So any suggestions for fairly new players working towards this level of play?
I seem to fall short of the requirements you ask of new members but feel at a stand still on how to get there.

I think of myself as being pretty dang good as a healer. I've been playing casually for just over a month now.
I'm in i82 gear with my SCH finished as far as my cross class skills.

I finished C1 in a pug though C2 today was less than stellar. I have reached a point in Garuda EX where healing isn't an issue but the DPS always fails, causes insta-wipes and then quits right around the time Echo could have maybe helped them.

So do I just stay without an FC and keep running this stuff in pugs?
I've been looking for other resources such as linkshells that may be a little more organized and use voip like vent or TS but so far have had no luck.