You're listening to the Ones Ready podcast, a team of Air Force Special Operators forged in combat with over 70 years of combined operational experience as well as a decade of selection instructor experience. If you're tired of settling and you want to do something, you truly believe in, you're in the right place. Now here's your host, PJ team leader, Jiu Jitsu lover, meme enthusiast, and Dad joke aficionado, Aaron Love.
Aaron:What's up everybody? Welcome to another slice of podcast heaven. Here, we are in the team room, the Ones Ready podcast. We heard all of the requests, we got all the DMs, we saw all the comments, we've gotten all of the direct messages from all of the platforms. We're finally gonna knock it out for you today. Cross-training, being a cross-trainee and getting into the pipeline and what does that look like? I can't say that Peaches isn't here because he got disciplined by Brian and he's on the bench for one podcast. That's definitely not the reason. It's not because he's sick and he completely lost his voice. It might be because he got disciplined, but we'll handle that a little bit later. A couple of housekeeping notes. Brian, if you want to tell people about that later, go ahead. But, yeah no big deal. Check the YouTube channel for the downfall of Chief Peaches. Just some housekeeping notes. We want to start off, I want to talk about, Alpha Brew Coffee Company a little bit. It's a veteran owned LEO operated coffee companies, single source, never blended. The beans are always fresh. You can see from the stories and you can see from everything that we do, it's always got that fresh bloom that pour over is just delicious. It's got the newer nootropic that helps me get going, especially in the morning. My friends know I'm not a morning person, but get me a big cup of Alpha Brew Coffee, get my brain firing on all cylinders and you feel great. If you're not in the DoD or you don't intend to be in the DoD, they make a great CBD coffee. Remember can't take it if you're inside the DoD. So that's a hard line. But if you guys want the best possible coffee and nootropics out there, go over to Alpha Brew Coffee, use code ONESREADY at checkout and you're going to get 15% off and they're going to know that we push you over that way. So I'm getting another bag of it today. Another gift pack is going out from the meme war that we did and they're getting their own Alpha Brewed Coffee. So check them out. Alphabrewcoffee.com, ONESREADY code at checkout. You're going to get that 15% off. You guys got any inputs for Alpha Brew Coffee?
Brian:I just got another shipment of my Alpha Brew in and I'm loving it. Just like you said, like clean, smooth. I wouldn't want any other coffee than that. Like don't waste your money at Starbucks. Buy some Alpha Brew, make it at home and bring it to work.
Aaron:Absolutely. Yeah, and it's, the coffee is great man. Like four cups of Starbucks coffee. Don't like that. It doesn't touch my caffeine tolerance at all. I have two cups, alpha root coffee and I'm good. I feel great. So man, let's, let's hop right into this thing and let's start talking about this cross-training process. This is going to go up on the YouTube. It's going to go up on all the other stuff. Remember, go to go to onesready.com and check out the most up to date information for all of the things. So we can, we put everything on the website, on onesready.com. So go over to onesready.com check out where the podcasts are, what they're dropping news, possible upcoming events, other partnerships that we're working on. Make sure to check that out. So go over there and check it out and then hit the YouTube channel up also on the podcast. Leave a review every time you go on there. If you're loving the podcast, that's a good time. That's a good social platform for you to find some other likeminded individuals. So leave a review, talk about it and try to make some friends and get this thing going. So what to do about nothing. Time to get into it, man. Let's talk about the cross training process. So I myself was a cross training, right? So let's say that you're in your job right now. You love your job, you're killing it, but you just want something more, right? You just want to earn each breath and you want to go be part of Air Force Special Operations and you're like, Hey, I want to cross-train. How do you even start? Well, the first thing you got to do is you've got to go talk to your MPF. And I know that that's a crazy thing that people, people DM us all the time, they're like,"Am I inside of my window"? I don't know if you're inside of your window, you know, who knows if you're inside your retraining window? Retraining and career at the MPF. I love getting those, uh, those DM's where people like, Hey man, I'm a six year enlistee, I'm in my 47th month. Am I good to go? I have no idea. I'm a PJ guy, don't know what to tell you. So the first stop is as always the MPF. I want to kind of pause there though, because there are parts that, there are things in the process that you can do to set yourself up for success. Right? And the first thing that I always tell people when they're like,"Hey, I'm getting ready to cross train. What should I be doing to get ready"? And I say, well, you should get a time machine and you should go back a year and a half and you should do your absolute best to be the best at your job. Trent, I want to throw it over to you, so I'm not talking through this whole thing, but, what are some things just as a straight up, you know, what are some things that they can do as just a young, you know, regular Airman to set themselves up to look the best when they cross that line and they decide to come to assessment& selection?
