I am not a big fan of recruiters. I never have been. I have been told horror stories by my own parents who were pursued by recruiters. These people would follow them around to bars and other places that they went in a pathetic attempt to get a contract. Well, I have learned that there actually are some decent individuals out there who honestly care about the people they put into the military. Here's what happened...
I have tossed around the idea of joining the military for many years now. It started when I was only 16. I thought about it a lot but never really acted on it. When I was 18 I dropped out of high school because of some extenuating circumstances that occurred involving a payment that was made for summer school classes. The school said they never received the payment. I know for a fact they did because I hand delivered it to them myself.
Enough about the school. LoL. When I was 18 I began talking to an Army and Air Force recruiter. I really leaned mostly toward the Army. My dream was to be an Apache Pilot. My parents did everything they could to keep me out of the military. They did not approve of President Bush nor the way that he handled his business. They feared that I would not live to see 20 if I enlisted under his lead.
Many years later I began to toss the idea around again. It eventually would go away. I would come back to it, and it would go away. I then came into a rather interesting opportunity with the NASA facility in my home town. I was offered a position as an armed security officer. I absolutely loved every aspect of the job. The training that we received was some of the most fun that I have ever had. This sparked a huge interest in Law Enforcement. I enrolled at Pierpont Community and Technical College as a Criminal Justice major working on a 2-year degree.
2 years into my studies (yea, I made some mistakes) things began to get good. I found a great job working with a contractor for the FBI. I was essentially inputting data from finger print cards into the FBI's national database. I had worked in several different departments there. I was with the company for about 6 months or so when I was laid off. Turns out the company was going under but none of the employees knew it yet. That is why I was let go. When I was laid off my family and I began to experience some financial problems. My wife had to return to work, I was working long hours at jobs that didn't pay enough for one person to live on. With a family consisting of myself, my wife, and our 1-year-old daughter, it just wasn't cutting it.
I started to look for other ways to get work. I had always loved the idea of carrying a weapon and enforcing the law. It is a very dangerous position, yes, but one of great respect. I finally came to the decision that I would join the military. My age started to become a factor. At the time of my decision I was 26. The Air Force cut off age is 27. That would require me to SHIP before I was 27 which was in only a month. I was not comfortable with that. The last time I was thinking about joining I was seriously considering the Navy. The people there just seemed like I was doing them some great injustice by even being interested in their branch. Fuck them. So I was down to Marine Corps and Army. We stopped in and talked to a Marine recruiter for about 4.5 hours one evening. The conversation ended in him giving me a date and time that I was to report the MEPS to begin my processing. The date was only a few days later. We visited the office on a Wednesday. The recruiter then had me projected to process the following Monday. So I passed off our SS cards and a few other documents that I had on hand and told him that I would have the rest for him by Monday. My wife and I both walked out of there thinking "What the fuck just happened?" We were both happy that it was finally going to become real but this was all so fast.
After doing some reading and discussing with some off my wife's family, we decided that we should be shopping around a little more before I made the commitment to one branch. My brother-in-law is retired Army EOD. He made a few phone calls and had someone on the phone with me within an hour. I knew that if I was going to make an educated decision I needed to get the info fast. The recruiter agreed to meet with me that evening (the Saturday before I was supposed to process for the Marines). After meeting with him and discussing what the Army had to offer and comparing them to the Marine Corps, I made the decision to go with the Army.
The very next morning I texted the Marine recruiter and informed him that I had changed my mind. I explained that I was very sorry for wasting his time and that I had to make the decision on what was best for my family and I. He was semi-understanding, at first. After several hours of texting me I could tell that he was becoming more and more aggravated with the fact that he could not change my mind. I finally got to the point where I told him "Look, I've made my decision. That's it. When can I get my documents?" He then went insane. He was so infuriated that I had changed my mind that he began verbally attacking me. He tried to make me feel guilty by saying that I wasted his time and took him away from his family only to tell him to "fuck off" (which I never once said!!!). I just took his shit for a while believing that he had the right to be angry because of what I had done. I then began to think about it. This man pushed me into a decision that I wasn't ready to make. This man is now verbally attacking me for a decision that I made that would benefit myself and my family. I put myself and my family before the "Corps". This is when I flipped out.
