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Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Pre-BCT facebook Quiz Results
Sunday, April 17, 2011
I don't normally do this...
Now, I don't normally do this but you have to check out this site. Seriously, you get points for doing nothing and can redeem them for all kinds of free stuff from video games to gift cards. Its awesome!!!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
The MEPS Experience
OK. So if you don't know it by now MEPS stands for Military Entrance Processing Station. Yes, for everything in the government, there is an acronym. It's annoying, but you better get used to it. This is the facility you will visit shortly after you decide that you want to join. They will give you a medical exam, make sure all of you paperwork is in order and, if you haven't already, help you to select a job.
My MEPS experience was a little bit of a headache. Where do I begin...
To start with, my recruiter told me last second that he wasn't going to be the one taking me up to Pittsburgh. He said that another person from their office was taking a guy up so I would be riding with him. The guy was really friggn annoying. He was telling stupid jokes and horrible stories. One of those people who like the sound of his own voice. Yea, he totally thought that his jokes were the funniest thing in the world. Well, they weren't.
When we arrived at the hotel he walked us upstairs to the liaison's office so that we could sign in. I told the guy at the desk my name. He searched through his pile of papers for a few minutes and then told me that my name wasn't on the list. He didn't seem to think anything of it. He gave me a room key and a meal ticket and explained how everything would work. I thanked him and went off to find my room.
The room was ok. Nothing fancy, but not a scummy, roach infested dump either. The one thing that I can say was wrong with the room was the lack of electrical outlets. I had to pull out the bed and unplug the alarm clock in order to charge my phone. That was a bit annoying but I could live with it. I went downstairs to call the wife and then walked around a bit until dinner was being served. The food was ok. It was boring and bland but it free. You can't ask for too much. After my meal I went back upstairs and relaxed in the room for a bit. After a few hours I jumped in shower and went to bed.
Wake-up call was at 0430. Breakfast was at 0500. The bus loaded up at 0530. The bus was exactly like what I have always expected. Totally white, unmarked, dark black tinted windows. We arrived at the MEPS building and were ordered off the bus and instructed to line up at the door. While we stood and waited another man began to brief us on the security procedures for entering and exiting the building. We walked through the main doors and showed our ID's to the guard at the door. We then had to pass through metal detectors and past a group of guards with wands. After that we were told to take the elevator to the 21st floor.
When we got up to our floor we went straight over to the Army Liaison's office to get our name tags and lunch tickets. When I told the guy my name he said..."Hm. Your name isn't on my list. I'll look into this." He didn't seem to be too concerned about it. So I didn't think anything of it at all. He handed me my folder and instructed me to head over to the reception desk so that I can check in. The guy at the desk told me that I was put down in the system as a walk in and that they would not be able to process me today. I began to get a little aggravated now. I explained to the guy at the desk that this was the last day possible for me to process for the job reservation that I had made (they give you 7 days from the date that your recruiter pulls the job). He told me to go back and speak with the liaison. The liaison then did his little run around to try and get me a spot to take the ASVAB and then do my medical exam but they had no seats available.
After talking to the guy for a few minutes I was able to figure out that the night prior, HE fucked up my paper work. My name wasn't put on the roster to be processed so they had no open seats for me. Now, I may sound calm about this right now, but at the time I was absolutely livid. This was the LAST day that I was able to process for the job I wanted and this douche-bag fucked it up for me. Well, he instructed me to wait around for his boss and we would figure out what would happen. I sat around for about 2 hours until his boss arrived at 0900. They called me back into the office and his boss looked over my documents. He told me that they were 99.9% sure that they would be able to get the job back for me but there was no way that they could get me in to process that day. He said the best that he could do is schedule me to take the ASVAB that same evening and then I would have to stay at the hotel another night and finish the medical and stuff in the morning. By this time it was around 1030. I was even more angry than I was before. I was not prepared to stay at the hotel another night away from my wife and daughter. I immediately went downstairs so that I could call my recruiter and wife. After explaining to them what was going on I decided to go back in for lunch.
After lunch I went back outside to speak to my recruiter and my family again. Nothing seemed to be going right today. Things that I didn't even know could go wrong went wrong. It was at this point that I realized I had left my cell phone charger in the hotel room. I was so ready to just throw my fucking arms up and quit. It just seemed like everything was telling me that this just wasn't supposed to happen. I figured I would stick it out. I was serious about my commitment this time and didn't want to be told NO.
I was forced to goof off until 1800 when I was scheduled to take my exam. After the test I jumped on the shuttle and went back to the hotel. I called my wife while I was waiting for the shuttle to let her know that my test had gone well. It was then that I noticed that my cell phone's battery was low. I realized that I had left my charger in the room last night. That's ok, I'll just ask about it at the front desk. It'll be ok... Yea right...
