18X is not a National Guard enlistment option. Most of the Green Berets in the Guard are former Active duty. If in the Guard and want to go SF, you must be at least an E4 with 24 months Time in Service (TIS) From there you would train with the unit, then if the unit thinks you're ok, you go to Pre School aka SOPSE, were it is a smoke fest to see if you warrant entrance into SFAS, Special Forces Assessment and Selection - this is the real SF tryout. About 55-60% who tryout are selected, but 30-35% are lost in the Q phases. Not being able to learn a foreign language is 1 of the biggest reasons why people are kicked out of the pipeline to be sent back to their old unit. SFAS IS NO JOKE. YOU CAN BE PEERED OUT, ie You don't pull your weight in team drills, you get called out on it by your team members and sent home to have your ass kicked by your home unit.

Also just to get to SFAS you must be in top physical shape, and you will have to undergo a Class 1/A Flight Physical - yup you need a pilot's physical just to get into SFAS and that is separate from the normal physical you'll get at meps. That was my undoing in the Army - went to get the physical and the docs found my combat injuries were far worse than originally thought, like ligament damage to my left knee, and damage to my spine.

 

I was tracking that, I didn't mean to confuse that he could go NG and be an 18X, I just meant if he was serious about trying out for selection he could go the 18X route instead. Thanks for the info though. I actually tried out and went for selection, clearly didn't make it though.