I just had a realization
I haven't really used this thing in a long while just for the sake of using it, you know? Just to get my thoughts somewhere concrete. I think I've neglected to recognize in the recent past how important that is, for me. I've been using this more or less as a way to communicate with a bunch of friends in a quick and efficient manner.
I realize I probably shouldn't have any secrets from you people. But I do. And I'm going to continue to use it as a mass commnication device, but I'll try to personalize it a little more. I promise.
Anyway, here's a bit more of a detailed outline of what exactly is going to be happening in my near future.
I go to the processing station and I swear in starting tomorrow. It's in Tampa. I went there last week and my recruiter said to himself, "Gee, it'd probably be one of the greatest Ideas ever to sign and date this important medical document on two separate dates, even though if I do that my recruit won't be able to process!"
So I basically just got a free night at a hotel, a little video games, some conversation with some young dudes with scary futures like myself. They woke us up at nearly four thirty in the morning, drive us to this little testing station, this little Asian man yelled at us, and then they told me that I can't do my physical today, that I'd have to come back later on. So I woke up my recruiter by calling his cell phone at like, six in the morning on a Saturday. I have no remorse.
I go back tomorrow, do the whole process over again, sit in a bus, a rickety, scary bus that an angry old man drives for four hours or so because we have to stop at every recruiting station on the way to Tampa to pick up other recruits, and then stay in the hotel for the night. After we sleep they wake us up at four in the morning, get us on a bus, and shuttle us to the actual MEPS (military entrant processing station). Hopefully this time we won't run into any problems. Maybe we will run into some animals or something. That would be sweet.
After that, I'm basically working out like MAD until I ship out. I ship out from that same processing station on the 18th. I catch a bus from there that goes up to Fort Jackson, SC. That's where I have basic training.
Basic lasts roughly eight weeks, most of the time. For me, because I get two weeks off for Christmas, it's a little longer. More like 13. After boot camp is over, I go to AIT, essentially training for the job that I'll eventually have. The job I will eventually have is working on TV style broadcasts using a studio camera, learning all of the systems involved with it, all that jazz. Like I said in the last entry, I'll be a glorified cameraman. I study how to do that for 27 weeks. AIT is in Fort Meade, just south of Baltimore. This is unbelievably good news as I have a friend that I love very much going to school at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. This was a remarkably lucky turn of events, for us, as we've always lived a country's length away and it's always been really hard to get together.
Anyway, after AIT, who knows. I get deployed, maybe, I get to choose where I want to be stationed, maybe, a number of things can happen.
The reason I picked the job I did is because it was the most enjoyable, least combat-oriented, and shortest commitment time job I could get. The reason I wanted a shorter term is because there are more rewarding jobs for people who can get TOP SECRET security clearance or SECRET security clearance, whereas I can only get basic security clearance, because I have a felony charge on my record.
There's a bunch of bullshit going on there I won't even get into.
But they come to me 24 months prior to the end of my commitment and ask what I want to do in the future, they write up a new contract, and I then fufill the terms of that, nullifying the old one. So that means that I'll only have to serve for one year doing something trivial, I will have proven myself an asset and when I re-enlist I can get those jobs that require a security clearance.
So that's the plan, right now. Serve a year, re-enlist with a longer term and serve that doing something exciting and challenging with better benefits and pay scale and bonuses and all that.
Lets try something else!
I had a pretty brilliant time this weekend. I ended up visiting with Rick and Shawna, two of my closest friends, who were in town from Gainesville and Athens, GA respectively. We met at Travis Brooks' house. He's also a remarkably cool dude. I love haning out with him. Victoria was with me, it was a good time. We went to Chillis and hung out for a bit and then I bid them all adieu to head to a costume party at Kaleigh's new place.
This party was, as they say, off the heezy. It was awesome, and I bumped into some people there that I hadn't talked with in a long time, who were remarkably cooler than I remember. Alex Peak was one of these guys. I met a traveling custom jewler/stand up comedian named Davis with a huge fucking shark tattooed on his back. Cool guy. Also, I got to hang out with Kaleigh all day today, which was a much needed thing. I have missed her dearly.
