In the Air Force nowwwwwwwww
Shit yeah, the last two days were boring as hell but it was all worth it. I'm officially a US Air Force recruit as of today! But I wanna tell the world how things are getting tested for this damn opportunity and the rigors of the applicants.
February 22, 2006
Wednesday started early, having to meet my recruiter at his office at 7:30 am. I woke up at 7:00, ate some paczi's, and was on my way. From his office we drove to Gaylord and drove around a bit, he showed me his house and shit like that. We arrived at the pick up station at around 8:45 am.
At 9:10 am the shuttle finally arrives and I get in, packing my bag behind the back seat (regulations), and settle in for the long hall. I'm the first to be picked up. At 9:20 we pick up 4 more people at the gaylord office across town, and hit the road at 9:30. From 9:30 - 2:00 pm or so we drove downstate, stopping at recruiting stations along the way for small breaks and to pick up more people. By the time we reached our hotel we had a full shuttle. All but 4 or us leave the shuttle and go into teh hotel, these people are there for the physical and/or are shipping out the next day. From here we headed to the Processing Station where the last 4 of us would take the ASVAB test.
The processing stations rather large, but in a basic sense theres only about 8 areas the applicants see: the lobby where you check in, the secure area (baggage room), the game/cafeteria/tv rooms (I consider these all one room as no one ever uses the game or tv room), the testing lab, the med lab, the counseling area, the interview area, and the induction area. I'll go into what each of these are as I come to them.
SO for the first day we stored our bags in the secure area and headed down the hall to take teh ASVAB. The test itself has some really difficult questions, but at the same time it has equally base questions. I passed with flying colors (95 percentile, second highest of everyone I spoke to) and from 4:00-6:45 we sat around talking, playing cards, whatever. It was really boring waiting around because there wasnt shit to do, we werent allowed outside the facility, we couldnt take anything from the baggage room, so yeah, it sort of sucked.
At 6:45 the Quality Hotel bus arrived and took all the remaining applicants to the hotel we were staying. Once inside the hotel we checked in, then were hustled off to a meeting in which we listened to some dude ramble on and on about what we cant do. Essentially we were allowed to wander, but couldnt dick around, couldnt go off the premises, yada yada. From there the late arrivals (the dudes who took the asvab) we're given dinner. It consisted of a salisbury steak patty, a fried chicken breast, mashed potatos, a roll, and corn. It tasted (and looked) like it'd been reheated in the microwave, but many of us hadnt eaten for 12+ hours so we could care less and woofed it down. At 8:30 my room mate (a Marine recruit who's name I cant recall) hit the hay because there wasnt anything to do and we were going for testing at 3:45 am the next morning.
February 23, 2006
We recieved our wake up call at 4:00 am and hustled out of bed and upstairs for breakfast. I was the first of everyone to reach the lobby, and waited around until 4:15 when I could get breakfast. It was damn good, scrambled eggs, 2 sausage links, milk, hash browns, and toast. At 4:40 the bus took us all (about 20 or so of us) to go take our physicals.
At the processing station we had our bags checked, had those metal detector sticks ran around us, and recieved our med docs. From there we headed to our job counselors where we were given a speech as to how things would go down and filled out some papers. From there we went to the med station where we filled out lots more documents, were given a breathalizer (in case anyone drank the night before), had our blood pressure taken, and from there we did the following: had our blood taken, had a physical exam (males had it done by a female... go figure), had to pee in a cup, do a hearing test and multiple vision exams, get our height and weight taken, and do a 30 minute routine of stretches and bends and let a female doctor examine 10 of us to check out our joints, feet, spines, and teh way we moved. All these tests, plus the waiting between tests, took until 11:30 pm.
At 11:50 I talked to the counselor and they told me to take lunch, which was just a meager sandwich and chips. I rushed back to the counselor room and waited until 3:00 when they would take me... in that time I watched 2 tv shows, played 3 chess games with other air force, and basically sat around. At 3:00 I was taken as the last applicant (I had told them to take a dude who'd been waiting a couple hours before me) and was told I could have any job the the air force (aside depth perception based fields, the only test I failed the whole day @_@).
I picked the following 6 I'd like to do, all of which I was qualified for (in this order):
Aircraft Electronics and Environmental Systems Aprentice - Essentially I check out all the landing systems, air conditioning/filtering systems, and fuel systems on aircrafts, and run tests on them. I make sure shits running good at a moments notice.
Tactical Aircraft Maintenance Apprentice - I run the system checks and make sure the planes are ready to go, as well as making minor repairs
Mechanical Aptitude Area - this is basically a general area dealing with anything mechanical
Structural Apprentice - Learn to construct and repair all sorts of structures, including wood, sheet metal, and concrete. Basically a military carpenter who gets to drive around big vehicles (and gets a license to drive em ;) )
Pavements and Construction Equipment Apprentice - Basically the same as above, except I specialize in driving all heavy vehicles (cement mixers, water trucks, etc.)
Electrical Systems Apprentice - Essentially an electrician
Those were my job choices. After that I was taken to the interview room where i answered a bunch of rudimentary questions, they took my fingerprints, and I was sworn into the armed forces.
