Without the sarcasm, what is the life of a 19D like? Currently I am considering reclassifing and want to know what the deal is?

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 16:26:48 -0400

Please go into detail from field cycles to training and daily schedules if possible?

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 9 at 2016 5:03 PM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 17:03:25 -0400

From what I have experienced working with Cav Scouts, they pretty much do recon and roll into battle on the lighter side of armor. But like any combat arms, they are a crazy tight nit group of Soldiers.

Response by SFC George Smith made Sep 9 at 2016 5:39 PM

SFC George Smith — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 17:39:31 -0400

I knew many Cav Scouts who came over to 18 series from the 19 series... they used to tell many stories of running Recon out in front of the main Body of troops... they were all Close and The Cave Has it own Frat ...

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 9 at 2016 8:18 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 20:18:02 -0400

Lot of pride. But Ben again that all depends on the unit and the leadership. Heavy, airborne, or light cav. There are a million different variables. But expect to conduct lots of reconnaissance and surveillance. And funny hats and Spurs.

Response by SFC James Asbill made Sep 9 at 2016 8:34 PM

SFC James Asbill — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 20:34:40 -0400

Truthfully was some of the most enjoyable time I spent in the military .. Challenging . and lots of information to learn to be good at it .

Response by CPL(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 9 at 2016 8:55 PM

CPL(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 20:55:31 -0400

like everyone has said were super tight nit, especially if you end up in a combined arms battalion you'll be the only scout platoon out of 500-600 people. So those dudes turn into your best friends. Depending how your s3 operates you'll end up doing some pretty fun missions out in the field or you'll be sitting on a screen line for half a day. When your not training its pretty simple. Motor pool mondays making sure the brads, humvee's, MATV's whatever you have work, taking care of your weapon systems, mark 19s, 50 cal, LRSS, and then all the trivial army stuff everybody else has to deal with. Overall it comes to your unit. One unit on hood was terrible, got transfered to another unit and we were doing missions being dropped in by chinooks and blackhawks, going out with jtacs and calling for fire. Final point.. when you get to do your job and train its a hell of a fun time

Response by SGT Dj Nader made Sep 10 at 2016 1:20 AM

SGT Dj Nader — Sat, 10 Sep 2016 01:20:13 -0400

If you like firefights go infantry, if you like sneak and peaking go ahead with scouts. But scouts are not to be seen traditionally, if you are its a firefight. But today's military has changed those rolls for most MOS's. But you do some engineer stuff, like classification of bridges, some demo, like blowing shit up if your unit is high speed, like the 11th ACR was. You can go to sniper school. You spend a lot of time in the field. But if you are on bradleys or strikers then plan on doing vehicle maintenance daily, and other classes daily, like medical training, vehicle identification / aircraft ID from other countries, friendly and not. If your NCO's are Really good, they will teach you how to teach while the classes are going on. And I was lucky that sgt williams, cedric..... was my sqd leader 25 years ago. He believed in cross training every man , for every position, including his , and above his. Best NCO i ever met, even when i re-enlisted after sept 11th. I was allowed to cross train a lot with tankers , mortars, even door gunning classes. But you will get out what you put in. It was a good start , but i went infantry , and beyond.

If you are married , or have children, I say Really think about it, And TALK to your lady, because I seen way too many divorces, etc.. Because If your unit is high speed, you train, train, and train. If they are ok, then you just train. I enjoying learning from Dgt williams, davis, Big mclaughlin, and others, so when i came back in, I always took care of my boys, even to the point of going off on the colonel, because he was so scared , he was getting us into bad positions that got people injured and killed. And i cant Believe I kept my rank , but i don't do stupid. And I do NOT salute in a combat zone.
Anyway way more to it, Hit me up if you want to hear more.
I have order of the combat spur, combat infantryman badge , and my favorite, expert infantryman badge. what ever you do, keep every record , document, and any injury you ever get , get documentation and send it to mom... It helped some of my guys when they got home, and they were glad they listened to the old buck SGT.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 14 at 2016 12:36 AM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 14 Sep 2016 00:36:24 -0400

I served in the Marines and missed the military. Had a new family children. So I went to the recruiter for the state and said I don't won't the money, don't care about the ranks, I just won't some cool toys to play with that is closest to marines. I'm 32 and he said let me make a call to someone . One catch if you enlist with this unit of 139 men who are self supporting you will be mobilized in three months. I look at him said do later or now it's what we do to serve. Let get it over with. When I asked about training he looked.at me and said your served in the Marines it will come back to you. When I landed in Iraq. There were server all guys who served as 19D from Vietnam and many jarhead went into 19D MOS if they went into.the Army. Natural Guard Unit was close to home. We did.everything everyone else does.because you are self sufficient

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 15 at 2016 12:33 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 15 Sep 2016 12:33:02 -0400

Thank you guys for all your replies I really appreciate it.

