Your word comprehension and math scores are strugglin', my guy. If you plan to retake the test, here are some tips:

• Your local library has a series of books that allow you to learn SAT words in context by reading Young Adult novels with the vocabulary woven in. Here is a link to the Sparknotes website. One popular title is called Busted.
  
  
• For the math portion, it's very fortunate that all of the math covered in the ASVAB is taught in high school level Algebra 1. Most people take this in Freshman year, so you're probably rusty. Khan Academy has an awesome series of intuitive and easy to understand lectures for free!
  
  If you need any more help, feel free to comment or PM me. I've helped several friends practice for their ASVAB and develop study guides based the areas they need improvement. For reference, I got a 97 on my ASVAB.

Papi Brazilian trunks. Changed my fuckin life. Durable, comfortable, and affordable. If you’re a briefs guy or a guy that needs support because of your equipment, these things are great.

There’s some really expensive underwear out there, and if I hadn’t found these joints I maybe would have shelled out the dough to test drive them.

But I did find them and they’re fantastic. I replace them about once a year. Best value in underwear I’ve ever found: all-day support, ample “package space”, non-wedgie-inducing, soft and durable material, etc.

I have gone to numerous field problems and also deployed with these drawers. They are the real deal.

Edit: just so you’re aware these wear like briefs. The photo is a bit misleading. Brazilian trunks are to briefs what Brazilian bikinis are to swimsuits: smaller than you think. They do not cover a straight line across your legs if that’s the look you’re going for. They are briefs for all intents and purposes. I’m just using their company’s nomenclature.

Still the best drawers for the money I’ve ever found.

Most people start out on the CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) certification. It's important to keep in mind that this is just Cisco's version of networking, but it's good basic introduction.Todd Lammle's book (https://www.amazon.com/CCNA-Routing-Switching-Study-Guide/dp/1118749618) is a good place to start. Jeremy Ciora has a good video based program called CBT Nuggets to start in CCNA (https://www.cbtnuggets.com/certification-playlist/cisco/56440).

While you are doing that, download GNS3. (https://www.gns3.com/software). This will let you get hands on and start configuring stuff and let you actually program virtual routers and switches and actual follow along with your lessons. You'll have to get router images to use. Some are free, some have to be "found".

After you've gone through the lessons and done a lot of hands on, go to your local Pearson Vue test center (there is generally one on every base) and take your CCNA exam. It's like $250-300. All in, you'll probably be around $400.

So being commo I know some good gifts for us nerds. I know you are going to spend some time making cables, so check this shit out RJ-45's that let you pull the wires though the RJ45. Well now that you got that, might as well buy the crimper with a cutting edge designed for those RJ-45's. I keep the Crimpers in a old PRC-127 radio pouch for easy attachment to my gear if needed too.

If you wanna feel like a cool guy with a gerber, but also need to run some cables? Well we got the Gerber Cable Dawg. Great thing about this thing is it has MAN's for you to get that supply guy who you have been nice too order them and comes with a MOLLE pouch to attach to your gear.

• UCP: 5110-01-598-2253
  
• Coyote Brown: 5110-01-598-2254
  
• MultiCam: 5110-01-598-2248

Vacuum bags are great acceptable for when you're leaving home, but it's pretty rare to have a vacuum on deployment when you're trying to pack to come home. Regardless, space bags aren't that great. Even the ones with a one-way vent are trash; they'll quickly fill back up with air. These compression sacks have been priceless for me and the one-way vent truly works, while keeping out moisture. They're more expensive, but you get what you pay for.

Other items: Ear plugs, anything you like to use that can't be shipped overseas due to safety restrictions (for me, I like a quality alcohol-based aftershave, which can't be shipped), baby wipes, your own pillow/linen if you can fit them in your bags, and a padlock/combination lock (for any time you're in transit for a little bit in Kuwait or some other hub and you have to store your bags in cages outside).

/u/wahtisthisidonteven has recovered nicely from his crack addiction yesterday, and has already given you some of the best advice ever;

You protect that TS clearance with your god damn soul. Shit is worth a nice chunk of change. Don't fuck with it. Don't hop the Mexican border with your buddies and get stuck in Tijuana. Don't fuck the girls from the International Officers Intel Center thing. Don't do drugs. Just don't do anything stupid.

I would recommend you brush up on your basic math (and electronics) if you can. If you can go in with a good understanding at an Algebra/Trig level, the math won't be too hard on you.

I'm going to be honest, if you got something like this and could wire strip, crimp and work a bread board, you will coast the first 3 months.