Anywho, I just got home at 8:00 pm and am whipped, so sorry if everythings all convoluted and/or sounds like a ramble, I wanted to get it all out haha!
February 22, 2006
Wednesday started early, having to meet my recruiter at his office at 7:30 am. I woke up at 7:00, ate some paczi's, and was on my way. From his office we drove to Gaylord and drove around a bit, he showed me his house and shit like that. We arrived at the pick up station at around 8:45 am.
At 9:10 am the shuttle finally arrives and I get in, packing my bag behind the back seat (regulations), and settle in for the long hall. I'm the first to be picked up. At 9:20 we pick up 4 more people at the gaylord office across town, and hit the road at 9:30. From 9:30 - 2:00 pm or so we drove downstate, stopping at recruiting stations along the way for small breaks and to pick up more people. By the time we reached our hotel we had a full shuttle. All but 4 or us leave the shuttle and go into teh hotel, these people are there for the physical and/or are shipping out the next day. From here we headed to the Processing Station where the last 4 of us would take the ASVAB test.
The processing stations rather large, but in a basic sense theres only about 8 areas the applicants see: the lobby where you check in, the secure area (baggage room), the game/cafeteria/tv rooms (I consider these all one room as no one ever uses the game or tv room), the testing lab, the med lab, the counseling area, the interview area, and the induction area. I'll go into what each of these are as I come to them.
SO for the first day we stored our bags in the secure area and headed down the hall to take teh ASVAB. The test itself has some really difficult questions, but at the same time it has equally base questions. I passed with flying colors (95 percentile, second highest of everyone I spoke to) and from 4:00-6:45 we sat around talking, playing cards, whatever. It was really boring waiting around because there wasnt shit to do, we werent allowed outside the facility, we couldnt take anything from the baggage room, so yeah, it sort of sucked.
At 6:45 the Quality Hotel bus arrived and took all the remaining applicants to the hotel we were staying. Once inside the hotel we checked in, then were hustled off to a meeting in which we listened to some dude ramble on and on about what we cant do. Essentially we were allowed to wander, but couldnt dick around, couldnt go off the premises, yada yada. From there the late arrivals (the dudes who took the asvab) we're given dinner. It consisted of a salisbury steak patty, a fried chicken breast, mashed potatos, a roll, and corn. It tasted (and looked) like it'd been reheated in the microwave, but many of us hadnt eaten for 12+ hours so we could care less and woofed it down. At 8:30 my room mate (a Marine recruit who's name I cant recall) hit the hay because there wasnt anything to do and we were going for testing at 3:45 am the next morning.
February 23, 2006
We recieved our wake up call at 4:00 am and hustled out of bed and upstairs for breakfast. I was the first of everyone to reach the lobby, and waited around until 4:15 when I could get breakfast. It was damn good, scrambled eggs, 2 sausage links, milk, hash browns, and toast. At 4:40 the bus took us all (about 20 or so of us) to go take our physicals.
At the processing station we had our bags checked, had those metal detector sticks ran around us, and recieved our med docs. From there we headed to our job counselors where we were given a speech as to how things would go down and filled out some papers. From there we went to the med station where we filled out lots more documents, were given a breathalizer (in case anyone drank the night before), had our blood pressure taken, and from there we did the following: had our blood taken, had a physical exam (males had it done by a female... go figure), had to pee in a cup, do a hearing test and multiple vision exams, get our height and weight taken, and do a 30 minute routine of stretches and bends and let a female doctor examine 10 of us to check out our joints, feet, spines, and teh way we moved. All these tests, plus the waiting between tests, took until 11:30 pm.
At 11:50 I talked to the counselor and they told me to take lunch, which was just a meager sandwich and chips. I rushed back to the counselor room and waited until 3:00 when they would take me... in that time I watched 2 tv shows, played 3 chess games with other air force, and basically sat around. At 3:00 I was taken as the last applicant (I had told them to take a dude who'd been waiting a couple hours before me) and was told I could have any job the the air force (aside depth perception based fields, the only test I failed the whole day @_@).
I picked the following 6 I'd like to do, all of which I was qualified for (in this order):
Aircraft Electronics and Environmental Systems Aprentice - Essentially I check out all the landing systems, air conditioning/filtering systems, and fuel systems on aircrafts, and run tests on them. I make sure shits running good at a moments notice.
Tactical Aircraft Maintenance Apprentice - I run the system checks and make sure the planes are ready to go, as well as making minor repairs
Mechanical Aptitude Area - this is basically a general area dealing with anything mechanical
Structural Apprentice - Learn to construct and repair all sorts of structures, including wood, sheet metal, and concrete. Basically a military carpenter who gets to drive around big vehicles (and gets a license to drive em ;) )
Pavements and Construction Equipment Apprentice - Basically the same as above, except I specialize in driving all heavy vehicles (cement mixers, water trucks, etc.)
Electrical Systems Apprentice - Essentially an electrician
Those were my job choices. After that I was taken to the interview room where i answered a bunch of rudimentary questions, they took my fingerprints, and I was sworn into the armed forces.
Anywho, I just got home at 8:00 pm and am whipped, so sorry if everythings all convoluted and/or sounds like a ramble, I wanted to get it all out haha!