Trent:I would say just like you're saying that the excellence is a habit. It's not something that just starts all of the sudden. So if you're a turd at your job and you send up a package and you're like, I promise that once I get there, when I'm doing something that I want to do, everything about me will be different. All of my habits will change.
Aaron:That works. And I will say that I hear people say something in fact of all, I just hate my job. This is done. And when I get over to the other side, I'm going to give it all I've got.
Trent:Man, I promise you that I will ask you to do things, and I will expect you to do things that you do not want to do. Getting used to that and having that attention to detail and that level of excellence before you even get there is huge. Then that will show once you, once you cross over to the other side, that maturity, that willingness to help other people, to do the job to the best of your ability will show, it will shine through and all that will be rolled into your physical preparation, your mental preparation, everything else that you've done to get to this point before you even put your package in what we'll see it.
Brian:Yeah, let me bounce off of that because I like what Trent said, there starting it up soon and quicker because when you go to Phase II and selection, the whole entire job of the person who's selecting you is to stare at you and see what your habits are. If you look like you've never been there before, you'd never been in that place where you're trying to dedicate your time to help out the rest of the team. You've never been in the place where you're organized and able to be on time and able to do all these things. We can tell that you are, you've never done it before, that you're just trying to play the game and acting up to get selected or whatever. So like I said, that person's whole job is just to look at you, write down stuff and then report to whoever and make sure that whatever you did gets reported up. So just want to throw that in there.
Aaron:Exactly. And put all those things, all those observations into the Play-dough machine and put a grinder on it and it spits out on the other end, good candidate, bad candidate. So that's probably the biggest one I get when people start out right, is number one, they don't know where to go. Well you got to go to MPF, you've got to fix your own problems to start, right? You got to see what that packet looks like once you get your window selected, we kind of got all the way up to, alright, I'm ready to file some paperwork and I'm ready to make this thing real. That's when you're going to start your Phase I application process. And the MPF, again, oddly enough, can walk you through this entire process. They can tell you exactly what it is you need for your job. Sometimes jobs you need specific clearances to like let you go. So we're always critically manned career fields. We always accept candidates and there are some policies out there that say we get candidates no matter what for Special Operations or for Air Force Special Warfare. Some jobs are a little bit more restrictive and you have to go through different layers and this is where you engage your supervisor and you let them know, Hey, I know I'm inside my window. I'm looking at applying for this thing. I'd like your help to kind of work through it. And they could really, actually that's your first line supervisor is the best person to help you work through those things because you're using your chain of command. Eventually you're going to have to get approved by your Commander as part of that packet, right? So you'll need some sort of physical, whether it be a flight, physical or otherwise, depending on which job you want, you're going to need clearances, both psychologically and work-related. Somebody who's physically going to look at all of these things that you submit and in that packet is going to be your Commander's recommendation that you go and you try this thing out. So engaging your chain of command all the way through this process is the best way to do it because they can, they can really help you to get there. Your chain of command shouldn't act as a gatekeeper, right? Like your first line supervisors shouldn't be the one saying, yeah, I think you'd be a great PJ. Well, if they're not a PJ, they don't really know. I was lucky enough when I cross-trained, I had an O-6 that I worked for as a Phys-Tech. Her name was Colonel Charles and she was a Haitian by birth. She came to America when she was 18, and she was a firecracker. She was like 5'2 and she spoke in a Creole accent and for a week she made me come into her office and she made me explain to her why I wanted to be a PJ because she wanted me to be a statistic. She had other plans for me. She wanted me to do all of these things in that career field, and I was like, Hey I just want to do this. So she'd sit down, she'd go,"Aaron, I don't want you to tell me any of the jumping and the diving. I want to tell me what you're going to do when you're gone. 300 days a year". Like she was not happy, but at the end she was like, okay, you're serious about it, I'll sign off. So engage your chain of command and this entire process, it really does help because support as well. You know, you'd be surprised how many people were like, you're going to try out for what? Holy cow, man. That's awesome. Train hard. Would you like a training partner? I'll go around with you today. You'd be surprised how much people will gravitate to that. So I don't know if you guys got any input on, I'm kind of getting up to that Phase II process. But that was kind of cool.
