The Week After

So this week was kinda slow, the thanksgiving holiday is kind of putting a damper on the progress of my entry into the Army. What happened this week was on Monday I dropped off the rest of my paperwork to the recruiter in the morning. I heard back later that night and we went through some information like high school classes I might have taken, my ASVAB test score and also what division I would most likely want to be in. I scored a 84 on my ASVAB and we didn't even go over my line scores because I qualified for a lot of good jobs in different areas. We made an appointment to meet at 9am the next morning to go over my papers and also my job opportunities.

The next morning I drove to the recruiters and my recruiter wasn't in at the time, so Sergeant Batiste (if I remember correctly her spelling) helped me sign some more documents and call Sergeant Smith about anything else I might need. He needed another document I had at my house that I made a copy of for him, but he needed the actual document so I drove home, got it, and returned to the offices. At that time he was in after dropping off some recruits for the ASVAB test that day and we started going over my Medical Ready papers. Once we started going over the paperwork and getting it ready the computers when on the fritz and another recruit who just completed her BCT/AIT training came in to talk to another recruiter (who I'm guessing was hers) about the experience and I listened in, as we all did since we were waiting for the computers to come back online.

When the computers came back online we looked over my job opportunities and it looked pleasantly full. I had a lot of jobs in the Intelligence area of the Army, also in Artillery manning missile systems or repairing, and also basic Combat type positions and vehicle operation spots. So I had a wide variety of jobs I could have taken. The one job I was surprised to see was "Special Forces Recruit" since that would something I would love to be in but my difficulty picking up another language would most likely hinder me. I decided though for now Infantry (11b) is what I'm most interested, as I put it "I want to be on the ground in combat kicking down doors". Although I may or may not be kicking down doors, I'm still looking to be on the ground in basic combat. I think because I have a quick mindset to my surroundings wherever I go and also quick ability to analyze, organize and decide on things that are put in front of me that having that skill is a valuable asset for intelligence, but also for ground troops to be able to quickly decipher a threat situation. I do want to take advantage of being able to enter the Army Intelligence progra, but I think for my first enlistment I really want to get combat experience under my belt, so if anything should happen in the future wherever I may be, abroad or home, I can help out in a situation of need, whether it be with doing another tour in a combat zone, helping local authorities or even just protecting innocent people in a bad situation when someone might lose their cool.

On my way home I was thinking about my future career in the army, although combat will give me everyday skills when dealing with teams and decision making and being the best I can be, its really the other jobs (not Infantry) that actually lead to jobs with a grounded future. Like being a mechanic, administrator, or even technician. I figured though, what I would like to do, is go into Infantry for say 8 years and try and work my way into Special Forces possibly. After my initial enlistment I would go into Intelligence, twice, for 6 year enlistments. One for being "Human Intelligence Collector" which I qualified for and then "Imagery Analyst" which I also qualified for. I think by doing those two and having the ability to go into the CIA or even NSA after my work in those fields would be a great way to further myself after the Army in say 20 years. I would be 46 with combat and intelligence experience and a valuable asset to other government programs, I think.

The First Week

On November 17th 2008 I decided finally that it's time to follow something I have a passion for, the U.S. Military. I have been doing some research for quite some time on the different branches; would I choice to be a Marine, or possibly go for the Airforce and try the very hard career opportunity of being a Fighter Jet pilot. My entire teenage and subsequent 20's have all been about technology; the Airforce seemed like an obvious choice. After going through each site though (and I had no plans to go into the Navy) I decided the best decision for me would to actually be in the Army. I looked through all the different sections of the Army and as fun as Artillery, Intelligence, and Special Forces sound, I see myself as more the guy on the ground in the battle getting something done, and although that does include SF, I'm not sure I'm fully qualified for that. The idea of being surrounded by people who know I have their back and I know have mine got me excited, so I started filling out the appropriate paperwork on GoArmy.com and even took a nap between the application process because at the time I was filling it out there was one section that couldn't be completed till after 2am. I awoke about 2:30-3am to finish off the rest and sent it in. I took the small practice test on the site for the ASVAB and got a 66 and 61 on the two sections with a "expected" grade of 70 for the actual test. I knew the next day I would probably get a call from the Army so I went back and rested so I was ready to talk to them in the morning. The government isn't going to waste time recruiting, and I was ready.

