My name is David Lynch, and I am a freshman at Virginia Tech. I am currently studying General Engineering and am part of the Galileo Engineering Community for male engineering students. I had initially wanted to major in Mechanical Engineering, but have lost my interest in a technical engineering degree. This is mostly due to what I want to do for my career and my academic interests. So far I have enjoyed my time at Virginia Tech, but it is not the school for me.
Next year I will be a cadet at the United States Military Academy, known as West Point. After not getting an appointment last year, I decided to reapply to the academy, and spend a year studying engineering at Virginia Tech. I have been working closely with my Regional Commander (admissions officer) to try and get my application through the admissions process for a second time as fast as possible to increase my chances of receiving an appointment. While at West Point, I will pursue a degree in Engineering Management and a minor in Arabic. I believe that those two degrees will help me out as an Army officer better than a technical engineering degree.
In the meantime, I have joined the Army National Guard and will be serving in the 29th Infantry Division. I have not attended basic or AIT, and have not begun training yet. I will be an 11B Infantryman. I feel a connection to the 29th Infantry Division, and even tough I will not be in the 29th for long, because I will be leaving for cadet basic training in June, I still wish to return to serving in the 29th after a career as a commissioned officer on active duty in the US Army. My grandfather served for 11 years in the 29th infantry Division and was discharged as a Master Sergeant.
After graduating from West Point, I hope to serve a full career as a commissioned officer in the US Army, preferably the Infantry and then in Special Forces. Because I can't go immediately to Special Warfare School to train to be in the US Army Special Forces (The Green Berets), I hope to serve in the 75th Ranger Regiment, which is a Special Operations infantry regiment and part of the US Special Operations Command. I will have to spend at least 4 years in the US Army before being able to try out for Special Warfare School, which is my ultimate goal while in the Army.
Some of my other interests are: competitive target shooting, mountain biking, and working out. I enjoy doing all sorts of shooting sports, including small and large bore shooting, pistol shooting, and shotgun shooting. Small bore shooting is shooting with a relatively weak round such as a .22 which is purely for target shooting within 25 yards, whereas large bore is shooting any high caliber rifle at long distance. My longest shot was made at around 800 yards. I also do various pistol shooting sports as well as skeet and trap, which are both different shotgun shooting sports where you hit a flying clay target. Overall, I like to stay active and always like to be doing something that involves some level of physical activity.
I am looking forward to this semester of english and writing blogs, especially because they dont' have to be as long as the blogs last semester.