I got back to the hotel and they informed me that the lost and found was behind a locked door. The only person who had a key to that door would not be back in the hotel until 0700 tomorrow morning. I explained to the lady that I would be leaving to go back up to MEPS before they would be back. She said "We can mail it to you..." That was not sufficient. I needed my phone charged and I needed it NOW. Why the hell would they not have access to the lost and found in the evening just because the housekeeping staff was not working. That's bullshit. I went and asked someone else. He walked me around the hotel for a while to try and find someone who could help. We came across a janitor. This man was the nicest person that I have ever met. He walked me around the bowels of the hotel for 1.5 hours trying to find my charger or a charger that would work on my phone. We had exhausted all efforts. I stopped into the gift shop and asked if they had any chargers. They did not. The man asked me what was going on so I explained to him what had happened. Turns out that the charger for his phone was the same as mine!!! He let me plug my phone in and leave it in the store for a few hours. I went and had dinner and payed xbox for a while and then went to retrieve my phone. I will say that the hotel was kind of annoying in the way they handled the lost and found but most of the staff at the hotel were so incredibly nice to me. It was amazing!
So I got up the next morning, had breakfast and jumped on the bus. I check in at MEPS... everything was going right for a change.
They first bring you into a briefing room and explain to you how to fill out the paperwork with the proper date format and such. Then they go over a few power point slide shows and give you a breathalyzer test to make sure you aren't drunk. LoL. Hm... You then have your blood pressure taken. After that you move on to the vision exam. It was a standard vision exam. Color test, depth perception.... etc. Then you go on to the hearing test. This was a LARGE sound-proof booth with 6 seats inside. Each seat faced the outer walls and were separated by curtains. You put on a pair of really uncomfortable headphones and grab hold of a 'clicker' device and push the button each time you hear a noise. Next you go to a central room where you are waiting for several other tasks to be completed. Here is were I gave a blood sample to test for AIDS and HIV, a urine sample to test for drugs, and then had an interview with the doctor. This is where some people freak out. Yes, your recruiter may ask you to lie about your medical history. Trust me, he will not tell you to cover something up that could potentially be fatal or otherwise cause problems for you in the military. The doctor wasn't very probing. He just went over my answers with me to make sure that everything was filled in properly. After this point you move on to the dreaded 'agility and flexibility' test. Yes my friends, you will do the duck walk. LoL. They bring a group of guys into an open room. They make you all strip down to your undies and then they weigh and measure you. You will go through a series of exercises to make sure that your joints are working properly. After this test you will see the doctor again for a quick exam. He checks ur brown eye for bleeders and will go over a few other items and that's it. You are done with medical! YAY! Now you can hurry up and wait. There are shit tons of back and forths with various paperwork shits. Its really annoying.
After it's all said and done you will take the oath and be sworn in. You can breath easy. You are in. Congrats!!! If you haven't realized it by now, they were able to correct their mistake and get the job (and bonus) back for me. I was happy by the time I left. Once I got out my recruiter was already waiting on me. He had went to the hotel before coming to get me so that he could grab my charger. YAY!. Everything that had gone TOTALLY crazy wrong the day before had worked out perfectly this day! Thank god!
My MEPS experience was a little bit of a headache. Where do I begin...
To start with, my recruiter told me last second that he wasn't going to be the one taking me up to Pittsburgh. He said that another person from their office was taking a guy up so I would be riding with him. The guy was really friggn annoying. He was telling stupid jokes and horrible stories. One of those people who like the sound of his own voice. Yea, he totally thought that his jokes were the funniest thing in the world. Well, they weren't.
When we arrived at the hotel he walked us upstairs to the liaison's office so that we could sign in. I told the guy at the desk my name. He searched through his pile of papers for a few minutes and then told me that my name wasn't on the list. He didn't seem to think anything of it. He gave me a room key and a meal ticket and explained how everything would work. I thanked him and went off to find my room.
The room was ok. Nothing fancy, but not a scummy, roach infested dump either. The one thing that I can say was wrong with the room was the lack of electrical outlets. I had to pull out the bed and unplug the alarm clock in order to charge my phone. That was a bit annoying but I could live with it. I went downstairs to call the wife and then walked around a bit until dinner was being served. The food was ok. It was boring and bland but it free. You can't ask for too much. After my meal I went back upstairs and relaxed in the room for a bit. After a few hours I jumped in shower and went to bed.
Wake-up call was at 0430. Breakfast was at 0500. The bus loaded up at 0530. The bus was exactly like what I have always expected. Totally white, unmarked, dark black tinted windows. We arrived at the MEPS building and were ordered off the bus and instructed to line up at the door. While we stood and waited another man began to brief us on the security procedures for entering and exiting the building. We walked through the main doors and showed our ID's to the guard at the door. We then had to pass through metal detectors and past a group of guards with wands. After that we were told to take the elevator to the 21st floor.
When we got up to our floor we went straight over to the Army Liaison's office to get our name tags and lunch tickets. When I told the guy my name he said..."Hm. Your name isn't on my list. I'll look into this." He didn't seem to be too concerned about it. So I didn't think anything of it at all. He handed me my folder and instructed me to head over to the reception desk so that I can check in. The guy at the desk told me that I was put down in the system as a walk in and that they would not be able to process me today. I began to get a little aggravated now. I explained to the guy at the desk that this was the last day possible for me to process for the job reservation that I had made (they give you 7 days from the date that your recruiter pulls the job). He told me to go back and speak with the liaison. The liaison then did his little run around to try and get me a spot to take the ASVAB and then do my medical exam but they had no seats available.