But really, brush up on basic math, and look at some basic, basic electronics books. Shit, are you familiar with Snap Circuits? If you don't like to read, go pick yourself up a Snap Circuits kit. It will teach you the basics of circuits and batteries, and you will learn the symbols for power/ground/resistor/induction/capacitor, etc.

You will be staring down the barrel at an easy, easy associate's degree pickup. You will need to fill in some Gen Ed credits, and boom, you'll pick this up from AIT.

So here's what you should do; go look at those Gen Ed requirements, and if you have no college, fucking do some now. Go to the Ed Center, and CLEP what you can! Clep for comp / eng comp and some liberal arts shit. You can distance enroll in cochise college now with TA usage, and start on the General Ed for the degree!

Questions?

Zain FTW!

https://www.amazon.com/Huawei-E5577Cs-321-Mobile-Hotspot-globally/dp/B011YM0OXU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1524888341&sr=8-2&keywords=huawei+hotspot

this is the best investment you will ever make in your life when you deploy, also you won't be losing money cause you'll sell it right off the bat when you're leaving. Get in contact with any contractor or any dude working in ASG-KW (DIS Office is your best bet) and ask the dude working on the off post housing gig to get you a zain sim card that you'll pay cash, (was 20$ back in 2015 so it might be 30$
40$ ish?) they got plans of 100GB of data a month for 25$ at LTE speeds which are legit tho. If you stay on Arifjan you're gucci, if you're at beuhring, rip! good luck.

I love threads like this! Many great books already recommended, but I haven't seen one of my favorites yet. Here's the best translation I know of:

Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War

One of the earliest texts in Western history which looks at warfare and politics from a very scientific lens, Thucydides' work is often referenced as a landmark work in the fields of history, warfare, and political science. Thucydides, a disgraced Athenian general, looks deep into the reasons for the thirty year long conflict that devastated the Greek world and left both the major powers - Athens and Sparta - far weaker than when they began. He looks into the motivations and reasonings behind the players involved, both large and small, and contained within the work are several classic case studies: First is the Melian Dialogue, a case study of why it is often impossible to remain neutral in large wars, and second is the Sicilian Expedition, an example of how great powers can find themselves mired in faraway, barely-relevant conflicts that cost only increasing amounts of wealth and manpower to maintain. This second one is especially relevant to many American strategists in the later 20th and 21st centuries, coming off the heels of Vietnam and the GWOT. Truly a work well worth anyone's time.

If videos are more to your liking, or you just want some commentary on a fairly dense tome, the Yale professor and Thucydides scholar Donald Kagan has an excellent series of YouTube videos on Greek history which includes extensive coverage of the Peloponnesian War. The playlist is available here.

If you're into general military strategy with an eye towards the politics of war less than the tactics, it's well worth looking at Masters of War: History's Greatest Strategic Thinkers, a Great Courses lecture(no, I'm not being paid to plug this unfortunately) by a Naval War College professor. It delves into the big names in military strategy including Thucydides, Sun Tzu, Machiavelli, Alfred Thayer Mahan, and so forth. Very much worth your time.

Finally, the old-ish documentary War with Gwynne Dyer is a fantastic series producing during the Cold War about that conflict and warfare in general. Again, very highly recommended.

Finally, you may want to check out the subreddit r/warcollege. It's not a huge sub by any means, but the mods do a great job at keeping the discussions smart.

It's May dude, it's not going to get that cold.

Where are you that you'll be that cold?

I wouldn't use a mylar blanket because that might get noisy if you move around in your sleep. You could always get something like this for the inside of your sleep system but you'll probably get super hot. Like other people said, sleep system and woobie should be good.

Personally I like a thermarest sleeping pad.

"Flashlight" is a common and good idea, but i'd recommend a badass flashlight accessory. One of the little things I loved having the most on deployment was a flip up blue light filter. One like this should fit any tactical flashlight your brother in law takes with him. They've got em in red, too.

Solar Shields yo. The kind that you'd see a geriatric wearing as he runs you over in the Denny's parking lot in his Lincoln/Cadillac.