I explained to him that I would not accept the way that he was talking to me and that if he didn't produce my documents in a timely manner that I would approach his superior and explain to him what happened. I further explained to him that I still had every message that he had sent me saved on my phone and that I would not hesitate to use them if I needed to. He still proceeded to make an ass of himself. He became very sarcastic and was acting as if he was trying to help me by giving suggestions about some processes that were the same with the Army. After 24 hours of arguing with this man in an attempt to get my fucking ID's back, he finally told me that they would be at his bosses office in a town that was 12 miles away. It was right next to the Army recruiters office so I decided to make a trip up there the next day. When I arrived on Monday, the Marine office was closed. So I proceeded to sit down with the Army guy and work on my packet. I had gotten everything together the day previous only to have the hard drive on my computer die on me. Fuck you, Apple. That thing was barely a year old!!!
While sitting down with the Army guy, he ran a search on some jobs that I was interested in. One came up! It was a 25Romeo position. Visual communications equipment operator maintainer with a 12,000 bonus for 6 years. I told him I'd take it. While he was reserving the job for me, I ran over to the Marine office to see if they were in. I was a bit nervous because of the way that the recruiter acted. I was worried that they were going to cause some kind of problem and I was going to get into an argument with them resulting in me going to jail and losing the chance at the security clearance I need for my MOS. I walked into the office and there was a man on the telephone. I stood and waited patiently while he finished his conversation. After He hung up the phone I explained that Sgt _______ told me that I had some documents there that I needed to pick up. He asked my name. After he heard my name he said "Oh, you're THAT guy." My heart stopped. I thought "Oh shit. Here we go..." The man turned and walked into his office and pulled a folder from desk and handed it to me. "It should all be there" he explained with a smirk on his face. I opened the folder to check. "Yep, that's it. Thank you." I turned to walk out the door. He said "Can I just ask you one question? What made you change your mind?" I explained to him that the Corps just wasn't a good fit for my family and I. I, above all else, wanted to make sure that they were well taken care of. I turned again to walk out the door. "Yep. That's what I would have done too. Take the easy way out." I couldn't believe he had to get his fucking little stab in there. Denying him the satisfaction of plucking at my nerves, I just kept walking and never looked back.
That was the best decision I had ever made. Little did I know that I would have many more problems to come. Not from the Marines, necessarily, but from the military in general. I returned to the Army office with my documents in hand and explained to them what had happened next door. They were amazed that I didn't turn around and hit the fucking guy in the mouth. I've always had a horrible temper but I learned to control it back in high school. After taking care of the rest of the initial paper work we stepped outside. I just happened to look over and noticed that the Navy recruiter that I was speaking with 6 months ago was staring me down. I could tell that he thought I was familiar but wasn't sure why. Immediately after he walked inside I got a phone call from a local number that I didn't recognize. I knew it had to be the Navy. I just let it go to voicemail. Sure enough, that's exactly who it was. I couldn't help but laugh at the situation. The people who totally blew me off just 6 months previous were suddenly interested now that they saw me shopping at the "competition". Yea, fuck you. LoL.
I'll stop here for now. My MEPS experience is next on the list. For those of you who are getting ready to go and are nervous...don't worry about it. Honestly. Its nothing. My problem arose from a bunch of fucking idiots who didn't finish their paperwork on time. That's for tomorrow though. It's late, I am going running in the morning... Yea. But honestly, they poke you a few times, you answer some questions, pee in a cup, give some blood, and show them that your joints function properly and you can duck walk. LoL. Don't wear boxers. No one wants to see mister willy peaking out of the barn while you march around like a dumbass in front of a bunch of other dudes who are standing in their underwear staring at you. LMAO. Yea, it was weird. Just buy some fucking briefs please. Jesus. Haha.
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