Brian:Yeah, so I've run into even a couple of students that I've had, you know, have an offer right now doing the PA school thing and I've run into a couple of students that I've had and I kind of train with them at the same time and they let their chain of command know that they're trying to go back after this thing and they have a whole group of guys that are out there that are kind of like minded. Like you were talking about finding guys out there. So just putting it out there in the world and telling your supervisor, okay I want to do this and that way you know you show up and they're like, alright, you got nothing else for me to do and then go cut out and go work out because I know you're trying to do this. There's nothing, there's no reason to hold you here. So you'll get a little bit of added benefit by just talking to them and then you can go train with your buddies that you find in the local area on the weekends and stuff. Also, I have the Cone Connect on beapj.com under the resources tab. It's like an interactive map that you can search all over the world and just see there's little dots on there to see who's close to you or whatever. And you don't have to put like a specific kind of information. You could just put your Instagram handle, you could just put your whatever you want to be contacted by and people can hit each other up there. So you guys can use that resource as well.
Trent:I would say the Phase I portion is the first part of your selection and people tend to overlook it. But I've walked through, I've been over to AFPC and I've seen everything that you guys need to do to cross over. And there are detailed instructions on there. And I will say, from where I'm sitting, lots of guys don't make it just because their packages are all jacked up. So you've got to follow the instructions. You got to do it the right way. Now just even get your package seen by someone in the career field to get those Phase II slots.
Aaron:So we not doing phrasing anymore is phrasing not a thing. Oh okay. Because you want your package seen by the group. Right. Got it.
Trent:You want me to see your package.
Aaron:So I cannot wait to isolate that sound bite. Congratulations. Trent, Special Reconnaissance. Get it.
Brian:Make sure you Fill in the right spots.
Aaron:That's a good point though. You know, that's attention to detail. That's the very first look you're going to start building, you know from the second that you are like Hey, I want to try to give you this PJ thing. People started judging me and people were like, Oh really? You can't even, you want to be a PJ and you can't even lock the door was a no kidding thing somebody said, I'm not even joking. Like the second you start flying that flag man, you build your reputation as a PJ or a Combat Controller or TACP or Special Reconnaissance. You build that reputation from day one and the Phase I packet. Man, I'm really glad you brought that up because it's totally true. You're telling me you want to be a Special Operator and you couldn't even get the correct signature on this thing. Come on in and it's not good.
Trent:Let's not go too far into the weeds, but all the retraining practice for the Air Force go to one place and they have to sift through all of these and so if there's a mistake like they don't care, you're just a number. They don't care that you're trying to be a PJ or an SR guy o, whatever. They're just going to send it back to you and be like, fix this, now send it back.
Aaron:That just lengthens the process. One of the biggest things that the cross training specifically, one of the biggest hurdles for cross-trainees is the process is very long. It takes a while to get the packet together to get your physical complete, to get it actually up to AFPC and to the MAJCOM functionals and then get that spot. I'd like to, that whole phase one process can take a long time if you're not very deliberate, if you're not locking things down and being precise. However, if you do get everything done in a timely manner and you do get approved to Phase I, we go to Phase II, which is the cross-trainee selection process phase deuce. So the cross training selection process, we're not going to G2 this too hard. It's not secret or anything, iit's essentially a condensed assessment& selection. Because we found out a couple of years ago, there was a number that came out that about 80% of cross-trainees did not make it through the selection. So they made a selection of pre-selection for those candidates just like they do with the STOs and the CROs. I've worked both CRO. I have not been to a STO specific one. I worked the CRO selection a couple times and I did a lot of the enlisted Pararescue assessments& selections cross-training assessment& selection. So probably six or seven of those Lackland. It's essentially a little mini-assessment/selection. It's everything packed into multiple events and days. Very high tempo, very high stress. But we're looking for different things. This is not just an assessment& selection like you would do normally. If that was the case, we would just send people directly to the main assessment& selection. We want to look at leadership capabilities from people that should have already possessed those skills. So Brian, can you kind of lay out what the difference between a cross-trainee, first of all, tell us why it's important that their leaders tell us what the effect is that they have on the team when they get to assessment& selection, those cross-trainees.