Response by CPL Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 5 at 2016 10:04 PM

CPL Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 22:04:35 -0400

If ur worried about things like that it's not for you

Response by SGT Ryan Babcock made Oct 7 at 2016 8:46 AM

SGT Ryan Babcock — Fri, 07 Oct 2016 08:46:07 -0400

Light or heavy? Bradley's are tough on the knees & spine, light is even worse on the spine & knees. But having said so, it has some of the lowest pts. For E4(cpl) to E8. & as much as we joke, it's not "more badass" than Ranger, you do use & have to be proficient in all USARMY weapons and systems others than 2 1/2 tons, or M1A1/2(ssp) ect. There is a LOT of ego in Cav. & pride out the wazzoo, but it's not 109% unfounded, from 11bang bang to say fisters(13fox I think is there mos) we garner a lot of respect & admiration, we do what say, & def say what we do(+25BS) with higher IQ's it tends to be a little tough, & used a platform to WO, or green2gold, due to the low 300's pts roughly for NCO. But is a greater place to use to trans into a selection type mos combat contdioller/18G WS, because of the extremely high min standard of mental & physical fitness, witch verys from Cav. troops,& say like a plt of Cav. In an infantry divisions HHC, when like that it's felt & prop. That the plt is a CAV rep. & it helps keep pride & moral up, with normal 290's-300 min pt. your the HHC motor pool & bat. Cleaning bitch, so schools, edu,& mos related are highly sought after & encouraged. Wanting that B4 as a scout is not a teeth pulling like other places.& any selection req. mos 19D tend to fair very well. As an NCO it's little harder, you wanna be buddy buddy, but not cross that frat. Line, where respect & obedience suffers, paper work for days! But it'll keep u outta most formations & outta Tops sight. The joes tend to be a bit wilder & need taming, very few need to be broken, it's a fam. Within a fam., it's not special forces, but the squads ESP. Divided into heavy/light, then say AirB/AirA,then B4 H&K 2man spotter shooter teams ideally are cut one with A,& other with D squad, because ur prob be wrapped into another TF,& now u can safely cut the plt in2,& both be 100% coverage, w/covering dwn skill/job top 2 bottom. Even @ 50% # strength, very few foes ever hit 19D patrol or manned camp & not paid dearly. I look at it like this, if ur going to WAR witch u r, I'd be sure to be the most prepared right? So No weekend warrior(reserve) to start with(so u don't find urself, 3 truck back, & end up in a convoy U turn in red route @ 0dark,with a supply female on a 240B she's never even been to gunnery with) yes even as a 19D on a log pack u can find urself there, LIKE I DID! Lol) so no starting with rweekenders, & u may wanna be a chef,& the army will pay 4 it, but ur going to WAR,& a much bigger one is looming than now,& so now we want the best training,knowledge,& brothers around us, to keep us.& them alive to attend this free college, so combat MOS, 11B ok, nothing bad, but it's like Motrin, or tussin, it's general vague & used as a cure all,& from boxing, advanced marksmanship,to L shape ambushes, B4's, basic pathfinder/Sapper are not under normal req. knowledge & @ min full conprehintion, but delta does,& a lot more. NO, THERE ARE NO SAND BUGGIES like the MOS bs ad film at meeps(like an 80's Seals/Green berets movie. Don't get it twisted tho, it's hard, really hard, I've seen MP's 11B fisters, welder a cooks & truck drivers by the boat load not hack it, it can be a non stop basic training (One Station Unit Trainging, is what 19D go through, no AIt break, or ease up) work day,& that can suck,& be hard on a family. But it can & will save lives, from those who don't hack it, to those privileged & tough enough to endure it. I don't know who u are, what you do,& I'm speaking as if u never deployed & are say a cook as a reservest not to be condescending but to "KISS" it,& PB&J it so no matter who or what, u get a good general feeling of my personal feeling. & Incase you're doing do diligence to make sure I'm not a pogue, or civi poser on here full of bs & lies as we've all seen happen too often online, & in front of us,& it needs to have some light shined on how disrespectful it is when some1 steals valor. All in all any army Combat mos is a great choice, a good starting pt if ur going to make it ur career & life,I choose 19Delta for very personal reasons, & a 133 IQ, & odd age made it very trying at times, but when SHTF down range, I NEVER felt alone,& always knew what needed to happen next, now,& what, who to call on,& that piece of mind, trust, brotherhood faith & dependability in delta for me, was like no other initial army mos/ job, we always say " IF U AINT CAV, U AINT SHIT", not Cav is the best, tops, superior or any other hokey bullshit, but if your gonna be a gunfighter, u damn well better learn from, be next to, rely on,& be cover by at least Cav. In a firefight. No non SF ever were disappointed to see Cav roll up,& every single red bearded donkey fucker knows when Cav. Shows up, there goes the valley, mt. Side, route, hilltop, route, river,& neighborhood. Seals maybe Hollywood, GB, maybe Guerilla insurgency specialists, but there is only one Ferrari @ that's Delta, counterinsurgency gunfighter fucking badass,& 19delta is not delta in any way or shape,& we stand in reverence of them, but we do our damnest not to disrespect that we share that little stupid phonetic letter,& do our damnest to try & aspire to their lvl, learning ,training, representing, executing, accomplishing, all we can awcknowledging & honoring our bigger badass big brother. Cav. Should be gone, think about it, no1 uses horses, 11b use the same trucks,& tracks,& Rangers use all the same gear, plus mandatory RIP & AB. So if your an Air borne, air assault, B4, 19Delta, like some are,& most have an opportunity to be, what need is there to want to be anything else, until you run into ur 1st red tape, no1 can besmirch u for thinking & feeling that way. I apologize this is way too long & too much probably, it's 9am, I've been up since 9pm yesterday,& probably went overboard, but I genially hope I answered ur question,& that you took the time to go thought this all, I tried to put in good laughs, lighthearted slants of other MOS's, mock haters, respect & honor my brothers,& shine a light on what I firmly believe is a group of unsung heroes when not stifled out of ignorance by command. Please feel free to contact me again, although you probably won't out of fear of a novel erupting from a simple yes/no requested personal observation.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 25 at 2016 8:53 AM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 08:53:02 -0400

