Hi as of right now I am 17 years old and 130 pounds. I am not exactly sure how I would pay for college and a career outside of anything in the armed forces is not appealing to me. I can only bench about 150 and I can do around 80-100 pushups.

My question is this. If I were to say spend 2-3 years making myself as "badass" (just kidding) or as physically and mentally fit as possible, for example making myself able to bench 400 pounds, upping my weight, and doing target practice with weapons. If I take time off and do that stuff, support myself by getting a job at wallmart or something, and then going into the Army is there anything wrong with that.

I would prepare myself for 2 or more years then when I am around 20 or 21 I would apply to the Army, go through basic training, then after a while ask for ranger training, could I do that?

Btw, the reason why I would prepare myself for 2-3 years is because I would rather train myself before they train me. My friends cousin died in Iraq and I don't want to go into a warzone with "their" basic training. I'm sure they are trained tough but I want all the time that I need in order to be as tough as I can and I don't want to go into war with training that puts you through a couple of weeks of hell, I want to go through a couple of years of hell then fight the devil.

My brother got a garanteed slot for Ranger when he went in in January.

IMO, you dont have to be able to bench press 400 lbs to be a good soldier and I personally dont think there is anything you are going to learn by yourself that your not going to learn in the army.

I would start running a whole lot, start rucking around 45lbs packs and if you feel you need to, start shooting to become more comfortable. Its going to be difficult to replicate the situations you will face as an army soldier in combat.

If you are in great physical shape and have an attitude of not quiting than you will do fine in the army.

So in conclusion, I dont think you are going to be any more prepared for the army after two years than you are after a few months of good physical training.