After talking to the guy for a few minutes I was able to figure out that the night prior, HE fucked up my paper work. My name wasn't put on the roster to be processed so they had no open seats for me. Now, I may sound calm about this right now, but at the time I was absolutely livid. This was the LAST day that I was able to process for the job I wanted and this douche-bag fucked it up for me. Well, he instructed me to wait around for his boss and we would figure out what would happen. I sat around for about 2 hours until his boss arrived at 0900. They called me back into the office and his boss looked over my documents. He told me that they were 99.9% sure that they would be able to get the job back for me but there was no way that they could get me in to process that day. He said the best that he could do is schedule me to take the ASVAB that same evening and then I would have to stay at the hotel another night and finish the medical and stuff in the morning. By this time it was around 1030. I was even more angry than I was before. I was not prepared to stay at the hotel another night away from my wife and daughter. I immediately went downstairs so that I could call my recruiter and wife. After explaining to them what was going on I decided to go back in for lunch.
After lunch I went back outside to speak to my recruiter and my family again. Nothing seemed to be going right today. Things that I didn't even know could go wrong went wrong. It was at this point that I realized I had left my cell phone charger in the hotel room. I was so ready to just throw my fucking arms up and quit. It just seemed like everything was telling me that this just wasn't supposed to happen. I figured I would stick it out. I was serious about my commitment this time and didn't want to be told NO.
I was forced to goof off until 1800 when I was scheduled to take my exam. After the test I jumped on the shuttle and went back to the hotel. I called my wife while I was waiting for the shuttle to let her know that my test had gone well. It was then that I noticed that my cell phone's battery was low. I realized that I had left my charger in the room last night. That's ok, I'll just ask about it at the front desk. It'll be ok... Yea right...
I got back to the hotel and they informed me that the lost and found was behind a locked door. The only person who had a key to that door would not be back in the hotel until 0700 tomorrow morning. I explained to the lady that I would be leaving to go back up to MEPS before they would be back. She said "We can mail it to you..." That was not sufficient. I needed my phone charged and I needed it NOW. Why the hell would they not have access to the lost and found in the evening just because the housekeeping staff was not working. That's bullshit. I went and asked someone else. He walked me around the hotel for a while to try and find someone who could help. We came across a janitor. This man was the nicest person that I have ever met. He walked me around the bowels of the hotel for 1.5 hours trying to find my charger or a charger that would work on my phone. We had exhausted all efforts. I stopped into the gift shop and asked if they had any chargers. They did not. The man asked me what was going on so I explained to him what had happened. Turns out that the charger for his phone was the same as mine!!! He let me plug my phone in and leave it in the store for a few hours. I went and had dinner and payed xbox for a while and then went to retrieve my phone. I will say that the hotel was kind of annoying in the way they handled the lost and found but most of the staff at the hotel were so incredibly nice to me. It was amazing!
So I got up the next morning, had breakfast and jumped on the bus. I check in at MEPS... everything was going right for a change.
They first bring you into a briefing room and explain to you how to fill out the paperwork with the proper date format and such. Then they go over a few power point slide shows and give you a breathalyzer test to make sure you aren't drunk. LoL. Hm... You then have your blood pressure taken. After that you move on to the vision exam. It was a standard vision exam. Color test, depth perception.... etc. Then you go on to the hearing test. This was a LARGE sound-proof booth with 6 seats inside. Each seat faced the outer walls and were separated by curtains. You put on a pair of really uncomfortable headphones and grab hold of a 'clicker' device and push the button each time you hear a noise. Next you go to a central room where you are waiting for several other tasks to be completed. Here is were I gave a blood sample to test for AIDS and HIV, a urine sample to test for drugs, and then had an interview with the doctor. This is where some people freak out. Yes, your recruiter may ask you to lie about your medical history. Trust me, he will not tell you to cover something up that could potentially be fatal or otherwise cause problems for you in the military. The doctor wasn't very probing. He just went over my answers with me to make sure that everything was filled in properly. After this point you move on to the dreaded 'agility and flexibility' test. Yes my friends, you will do the duck walk. LoL. They bring a group of guys into an open room. They make you all strip down to your undies and then they weigh and measure you. You will go through a series of exercises to make sure that your joints are working properly. After this test you will see the doctor again for a quick exam. He checks ur brown eye for bleeders and will go over a few other items and that's it. You are done with medical! YAY! Now you can hurry up and wait. There are shit tons of back and forths with various paperwork shits. Its really annoying.
After it's all said and done you will take the oath and be sworn in. You can breath easy. You are in. Congrats!!! If you haven't realized it by now, they were able to correct their mistake and get the job (and bonus) back for me. I was happy by the time I left. Once I got out my recruiter was already waiting on me. He had went to the hotel before coming to get me so that he could grab my charger. YAY!. Everything that had gone TOTALLY crazy wrong the day before had worked out perfectly this day! Thank god!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Why I don't like recruiters...
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.
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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