Brian:Right. So personally, when I went through a selection, you know, a couple of years ago, but the guys that were on my team were Rangers or there were some, a couple of Phys Techs on there. There were guys that did admin jobs, but we looked up to the guys. I'm just saying, you know, obviously there's a reason why you were switching from those jobs, but there were dudes that were from MARSOC. I dude that was a Ranger and we thought that they were the SHIT we're keeping this G-rated so we can keep it on the iTunes thing. All right. So anyway, we looked up to them in a huge way, like everything that they did and the way that they even lace their boots and stuff, they showed us how to do things quickly because they'd been in the military for, you know, at least 20 times as long as we had at that point. We've been in for like six weeks or whatever. We just finished basic training I don't even know how do I do my uniform now? And then what do I do? I call you sir. Like I just kept my hands. Yeah. Like I just got a basic training and you come out and you're just completely like, yes sir. No sir. And then they want you to be like more of a operator thinking for yourself kind of thing and you're, you're trying to find out what you're doing. And these guys are just really used to thinking that way because they've been with some of the other guys, they've been on mission, they've been on deployments and everything. So we really looked up to all those cross-trainee guys and they really set the tempo for the team. If they had a day where they're just like screwing things up and they got mad at themselves or they were calling out people for other things that they shouldn't have been calling them out for, like just dumb little things, making it more intense for the students rather than like trying to play the instructor role instead of the instructors doing what they're supposed to be doing. So we had guys that would make things a lot more difficult. And then we had guys that would make things a lot easier for the team and show us techniques and not just expect us to just know how to do military, just being out of basic training. So they really set the tempo and the attitude for the team.
Aaron:Yeah, and those guys on any tribe or on any team, like you look up to those people that had been there before and done it, whether it's good or bad and they automatically get kind of that juice, that extra little bit of like, Hey, this guy has seen it. Trent, can you tell us kind of like when you're looking at, you know, from an NCO standpoint, what's the difference between 18 year old, fresh off the street showing up day one for assessment& selection? Because people always ask, the question is, do you look for different things from cross-trainees? Absolutely we do. That's why we have the assessment& selection prior. But when they actually get to assessment& selection, how do you expect those NCOs especially to act on those teams?
Trent:Well, I expect them to act the age and then their experience. Right? I tell the students that I'm going to treat you all the same way, but it's not necessarily true, especially like in the prep course, right? When I'm prepping guys, like I prep everybody different. If I have an older guy and he's across trainee or a sister service guy, I'm going to pull him aside and be like, Hey, you're an informal leader on this team. Whether it's formal, informal, you need to make sure that you're doing all the right things to push this team forward. And I kind of expect them to be that mature person and to help the younger guys along. You know my expectations for an 18 year old coming out of his parents' house is do what I tell you to do, make mistakes, just keep pushing forward. What I expect that cross trainee, that older guy to do is to take that kid after I'm done chewing him and then take them aside and help him through the rest of that process to make sure that not only is the cross-trainee successful, but the rest of the team successful. And you'll see it with teams all the time. When you have strong NCO and officer leadership on the teams, our graduation rates surge, they go much, much higher. So lacking that or having bad leadership, it has the opposite effect.
Aaron:Absolutely. And Brian can attest, I've seen it, I've been on teams where it happens, you have one of those stud NCOs it's doing really, really well. And he quits. He's taken like four or five people with. There were four or five Airman that were, I can guarantee you that were just on that, on that very edge of just being like, man, if I have one more bad pool session, I'm outta here. And they see that guy leave. You're like, Oh, I thought that guy was crushing it, man. It's the worst. The absolute worst.
Brian:Yeah. And I think with that too, one of the things that we used to do whenever I was at a selection is we would keep the NCO the officer's back because like he said, they're the pulse of the team and they just should have the beat on whatever's going on with the rest of the guys. Like if there's a guy that looks depressed, I noticed it because I'm with these guys every day and I'm like, did you notice that this guy was doing this? Like, what's going on with this guy? And I expect them to know that. I expect them to know that somebody you know, parents are sick or someone's in the hospital, like anything that's going on with the team, you guys need to know it because you need to be invested in these guys. So not only do you have to be the most squared away guys and most physically in shape, but you also have to know everything that's going on with the rest of the guys on the team. So that's a really important factor in, we used to keep the guys after each day and talk to them about all these things. Like, alright, what is your plans for this? We noticed this guy is always late. What are you doing to keep on them? Like keep it, you're still doing internal team stuff because we are kind of like your next level up. And then it goes to the team, a Commander, team leader that's on the actual selection team. So you guys take care of your own stuff in house and you're still expected to, you know, reprimand people at a NCO level or give them LOCs whatever kind of thing that you need to do in order to enforce the normal standards that are expected of any military member within house.
