Had time to sit down here on a friday night and wanted to catch up with what is happening in my life. It's been about a week since I was processed and suffered through the MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) and enlisted with the National Guard. The ASVAB wasn't as bad as I had stressed it would be and I scored descent on it. I wasn't sure what to expect for a score until I started hearing what many of the other enlistee's were scoring. I heard everything from 25% to as high as 65% and I figured that I would end up somewhere in there. Sgt Klimack sent me a txt informing me that I had actually scored an 87% and was eligible for any job in the military with that score. What a blessing! Who would have thought that I would have done as well as I did. I'm greatful for the lords help there and i'm also greatful to be done with the MEPS.
Shortly after that I had the opportunity to swear in at the guard facility in Ogden. After a long day in MEPS, of standing in many lines and stressing about when I would be able to contact mom and update her with time table, I was happy for some other scenery and to find mom there waiting to support me. I swore in with another kid who was only 17 and still in highschool named Arthur. The whole thing happened so quick as it was the end of the day and everyone wanted to be done and home. I would have liked to have had something of such great significance, as all great life changing moments, progress at a slower pace so that I could have absorbed more the impact of the moment of taking the oath. I can't speak for mom's emotions at the moment but it was all I could do to get through that oath without allowing the tears of great gratitude to run down my cheeks as my voice quavered through that oath. It was truely a...unique and unforgetable moment of my life that I will not soon forget.
It has now been a week since I enlisted and that's given me lots of time to digest the consequences of my actions. I'm excited about what may happen here with the next couple of months now that I've taken the plunge. I don't feel a great miraculous confirmation of my decision, but the weight of the choice has been removed from my shoulders and the dice has been cast. Now I have a designated path that I'm going to move down and make the best of it all and enjoy myself. I'm very excited to see what adventures this chapter of my life will bring me.
Tomorrow morning is my first drill at the Ogden RSP (recruit sustainment program) unit. It's a pre basic training course that enlistee's with delayed ship dates do in order to to get ahead of the curve and hit basic training ahead of the curve and more prepared than the other enlistee's. It ought to be alot of fun and their even paying me to have fun! That sounds like a win win situation to me;) So I write and dedicate this blog to the loss of my dear friend the soul patch that I've worn for the last few years and have come to like considerably. I'm going to miss it even though i'm sure mom will certainly be pleased to see it go, a fringe benefit of the military for you mom :)
A picture of me in my uniform right before I finished shaving
It's crazy to see you in real military uniform...but then again, it didn't actually strike me as that unusual, and I realized it's because you have often worn camo...now it's official. Keep moving forward. Good luck with pre-basic. I miss you.
ReplyDeleteHope everything went well with your drill, as I'm writing this after the fact. I remember when I was sworn in and feeling the same things. I couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear all the way home - if felt so good. MEPS is kind of a little preview of inprocessing for Basic. I know how foreign everything can seem at first, and scary. It's nice that you're national guard so you can reconnect back home with family in between times and catch your breath. Pretty soon this will all seem like no big deal to you. One of the famous Army-isms is "Hurry up and wait!" After all. it is just one giant beurocracy, and EVERYTHING has a S.O.P. (Standard Opperating Procedure) attached.
ReplyDeleteA lot of abbreviations there dude (thanks for translating them in parentheses.) I think I'll miss the soul patch as well - it's kind of become a part of you. Still proud of you.
ReplyDeleteFinally catching up with your blog, Sean. We're right there with you, backing you up. Love you, Mom and Dad
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that's what they called your little beard. Learn something every day.