{"id":12200,"date":"2020-08-11T13:57:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-11T17:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=12200"},"modified":"2020-08-18T14:42:20","modified_gmt":"2020-08-18T18:42:20","slug":"edward-snowden-army-18-x-ray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/edward-snowden-army-18-x-ray\/","title":{"rendered":"Edward Snowden: Army Experience With 18 X-Ray"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is the 18 X-Ray division of the army? Is Edward Snowden an army vet? What was his military service like?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Edward Snowden, army service was a calling after 9\/11. He qualified for the 18 X-Ray special forces but got injured during basic training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about Edward Snowden, army, and the 18 X-Ray special forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Edward Snowden: Army Calling<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On September 11, 2001, Ed arrived at Mae\u2019s house for work. Mae lived on base and her husband worked at Fort Meade, so Ed and Mae heard about the attack on the Twin Towers quickly. The base evacuated because Fort Meade could have been the next target. 
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As Ed left Mae\u2019s, he was able to get in touch with his mother, who was safe, but it took him some time to find out about the rest of his family. Ed was particularly worried about his grandfather, who now worked for the FBI and regularly visited federal buildings. Fortunately, he was fine.
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Later in life, Ed would develop more nuanced feelings about the government\u2019s response to 9\/11. At the time, though, he fully supported the war.<\/strong> Mae didn\u2019t, and they grew apart. Ed distanced himself from the anti-institutional views of hacker culture<\/a> and his parents\u2019 apolitical patriotism. He\u2019d never wanted to serve before, but he did now.<\/strong> 
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Ed thought he\u2019d be most useful behind a computer, but a normal IT job didn\u2019t seem like enough of an outlet for his newfound patriotic fervor. Hacking for the NSA or CIA would have been ideal, but they required a college degree, and Ed only had community college credits and his MCSE certification. (However, intelligence agencies would sometimes waive their requirement for a degree if you were a military veteran.)
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Edward Snowden: Army Career<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ed enlisted. For Snowden, army service was the right choice. His family didn\u2019t approve because the Coast Guard considers the army leadership crazy.
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Beyond Edward Snowden<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For Edward Snowden, the army was a clear choice, but the army was changing. A new program called \u201c18 X-Ray\u201d screened incoming army applicants for Special Forces\u2019 qualification courses at sign-up.<\/strong> Previously, to get into Special Forces courses, you had to already be in the army. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Injuries in the Army<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The army has a stigma about injuries for a few reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n