Aaron:Well that brings up a great point, right? So one of the hardest challenges for me when I was going through was finding that line, right? Like, yes, I am an NCO. Yes I do need to be an intrusive leader. Yes, I do need to protect my team. Yes, I do need to do all these things, but on the flip side of that, I had to be a student too, so that was a, that's a large burden that people kind of forget about is that man, I was just, some days I was just trying to get from event to event and then an instructor pull me aside and be like, why didn't you know that this guy's sister was sick? Why didn't you know that this guy is seeking medical? I'm like, Hey man, I almost drowned before lunch. I'm trying to get through the day dog. Like I don't know what to say. Like that's a hard thing to navigate. And unless you think about that early, unless you start preparing yourself for that situation early, that can be pretty overwhelming. You know? And I'll just tell you from personal experience, usually my bandwidth is pretty high to deal with those sort of things. I usually handle information pretty well, but that was one of the biggest challenges was realizing that I was a student too and I needed to take care of my own business first. So your level of fitness, your level of preparedness, your level of presence in the moment. Like you have to be clicking on all cylinders all the time because you start getting behind that eight ball. Man. It's tough. It's tough to figure that stuff out. Trent, what would be a golden nugget or a silver bullet piece of advice for NCOs is to try to handle that specific situation?
Trent:Well, just wanted to start with saying it's not like it ends. So as soon as you get on team.
Aaron:Yeah, for sure. 100%!
Trent:You're an NCO. So if you show up on team and you're not the right person and you're a Staff or a Tech and you have these Senior Airman also on team with you and you roll in there and you were turd through the pipeline or whatever. We live in a meritocracy, you know, and you don't have the chops that all the other Staffs and Techs have that came in as E-2s or E-1s thru E-3s. You don't have the, the rotations that those guys have on team. So yeah, it's the expectations for you are higher and it's going to be harder. And it's not necessarily, it doesn't seem fair at the time in the pipeline. Like, Oh, Hey, we're all just students. How come it's not the same across the board? Because when you get on a team we're not picking up an E-3, we're picking up a Staff or a Tech. So would the expectations when you get to team at that rank are going to be you know, leaps and bounds beyond the Senior Airman showing up to team. So that's why it's incredibly important to make sure that you are, all your stuff is wired tight. You can do it the right way and you're better than the rest of the guys. Maybe not at everything. Right. But yeah, our expectations are different for you because you're showing up on team you should be ready to go.
Aaron:Yeah. And that's a hard thing too. So, you know, especially talking about when you get to a team and you just got out of the pipeline and you've been doing your thing as an NCO and you start to get a little bit comfortable. Brian and I worked for the guy Shane Brickey, one of my best friends in the entire world. Had a very good conversation with him. We were in Croatia when this happened, but I'd been in England for about six months, seven months or something like that and I was starting to kind of feel myself a little bit, you know, starting to get a flow and I was like, you know, starting to engage as an E-5 and again, like I am who I am as a person, can't apologize for it. It's just, it's who I am. Shane pulls me aside, he's like, Hey man, can you do me a favor? And I was like, what? He's like, shut the F up and take the trash out. You're a team member. That was some of the best input. That was from a dude that I outranked. I was older than him. I had a full career, I was a seven-level in my other job before I cross-trained over, you know, we went through the same course, but it's, it's sorta like the same thing. Like you need to know where that line is of like, how to engage and how to be a good leader. And sometimes it's, it's tough and you fail, but it never ends. You're totally right. Like I was a grown man when, when Shane Bricky said that to me, man, I was, I was 28 years old with two toddlers in my house. Not that it doesn't sting, not that I don't bring it up to him every once in a while, you know? Nope, no worries there.