The next morning around 9-10am I heard my cell phone start ringing; to be honest I was still tired, so I looked at my phone and saw "US Government" as the caller ID and ignored it knowing they would call back that day most likely. About an hour and a half later my phone rang again with a local number not saved in my phone. I hardly talk to anyone in my area so seeing a local number I don't have call me I knew it was either a previous job I applied for or the Army again so I picked up. I was greeted by Sergeant Smith of the US Army asking for me and wanting to know a little more about me. We exchanged words for about 2-3 minutes and he asked me if I could come in at 4pm, I agreed.

I arrived at the recruiter 15 minutes early since it was a short drive away and me and Sergeant Smith started talking about joining, he asked if I could take a practice ASVAB test they have and I went to the room and started taking the test. I was done rather quickly (I think) and returned to his desk. Another recruiter then popped out from around the corner when we went back to get my score and said "70". I relayed to Sergeant Smith what the site said I might get and that it was 70 so I was happy about the outcome. To pass the ASVAB you need a 31, and I'm only going for Infantry (11b) so I figured I'm pretty safe on the test front. My only worry is being physically fit really for the final test to pass BCT (Basic Combat Training). I'm currently working out at home and to be honest, 10 push ups and 20 sit ups is my current breaking point off the bat (although I do multiple sets), and I haven't even tried to practice running yet for the 2-mile run. I'm not to worried, just I wish I was currently in better physical shape right now. Sergeant Smith and I sat down and did a bunch of paper work and asked me if I could come in at 8am tomorrow (Tuesday) to take the actual ASVAB test off-site, I agreed, and we finished our meeting.

I arrived at the recruiter at 8:05am because the line at 7-11 was a tad long and taking to long to get some coffee to keep me chipper the next couple hours for the test. We arrived at the testing site, everyone was rather quiet, although I did introduce myself to some other recruits and asked them what they were looking to go into the Army for. Once the test started it was all business though, I finished most of my sections rather quickly and was confident about most of my answers. We then finished about 3 hours later and went back to the recruiters so we can get our fingerprints done. Once that was done I got a paper packet I needed to take home and fill out with some information that I forgot the first day to take. As soon as I got home I started writing to people I know to be references for certain sections of the paperwork.

It's Friday and I finally have my paperwork done, everyone I told I'm going into the Army is extremely supportive and its such a great feeling. Although my best friend grant is a tad upset with me about choosing the Army over moving to NC and looking for work in those parts, it was nothing more then being worried then being mad. I got to the recruiter at 11:34am and they were closed! I hoped that this was just some sort of lunch break so I went to my car and sat in there for about 40 minutes before going into the Mall where the recruiter is located and sitting in the hall for another 20 minutes to see if they show up. The sign said they were open M-F so I waited. Twenty minutes passed and no one showed up, I got up and left, although the Marines who were at work seemed to find me suspicious it seemed; they stayed in the hallway talking to each other facing my direction while I sat in front of the offices.

Today is now Saturday and I called the offices when I woke up since they are open for appointments but no one answered. I'll be getting up nice and early on Monday to drop off my papers and hopefully be done with that and anymore paperwork till I have to get ready for MEPS. In the meantime I've been trying to figure out when everything might go down, it seems I wouldn't make it for a December BCT entry because of the holidays so I'm hoping I can possibly get in January. Also doing some research on BCT which is 9 weeks long and also AIT (Advanced Individual Training), it seems for Infantry BCT and AIT is mixed together as OSUT (One Stop Unit Training) and last a total of 13 weeks. I'm hoping if all goes well and I can be entered into OSUT in January then that would mean i'd be deployed (hopefully for Iraq) sometime right at the start of May. If I do enter OSUT in January I can at least use the gap time to continue working out and start doing some running also to hopefully be better prepared.