(Part 2) Top products from r/army

If you have an Option 40 contract I'm assuming you have read Sua Sponte by Dick Couch. If not, pick up a digital version on Amazon for cheap $. http://www.amazon.com/Sua-Sponte-Forging-Modern-American/dp/0425253600

Or even better, sign up for an audible account for free, get a free credit to get this book, cancel before 30 days. https://mobile.audible.com/search.htm?type=search&cache=1&keywords=Sua+Sponte

How much time until you ship?

Regarding your ruck: a gallon of water weighs 8.3 lbs.

Start out lighter than 45 lbs and gradually build up and you are unlikely to get hurt. Same goes for speed. Long strides, pump your arms. At RASP I imagine they will pretty much have you running with rucks at some point, but if you start out doing that now you are definitely going to get hurt.

As a recruiter I had a very high success rate of 18x's getting selected at SFAS. One of the things I worried about for them was getting into incredible shape before basic and then losing some of that fitness during the 14 weeks of OSUT. It's important that during basic you really really push yourself. It's easy to sham out of a few push-ups because you know the Drill can't see you between bunks, or skip a few reps of flutter kicks, but that shamming will come back to bite you a few months later at RASP. Push yourself during every event in basic and use as much of your free time to keep working. Free time during basic is tough to find so I would recommend skipping letter writing time and instead get a quick hard workout in.

I like the hula hoop idea.

My go to suggestion is a copy of Basic Training for Dummies with Air Force Confetti between the pages and a Marine Corps bookmark marking Chapter 22: Ten Ways to Make Your Drill Instructor Happy.

And make sure to address it using Navy Rank. They love that shit.

Im telling you man something like this is too easy to hook up:



https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007SLDDHQ/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_awd_n2QGwb9AG3AS6


Power access in the field is second only to tobacco access insofar as bartering is concerned.

A good book on this phenomena (The Marshall System) is "The Generals" by Tom Ricks
https://www.amazon.com/Generals-American-Military-Command-World/dp/0143124099

http://www.amazon.com/BESTEK-1000w-Inverter-Supply-MRI10011-1/dp/B007SLDDHQ/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1462292450&sr=8-12&keywords=power+inverter+for+car

A power inverter for his Abrams. He can charge all of his electronics and goodies. Don't get this particular one; I'm sure there are cheaper ones you can find.

I also recommend reading this

http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Wars-Afghanistan-Invasion-September/dp/0143034669

It's a very in depth book about the history of Afghanistan, US, an Pakistan relations. It's not really a light read but it's also not a light subject.

> username

A low asvab score isn't your only issue apparently. Step one is stop smoking. Get an ASVAB study guide and take it seriously, I used this one and did great on the ASVAB.

Here you go.

Break yoself: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0190229233/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=

MAKE. IT. HAPPEN.

get some of this.

https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Tiger-Energy-Drink-8-3oz/dp/B009M6W5UQ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Wild Tiger

http://www.amazon.com/Chickenhawk-Robert-Mason/dp/0143035711

In addition to what /u/JustDoc said, buy this and read it. It is about the Rangers, their role, and their selection process.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0425253600

I need this.

Afghanistan: A Military History from Alexander the Great to the War against the Taliban

Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001

The Middle East Then and Now: The History of Israel, Iran, Syria and Afghanistan

A Journey through Afghanistan

Holy shit, it's real.

Read this book: https://www.amazon.com/Subtle-Art-Not-Giving-Counterintuitive/dp/0062457713

Practice, you’ll get better with time. I approach every task I’m given the same way: I do my best at it, and if I fail then I learn what I’m not good at. That tells me what to work on for the next time I do it. You can get a lot of self development done that way.

Fake it till you make it man. Soldiers look at you and see an NCO. If you try to project what you think they should be seeing, then eventually you’ll get used to acting that way and it will become normal. Nobody has access to the inside of your head but you, it’s okay to be nervous or freak out to yourself, but what you project outwardly is what counts.

Koran Kalashnikov and Laptop: The Neo-Taliban Insurgency in Afghanistan 2002-2007 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199326355/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Pw6rzbGW39TW2

War, Politics and Society in Afghanistan, 1978-1992 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0878407588/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_lx6rzb509WDTW

Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan 1979-89 https://www.amazon.com/dp/019983265X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_dz6rzbDMP6KG2

No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War through Afghan Eyes https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GVRVAXM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_VB6rzbJ0EBR87

The Afghan Campaign: A Novel https://www.amazon.com/dp/0767922387/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_WC6rzbEDZ3B3Z

Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History (Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691154414/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_jD6rzb6MQ4J2N

"Hell in a Very Small Place" taught me how insane they were in Vietnam. They had guys make there first Airborne jump, into an encircled DZ. Like holy shit.

Also made you appreciate how good of a general Giap was. One of the best books about a battle I've ever read. The author sadly died in Vietnam when he was reporting on the American effort there.

https://www.amazon.com/Hell-Very-Small-Place-Siege/dp/030681157X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1538095807&sr=8-1&keywords=hell+in+a+very+small+place

While the practice ASVABs the recruiters use can be woefully limited compared to the real asvab...I'm going to say no. If you're scoring a 25 on the practice, I think you'd be hardpressed to get a 50 on the actual.

You might find prep courses and tutors locally to you. You should also be able to go to your local bookstore and grab some ASVAB study guides. They will generally contain practice tests.

Don't just go and bomb on the ASVAB. You can do the first retest within 1 month. But subsequent retakes have longer minimum retest periods. You don't want to put yourself in the position where you barely missed out, and now yuo have to wait at least 6 months for your next retest. Do yourself the favor, grab a study book.

EDIT: And stop doing drugs.

Second EDIT: Here's my recommended.

http://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-ASVAB-Premier-Practice-Tests/dp/1625231385/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450722303&sr=8-1&keywords=asvab+study+guide+2015-2016#reader_1625231385

Has multiple full practice tests.

Here what I've picked up
On War by Clausewitz

MCDP 1 Warfighting

FMFRP 12-18 Mao Tse-tung on Guerrilla Warfare

FMFRP 12-13 Maneuver in War

On Grand Strategy

The Art of War by Baron De Jomini

Just and Unjust Wars (apparently it's on the Commandant's reading list too)

Soviet Military Operational Art: In Pursuit of Deep Battle

Out of the Mountains: The Coming Age of the Urban Guerrilla

Seapower: A Guide for the Twenty-First Century

The Bear Went Over the Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics in Afghanistan

Blitzkrieg to Desert Storm: The Evolution of Operational Warfare

Why Air Forces Fail: The Anatomy of Defeat

Deep Maneuver: Historical Case Studies of Maneuver in Large-Scale Combat Operations (Volume 5)

JP-1 Doctrine for the Armed Forces of the United States

DoD Law of War Manual

The Soviet Army: Operations and Tactics

Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS

Napoleonic Warfare: The Operational Art of the Great Campaigns

The Air Force Way of War: U.S. Tactics and Training after Vietnam

Strategy: A History

LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media

The Utility of Force: The Art of War in the Modern World

MCTP 3-01C Machine Guns and Machine Gun Gunnery

Man, the State, and War: A Theoretical Analysis

The U.S. Army in the Iraq War – Volume 1: Invasion – Insurgency – Civil War, 2003-2006

The U.S. Army in the Iraq War – Volume 2: Surge and Withdrawal, 2007-2011

Illusions of Victory: The Anbar Awakening and the Rise of the Islamic State

Concrete Hell: Urban Warfare From Stalingrad to Iraq

The American Way of War: A History of United States Military Strategy and Policy

Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime

This is all I can name off the top of my head right now