I wear prescription glasses and seldom wear the ones that Army gives you. I prefer Wayfarers from Zenni or Payne Glasses. Firmoo is good too. Sometimes I like to wear aviator style eyeglasses that will ensure I never get asked to attend another FRG meeting again. It's funny, aviator sunglasses; cool as can be. Aviator eyeglasses; somebody call John Walsh. If John Walsh is too old for you, call Chris Hansen.

https://www.amazon.com/Solar-Shield-Thunderbird-Polarized-Sunglasses/dp/B00IFULOH0

Yes I wear them in uniform. Yes, I take them off if an NCO, particularly one I don't know or one not in my platoon tells me to. Surprisingly, I went through an entire JRTC rotation wearing them as sunglasses and never wearing real eyepro. Nobody said a damn thing

I passed the SIFT pretty easily because I bought this study guide.
http://www.amazon.com/Military-Flight-Aptitude-Petersons-Master/dp/076891700X

I later realized it is available on pdf for FREE right here.
http://afrotc.unt.edu/sites/default/files/MilitaryFlight.pdf

Like u/shouldercl0d stated, there are 7 sections on the test. All 7 types of questions are included in this study guide, however some of them are in the Air Force/Navy/Marine Corps sections, not the Army one since this was written when the AFAST was around. Have a general knowledge of Army Aviation terms. What is a OH-58 or a CH-47 etc...

Good Luck, if you have any questions fire away

At lot of these points might be pretty obvious.

1. Speaking the medical language.
   

   It's great when you radio to me at 0300 because someone has got a “cut their face” but I don't know if that means he needs sutures, a shaving profile or a medical evacuation.
   

   
   

2. Be a tactical leader.
   

   You should be able to manipulate, at least, a fire team element. In today's asymmetrically world, a ground commander won't have 100% visibility of the battlefield. You should have the knowledge and know-how to direct those around you should you need defense and know what weapons systems they have, how effective they are and how to employ them to their full potential.
   

   
   

3. Have tactical flexibility.
   

   Don't be a speed bump on your unit's road to success. You're a really important control to minimizing risks in a lot of situations for leaders when they fill out their CRM.
   

   
   

   Various Medical Advice
   

   SOAP Notes: If you haven't written hundreds of them then you aren't any good at writing them. Also, nothing infuriates me more than when a junior medic dumps a patient off at my doorstep without a written or verbal hand off and I have to guess what treatments he received.
   

   
   

   Verbal hand-off: The mnemonic I use is VIETNAM. Vitals, injuries sustained, estimated blood loss, treatments given, name of patient, allergies, medications administered. There's plenty out there. Use what you like.
   

   
   

   Rapid Neruo Exam. Master this shit.
   

   
   

   Glasgow Coma Scale: The battlefield version of the rapid neuro exam.
   

   
   

   Rules of 10s, Parkland Burn Formula, etc. There are a bunch of these fluid resuscitation formulas floating around. Rule of 10s is easiest to remember. If you are doing long term fluid resuscitation, consult your PA.
   

   
   

   Sports Medicine. Simply knowing how to identify a sprain/strain over a more serious injury in the field saves everyone a lot of time. Taping ankles and shoulders will also make you a favorite, there are instructional videos on youtube.
   

   
   

   Dietary considerations. There's plenty of reading to be done here. Harvard has a good guide to dietary science. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004INHD00

60/120s like others have talked about, but I would also suggest buying a sports breathing doo-dad like this

I used this just chilling in my Barracks Room playing computer games and it helped my breathing out a lot for runs. Once you build that capacity and lung strength, it made learning how to get a breathing routine while running down easier.

The general consensus here is to study.
Pick up some literature and start going through it, find someone else with interests in medicine and it'll be much easier on you to study together.
https://www.amazon.com/Emergency-Care-Transportation-Injured-Orange/dp/1284032841
If you are a fan and/or have long commutes start listening to some relevant material. EMCrit is a solid source to learn from.
https://emcrit.org/

Best of luck

I bought a rucksack on Amazon for like 70$ second hand.

http://www.knox.army.mil/partners/lrc/docs/ocie_price_list.pdf

This OCIE list says big Army will charge you 75$ for it. Search Amazon for a better price.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0046QT4BA/ref=sr_1_3_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1462152916&sr=8-3&keywords=army+rucksack&condition=used

These are running as low as 50$. Good luck.

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.

I recommended he read them so what do you think they are? Google is your friend.

http://www.amazon.com/Get-Selected-Special-Forces-Successfully/dp/0975355279

http://www.amazon.com/Chosen-Soldier-Making-Special-Warrior/dp/0307339394/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463092494&sr=1-1&keywords=chosen+soldier

Chosen Soldier is a must read if you're curious.

Do you not know how to google?

https://www.amazon.com/Chosen-Soldier-Making-Special-Warrior/dp/0307339394

https://www.amazon.com/Get-Selected-Special-Forces-Successfully/dp/0975355279

https://www.shadowspear.com - mentor program