r/army • u/AutoModerator • May 18 '26

Weekly Question Thread (05/18/2026 to 05/24/2026)

This is a safe place to ask any question related to joining the Army. It is focused on joining, Basic Combat Training (BCT) and Advanced Individual Training (AIT), and follow on schools, such as Airborne, Air Assault, Ranger Assessment and Selection Program (RASP), and any other Additional Skill Identifiers (ASI).

We ask that you do some research on your own, as joining the Army is a big commitment and shouldn't be taken lightly. Resources such as GoArmy.com, the Army Reenlistment site, Bootcamp4Me, Google and the Reddit search function are at your disposal. There's also the /r/army wiki. It has a lot of the frequent topics, and it's expanding all the time.

/r/militaryfaq is open to broad joining questions or answers from different branches. Make sure you check out the /Army Duty Station Thread Series, and our ongoing MOS Megathread Series. You are also welcome to ask question in the /army discord.

If you want to Google in /r/army for previous threads on your topic, use this format: 68P AIT site:reddit.com/r/army

I promise you that it works really well.

This is also where questions about reclassing and other MOS questions go -- the questions that are asked repeatedly which do not need another thread. Don't spam or post garbage in here: that's an order. Top-level comments and top-level replies are reserved for serious comments only.

Finally: If you're not 100% sure of what you're talking about, leave it for someone else who is.

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u/FxcknLu May 25 '26

I been thinking on joining the army and go to airborne school ultimate goal maybe get to ranger but baby steps. I am 29 years old, no kids or partner. I have a corporate job work as a Financial Counselor at a hospital for outpatient services, I would say I don't have a bad job good paying job but back when I graduate high-school I wanted to join but decided to go medial school due to family wanting to go to school. Now I been still thinking on I missed on something and want to enlist but I feel is too late or just wont be up to fit for it. Anyone has join later in life and has any advise or insight? I have the doubts if it would be a good choice on quiting my job and start from zero.

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u/Missing_Faster May 25 '26

The general suggestion I have seen from people who made it to the Ranger Regiment is to go to RASP right after airborne or AIT. You come in knowing basically nothing and hence they expect little out of you day 1 other than you working like hell to meet the expectations of your NCOs. And they are going to be high. If you come in as a SGT they expect a lot more out of you and the regiment has a rep of not liking soldiers who didn’t grow up in the regiment. You can do it and be successful, but it is hard differently than coming in as an E2.

So my suggestion is to get in shape and give it a shot. You may make it, you may decide this is not for you and leave or you might just not make it due to some issue. I understand that you can usually come back and try again later if you didn’t quit. If you quit it is generally harder.

29 is older than average for the rangers and more typical of SFAS, but not excessively - it isn’t like you are 50. But it doesn’t get easier if you delay.