Anyway, I ended up not sleeping that night, even after having gotten pretty drunk, so I'm going to go ahead and rest, as I have to be up pretty early tomorrow morning to do the thing with the angry people who make me do things I don't wanna do.
I realize I probably shouldn't have any secrets from you people. But I do. And I'm going to continue to use it as a mass commnication device, but I'll try to personalize it a little more. I promise.
Anyway, here's a bit more of a detailed outline of what exactly is going to be happening in my near future.
I go to the processing station and I swear in starting tomorrow. It's in Tampa. I went there last week and my recruiter said to himself, "Gee, it'd probably be one of the greatest Ideas ever to sign and date this important medical document on two separate dates, even though if I do that my recruit won't be able to process!"
So I basically just got a free night at a hotel, a little video games, some conversation with some young dudes with scary futures like myself. They woke us up at nearly four thirty in the morning, drive us to this little testing station, this little Asian man yelled at us, and then they told me that I can't do my physical today, that I'd have to come back later on. So I woke up my recruiter by calling his cell phone at like, six in the morning on a Saturday. I have no remorse.
I go back tomorrow, do the whole process over again, sit in a bus, a rickety, scary bus that an angry old man drives for four hours or so because we have to stop at every recruiting station on the way to Tampa to pick up other recruits, and then stay in the hotel for the night. After we sleep they wake us up at four in the morning, get us on a bus, and shuttle us to the actual MEPS (military entrant processing station). Hopefully this time we won't run into any problems. Maybe we will run into some animals or something. That would be sweet.
After that, I'm basically working out like MAD until I ship out. I ship out from that same processing station on the 18th. I catch a bus from there that goes up to Fort Jackson, SC. That's where I have basic training.
Basic lasts roughly eight weeks, most of the time. For me, because I get two weeks off for Christmas, it's a little longer. More like 13. After boot camp is over, I go to AIT, essentially training for the job that I'll eventually have. The job I will eventually have is working on TV style broadcasts using a studio camera, learning all of the systems involved with it, all that jazz. Like I said in the last entry, I'll be a glorified cameraman. I study how to do that for 27 weeks. AIT is in Fort Meade, just south of Baltimore. This is unbelievably good news as I have a friend that I love very much going to school at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. This was a remarkably lucky turn of events, for us, as we've always lived a country's length away and it's always been really hard to get together.
Anyway, after AIT, who knows. I get deployed, maybe, I get to choose where I want to be stationed, maybe, a number of things can happen.
The reason I picked the job I did is because it was the most enjoyable, least combat-oriented, and shortest commitment time job I could get. The reason I wanted a shorter term is because there are more rewarding jobs for people who can get TOP SECRET security clearance or SECRET security clearance, whereas I can only get basic security clearance, because I have a felony charge on my record.
There's a bunch of bullshit going on there I won't even get into.
But they come to me 24 months prior to the end of my commitment and ask what I want to do in the future, they write up a new contract, and I then fufill the terms of that, nullifying the old one. So that means that I'll only have to serve for one year doing something trivial, I will have proven myself an asset and when I re-enlist I can get those jobs that require a security clearance.
So that's the plan, right now. Serve a year, re-enlist with a longer term and serve that doing something exciting and challenging with better benefits and pay scale and bonuses and all that.
Lets try something else!
I had a pretty brilliant time this weekend. I ended up visiting with Rick and Shawna, two of my closest friends, who were in town from Gainesville and Athens, GA respectively. We met at Travis Brooks' house. He's also a remarkably cool dude. I love haning out with him. Victoria was with me, it was a good time. We went to Chillis and hung out for a bit and then I bid them all adieu to head to a costume party at Kaleigh's new place.
This party was, as they say, off the heezy. It was awesome, and I bumped into some people there that I hadn't talked with in a long time, who were remarkably cooler than I remember. Alex Peak was one of these guys. I met a traveling custom jewler/stand up comedian named Davis with a huge fucking shark tattooed on his back. Cool guy. Also, I got to hang out with Kaleigh all day today, which was a much needed thing. I have missed her dearly.
Anyway, I ended up not sleeping that night, even after having gotten pretty drunk, so I'm going to go ahead and rest, as I have to be up pretty early tomorrow morning to do the thing with the angry people who make me do things I don't wanna do.