a high level of fitness. im only 15 at the moment, and i swear i think about special forces everyday. i cant stop reading books "the truth behind bravo two zero", about terrorism and the motives behind al-queada etc. I love it all. But im not sure if i think about it to much, and trying to prepare to early. Also i go to a very academic school, so its tough. im really anxious, i know its a long while away, cause i gota be 19 to sign up for the scheme. I'm really just asking, what are the right reason to want to join, and what kind of person do u have to be at heart for all that kind of stuff? i think ur mind is the essesnse to it. Like i dont no, i get pissed off easy is that a good thing etc.?


sorry about the length of the question hope someone can answer it, or understand what im asking?


Mod edit.

Just to start this thread off on a high point. Read this quote. It's solid gold information.

That would be the DSD, DIO, ASIS and the DGIO. Of those DSD is the most heavily funded but least known. Welcome to the AIC.


The best things you can do at this age is this - focus on your studies and finish year 12. Recruiters will respect and respond to someone better if they are well spoken and appear switched on. Focus on your fitness as well - especially running. Take the running slow at first, very slow and if you feel pain in your shins stop and restart slower when you have healed. Take in some books about the world and how countries relate to one another. finally, think about what you would want to do if you couldn't do SF. Have a back-up plan. Always have a back-up plan! dont plan on getting into the SFDRS when you're 18. Feel free to join at this stage, especially the reserves while going to uni or doing a trade. Applying after having some experience is a tried and true method of succeeding.

DigRAR raised a good point below. Plan on joining first and then applying for SF.

Taekwondo, is the basis for kicking, if u havent done taekwondo from a young age, it is alot harder to have a good foundation for kicking. i admit it is all abit fancy sometimes and lacks toughness, but if u combine toughness and taekwondo, do some other martial arts, u become bloody lethal. And taekwondo is good for flexibility, which mean less injures in anything u do.

And in my first question i was really asking if u knew what kind of mind and personality, ppl in the special forces have? what types of ppl are they? are they cool headed, aggressive, and why do they do it, what drives them? cause thats pretty important id expect.

thanks for the advice u gave me on a back up plan, dad always says the exact same thing but its hard when its like ur dream. So you reckon its alot better to go through the army to gain experience before attempting the entry test? Do you have alot of time to train physically in the regualr army??

you're dad sounds like an experienced and wise man - listen to him.

Im not saying that the SFDRS is better than Army first then SF application, or vice versa. I would suggest however that the SFDRS may not be around when you're ready to join. be prepared for that.

As far as the phsychological aspects of applicants goes, perhaps a study by Braun, DE; WK Prusaczyk, HW Goforth Jr., & NC Pratt would help. :



The same would probably apply for Aus SF candidates - well balanced, stable, confident, phsycologicaly well rounded etc....

dont worry too much now about getting into SF at this time, i have just finiched all the tests and rigmoral of applying for SFDRS. Make sure you finish school with good marks and keep up the physical training. i got my letter to say i was accepted. You seem to be on the right track, i have played sport all my life and i do kickboxing as well. So just keep concentrating on your school get good marks and keep doing sport, being a team player is a big thing in the military.

If I were you I would look at getting some sort of skill under my belt before getting too wrapped up in the SF world. There are countless washed up infantrymen in their 30's and 40's who are physically broken from too many years of walking too far and carrying too much who have no skills outside the army (aside from the recent increase in private security firms).
Whether you choose to pick up a trade in the army such as a sparky or go and do a uni degree, make sure you get some skills early so you have something to fall back on when your times up. A buggerd back is common place even amongst blokes in their early 20's so you are best to set yourself up early while you can incase you are unfortunate to be one of the unlucky ones.
From what I've seen of cadets, I reckon that would put me off joining the army, just getting yelled at by 14 year olds and doing endless drill lessons. Don't get me wrong, a lot of people enjoy it but it is not really what the army is all about, particulary the Infantry. It is worth thinking about joining the Reserves during your year 12 when you should be about 17. You time commitment is up to you and it gives you a bit of an idea about what to expect from army life.
As far as SFDRS goes, most of the blokes last year were on average around 24 years of age and had a university background. There was somewhere around 1600 applicants with 80 odd finally arriving at 4RAR. This is not really because it is such a tough thing to achieve, just that a lot of people have second thoughts after submitting applications or find once beginning training they were more interested in the image of the job rather than the hard dirty work it is all about. It is vitally important if you embark on your goldern road that you are absolutely clear in your own mind that you eventually want to end up doing extremly tough work day in day out under pressure rather than just creating an image of someone who you thought was cool in a movie or book you read. A lot of people desire the image of being a glory boy but soon realise it is not what they really wanted.
Also be aware there have been many successful applicants from the Reserve on the recent SASR Selection Courses and 4 RAR Courses so this is a good method to use if you choose to obtain some sort of skill prior to enlisting full time. I know what it feels like to just want to get in there and get started but in the long run you are definetly better off setting yourself up. The SF will be around for a long time so there's no rush.