Brian:Yeah, I think that's really important. The Special Operations community as a whole rank doesn't make you a leader. I know that's the same for the rest of the Air Force and you guys know that, but rank is, you know, a thing that you have as you get in time. Like there's a CRO that'll come in and he's brand new to the team and he's a butter bar or whatever. You're in a first Lieutenant, he doesn't know anything. He's going to talk to Aaron like, please tell me what to do. Like please guide me on what's the process that I should be doing. What should I be focusing my attention on right now? Because he's probably, the CRO is probably really good at working out. He's probably really good at maybe somewhat decent at talking on the radio and that kind of thing, but the day to day like how do I plan this? What should I do with this guy that's, you know, screwing around and doing stuff that he shouldn't be doing. Like how do I do these other things? And he's going to go straight to Aaron, especially if it comes to like mission planning and anything that's on the X. So it's really important to keep in mind that yes, rank has its place and there's a certain time that especially if you know a Senior Airman where to address a Master Sergeant or whatever, or a CRO, like you take them to the side and say, Hey sir, I just noticed that this, put it in a way that people can process and they don't automatically think that you're just being a jerk. But you know, everyone has a voice. Everyone has a voice.
Aaron:Exactly. Sometimes you need to be a jerk. That was one of those times that I'm glad that made me a better operator. It made me a better person. But I started kind of figuring that out in the pipeline as a cross-trainee. Like where do I engage in and how do I engage there? So here's a fun part of this one. I didn't tell these guys. So we all take the reins for the podcasts at different times. And I took the reins for this one obviously because of my cross-trainee. And I came up with a super secret question. I'm going to put these two dudes on the spot. I'm one of them. I'm going to ask Trent first. So Trent's going to have some time to answer here and tap dance. And Brian's going to have some time to come up with a better answer because he's the boss. Trent, knowing everything that you know, your entire career, all your experience you have right now. If you had to go cross-train right now, tell me your three, five meter targets that you would do. So go through Phase I, you get accepted and you're going to assessment& selection. What are the three, five meter targets that you would want to knock down? What would you want to focus on to be successful right now?
Trent:So where I'm at right now physically, it's a crush fest. So just making sure that I can endure the cardio is a big thing because it makes your body run efficiently and everything else like that. So I want to get back up to comfortably running and working out like 13 miles at a time or whatever it is. Like making sure that my cardio is on point and then my cals and everything else. Because that's what's really going to help me out. Second off is getting my mental status where it needs to be. You know, I've gotten used to a certain amount of rank and privilege, you know what I mean? You get used to people coming to you for answers. And I've noticed and even just in my regular job, you start to give input when maybe it's not appropriate. You know what I mean? And so just learning how to be quiet and learning where you are and putting yourself back in that situation is probably the biggest thing. And then the third thing is making sure that the rest of my life is in order. Knowing that I'm cross-training, I don't have the bandwidth to take care of my team, myself, and then having things falling apart back home, I just can't handle it. There's just, it's almost an insurmountable, a wall of stuff at that point to get over. So, make sure everything's squared away, everybody knows what's happening back home. Those would be my three, five meter targets.
Brian:I would just want to add on to that before we go into my things, that whole getting back into student mode thing, that is a real, real, real thing, man. I'm doing that PA school right now and you know, I was going from, I was a lead instructor at selection and you know, like you said, people came and asked me questions or whatever. I had a certain amount of, you know, I felt like I knew what was going on. And then you switch over in a student mode and then you get treated like crap. You're kind of just, you're expected to stand there kind of like with your hands behind your back or like in front like this. And I'm a student like, Oh wow, that's some great information that you're teaching me. And you're like, thank you so much. Like you know, it's the whole playing the student game. So it is a little bit difficult and you guys should definitely get your minds right for that because it'll be a lot worse whenever you get to selection. So going to my three things, I think the thing that I would focus on would be making sure my family's ready to go, like as far as whatever. Them knowing that I care about them spending as much time with the kids while I can and then just kind of letting them know what my plans are cause they're kinda getting to the age my kids are two and four, so they're kinda getting to the age where they're starting to know things that are going on, if I'm home from work or not. So, I think really prepping the family and getting that side of things ready to go. And especially my wife, she's going to be kinda like on our own. If you guys have family, obviously this is different for other guys, but even if you don't have a wife, then make sure that your parents or whoever kind of knows like this is what I'm going to try to do. I'm going to be busy and I'm gonna be training my butt off like at night, whatever the normal times that we do our, it's not going to happen anymore because this is what my goal is right now. So prepping them in that way and obviously financially you're going to be gone. So make sure that everything's good to go on that side. The mental aspect for sure would be another thing. Like no matter what you're going to get your workout in for the day. So whatever workout you're doing, whether it's midnight or whatever, you always get your workout and you stay that discipline. Because just like we were talking about before, it's not going to be, you're going to show up and then start implementing all these new habits or whatever. You have to have all these things ingrained in you and you have to have that mindset of this is why I'm doing this and this is why it's more important for me to focus on this right now. You do, you realize that, you know, eventually as you make it through, you will have some more time to spend with your family and you have some more time to do other things that you want to do. But right now this is what you're focusing on. Like you said, five meter targets. That's what it's all about. This is what all your attention is focused on. So yeah, physical, mental and family. That would be my advice.