MY feeling is this: if you're not bred CAV, there's something that's lost in translation. Not saying you won't be successful by any means. If you're soft as marshmallow fluff, complain about the rain, don't like to be cold, sweaty, or dirty- do something else.

Response by SP5 Steven Dale made Nov 16 at 2016 9:57 AM

SP5 Steven Dale — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 09:57:30 -0500

Daily...vehicle maintenance inventory sweep the motor pool, prepare for the field...goto the field.. recover from the field....get vehicles ready for the field. Hip pocket training if you have someone who cares about that stuff.

Response by SP5 Steven Dale made Nov 16 at 2016 9:57 AM

SP5 Steven Dale — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 09:57:59 -0500

Probably in the field half the year.

Response by SP5 Steven Dale made Nov 16 at 2016 9:58 AM

SP5 Steven Dale — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 09:58:46 -0500

I was only heavy, at the time we had M3a2 and woodland camo, so might not be the best info.

Response by SGT Scott Henderson made Dec 8 at 2016 2:35 PM

SGT Scott Henderson — Thu, 08 Dec 2016 14:35:06 -0500

It's the same as any other unit with the added benefit of getting to shoot some of the biggest guns you'll ever see.

Response by PFC Dallas Crawford made Dec 20 at 2016 12:37 PM

PFC Dallas Crawford — Tue, 20 Dec 2016 12:37:36 -0500

There is only one proper response. If you ain't Cav.....

Response by SSG Michael Montgomery made Dec 21 at 2016 12:49 PM

SSG Michael Montgomery — Wed, 21 Dec 2016 12:49:17 -0500

I have been a Scout for about 9 years. I reclassed back in 08'. I have made some of my strongest bonds with my fellow scouts. We are literally family. Probably my best military decision was to switch MOS

Response by SPC Derrick Brown made Jan 13 at 2017 12:10 PM

SPC Derrick Brown — Fri, 13 Jan 2017 12:10:02 -0500

Did some time as a puking chicken, and it was the best time of my life. You get access to some fun toys and do stuff you'd never imagine doing in a million years. Everyone else has laid out the basic routine. It's the easiest non-conventional force to get into in the army. And if you maybe want to take that further, the door is wide open for you to go to all sorts of high speed schools, if your unit decides to gift you with a slot. But it's a lot of work. But most scouts play as hard as they work. So be prepared for that. Many scout traditions revolve around alcohol. Ok. Rambled enough. Hope I didn't dissuade you.

Response by PFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 24 at 2017 5:20 AM

PFC Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 24 Jan 2017 05:20:09 -0500

It's not bad, it all depends on your unit and how you s3 operates, the leadership takes a big part too depending on how they treat you and the shitty details everyone gets put on

Response by SPC Justin Spc made Jun 9 at 2017 7:49 PM

SPC Justin Spc — Fri, 09 Jun 2017 19:49:24 -0400

19d are a good, tight, solid bunch of guyz. Life consits of being the eyes and ears of the army. We run convoy support, reacon, house to house searches, patrols and s&d. down time consists of pt alil free time and waiting for orders, and motor pool work.i loved 19d out now and miss it at times. Give it a go dont think ull be disapointed. What is ur current mos?

Response by Will Wood made Dec 21 at 2017 11:03 PM

Will Wood — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 23:03:55 -0500

What is time off like. Meaning family time. I'm 31 considering this but also have wife and kids to think about. Do you have to live on base for this MOS? Thanks in advance, sorry if already been amswered.

Response by SSG Sammie Brown made Jan 19 at 2018 2:10 PM

SSG Sammie Brown — Fri, 19 Jan 2018 14:10:12 -0500

It is a great job and you will get some of the best train the Army has to offer ......on the battle field your chances are great that you will survive due to your training........and yes it is a very dangerous job but you are given the right tools....... Scouts Out.........

Response by PFC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 18 at 2019 7:30 PM

PFC Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 18 Dec 2019 19:30:45 -0500

Its fun because we think before going into battle. I'm glad I picked this MOS over any other. Just be prepared for some real tough times tho