thanks mate that was good advice again, i think the reserves sound like a good option, and uni is definately something i wana do, so yeh, thanks uve made the road alot clearer for me, and about joing for the right reasons, i think thats so true about the image.

ive always felt as though i dont mind physical pain, but id hate to end up in an office job, living my life like a normal person. But i dont no till i do it aye, i'll be interested to c how i go i the future, cause i have this expectation about myself now, and to back down would be impossible, cause theres not one day i dont think bout it, when i train or do a test, i feel like the army is why im doing it. haha. Man i got my own dog tags, an i feel motivated when i train with it, im pretty into it, so yeh i defiantely need option B if i have set myself to a level i cannot make. Once again thank you.

but you can go from regular army reserves to sasr selection, also from techie to sasr selection/cdo selection. they dont like it but you can do it. so why would sigs f*** your chance?

"Despite the high pass rate, which saw a Digger of 20 and a 37-year-old Reservist make it through, Porky was not too happy."

http://www.defence.gov.au/news/armynews ... ture02.htm


I don't know if its jumping subject~ so why would sigs f*** up your chance? i'm not really sure, but thats just my 2cents.


-hyperx

I believe that the special forces direct entry scheme is a good thing to have. As it does get a few more people putting their hands up for service in the army. The quailty of trooper might not be as high as someone who has done time in the scrub, (be it Infantry, adg or other). But if they prove themselves a quality trooper why not keep the scheme. Possibly do one or two platoons a year. As for the guys who go in this way and are weeded out I have heard they are shipping them off to the RAR's to bolster numbers.

But then again this is coming from a guy who thinks our military forces are much to small and need a big increase.

hey hey, just giving you all an update on what happened on my interview.

it went...erhmm shit

had the medical and everything, that went absolutely great~ then i had my pysc test, she ripped me apart, asking why i had no dad, what was the reason, why why why. asking asking me the actual start and finish date of EVERYTHING that had happened to me, like cadets, scouts, major events. i couldnt actaully remember i could guess the year and maybe the month, but that wasnt good enough! then she wanted to know what my relationship with my family was like, i said "yeah its not too bad". because it isnt too bad, its not the best though. hell she wanted to know every detail, ones i didnt even know. she was sure i was hiding something, but i wasnt!

so at this stage i was thinking hell im not I have the vocabulary of a bogan who dropped out in year 9 and the word I was looking for was "going to" pass this, then she asked if i have a criminal record, i said "no, well not technically" she was like WHAT WHAT WHAT! i had told her what it was (b&e) and that i was 17 when it happened, no charges where pressed and that my lawyer and the police said that this will not be on my record, at all! and it will not stop me getting a job.

when i told the pysc this she went off, and she said that it is on your records and that this is baddddd.

next step - the interview.

went in for the interview was told that i wasnt cdo stuff, which i accepted. the he went on interviewing me for about 30mins then i too told him about this record and then about 5minutes after he closed the interview, i waited outside, came back in, was told that now i have to wait another year for the juvinille case to be dropped and then i can reapply, when i told him what my lawyer said, he said it did not matter now, and since he knows this he cant let me through.

this is bs.

guess i have to wait it out then well more study time and pt time for me :)


-hyperx
(written somewhat fast so bare with it :) )