Aaron:Well not too bad. I'm not going to give you my three because I already did it. 20% dudes made it through. I did love hearing that, that thing, I didn't know that until way later in my career where they're like, yeah, the whole reason we do the enlisted and officer assessment& selection is because they have a really bad success rate at, it's actually higher than the normal attrition rate. And I was like, Oh really? Maybe I'm cooler than I already thought. Which is impossible because I already think I'm the coolest and that feels like good place to end, man. I want to thank everybody for listening to the podcast. Again, if you liked it, you liked the podcast, go leave us a review. Leave us a comment. Put that five star on there, on the iTunes, on, on the Spotify playlists, anywhere it is. Did you get podcasts? Tell your friends. I know that we have a whole we've got a good tribe of people that are listening for us and supporting us. So I just want to say thanks. Head over to onesready.com checkout everything on that's on the website that's going on over there. Remember, you want to start your day off right? Hit up alphabrew.com. Get your 15% off using the ONESREADY code at checkout. And just thanks. I'm just really thankful for you guys. Trent, you got anything t o c lose this one out?
Trent:Take care of your team. They'll take care of you. That's a last piece of advice.
Aaron:Nice. Awesome. Brian, close it out for us, boss.
Brian:Alright, so a lot of things that we talked about today. I'm just going to go over a brief review. So first thing you want to do, if you're talking about going to transfer over, cross-train into any of these career fields as you want to go to your MPF, see what your retraining window is. And then once you have that kind of information, talk to your First Sergeant, talk to your supervisor, let them know what you're trying to do, and then build up your team within your respective community, wherever you're at in the world. So build up your team and check out again that Cone Connect. You can hit up the YouTube channel also. And then in the comments, you know, put it out there. Just put your name out there because I think one of the most important things for you guys, whenever you're trying to cross train is to train with guys because you're going to be expected to lead. So practice that now with likeminded individuals, which are those guys that you're going be possibly actually going to team with if you're training with them now and you have the same mindset. So definitely reach out and get with those guys. Train as much as you can. Practice your leadership, practice your public speaking skills cause that's going to be a big thing. Also whenever you get into that selection for CROs and for cross-trainees. And then some of the other stuff that we've talked about, you know, just kind of like we were saying before, build those habits now and make it an actual habit you're going to do. Say if you have a workout plan for the day, don't skip out on it, don't do half of it. Make sure that you're disciplined enough right now to put forth the effort to make you successful whenever you actually get to selection. So those are the main points. And we're going to also do like Aaron was talking about before, another episode that has recruiter specific stuff and more in depth kind of the nuts and bolts of what you're going to have to do paperwork wise and everything. We're going to interview a recruiter who does prior service and cross-trainee type of paperwork and he's going to help us out to explain to you guys, you know that piece. Like Aaron said, we're PJ's and Special Reconnaissance. We're not recruiters and MPF. So we're going to have those guys come on, explain to you guys exactly what you need to do. So watch out for that on YouTube. We're going to put that video out there and like Aaron said, please leave us a review if you guys enjoy the podcast. If there are any other things that you guys want us to talk about, then hit us up at onesready.com there's a link down at the bottom. You can email us anytime or you can just hit us up on IG. We're always here to answer your questions and always here to help go out as much as we can. So really appreciate you guys watching us and listening to us on the podcast and we'll see you guys next time. Earn each breath