Tomorrow is the day

Well tomorrow is the big day....I ship out for Fort Leonard Wood in the morning after a brief stop at Tampa MEPS ( Well I hope it is short) Thanks to all who have read this and thanks especially to my WONDERFUL and supportive wife. I could not have done this without you baby. I will be back Dec 18th or so for Exodus, so I will be sure to post when I return. Thanks again!

Tim

WOW

11days 17hours and 59 min until I ship.... I am soo excited and just want it to arrive for goodness sake:) I had drill this past weekend so I got to meet my unit members, the way the weekend went just reassured me that I have made the right choice...I felt like I fit right in.....TIME FOR SOME PT:)

Civilian work

Well here I am at my new civi job and can barely keep my mind focus. All I can think of is shipping, BCT, AIT and the Army. My goals of getting into shape before I leave have not been met yet, but my weight is still down so I guess I got that going for me. Tonight I will run a few miles and see what happens. STAY TUNED

29days 19hours and 46min

Well here we are.....Sunday morning and I feel alot better than I did yesterday. For some reason I have lost the focus on working out and running that I had before I went to MEPS. I know I need to regain that focus and stop eating the way I have been. It is coming down to the wire now and I need to prepare better both mentally and physically. As I get closer to ship date I have realized that there is a lot to do, and I dont want to be doing it all the night before I leave. People ask me if I am nervouse about this whole thing and to answer that I am NOT at all, but I am more anxious about getting there and starting this new phase of my life. Thanks to all of you for the support. STAY TUNED!

HOLY CRAP

31DAYS 8hours and 18MIN

Days remaining

33days 8hours and 26min until I ship. Started a new job today, and cant stop eating....Man I need to get back on the treadmil.

Today

Hello all and I am SOOOO sorry it has taken me sooo long to update my blog. After two full days at MEPS 2 weeks ago I am in the ARMY:) I went Thursday the 16th and everything went pretty smooth, but they forgot to send me to see the knee doctor so I had to go back the next day. Friday was the LONGEST day of sitting around and waiting, but at the end of the night I took the oath to defend this great land. I am shipping 01NOV to Fort Leonard Wood Missouri for Basic and AIT. Last Monday I went to my local armory and got my ARMY ID....Of course I went right to the commisary to check it out and see what kind of good deals I could get ( Learned from my father). This past weekend my wife and I moved into our new home in Lake Mary FL and we just love it:) We are a lot closer to her parents which will be good when I ship. Well now I have 35days 12hours and 10 min until I ship out....from this point I just need to get into a little better shape and mentally prepare for the unltimate adventure. STAY TUNED!

MEPS Stresses

Well MEPS is approaching quickly and man am I getting nervouse. I know it is stupid to be nervouse, but you just sit around and wonder if I have HEMROIDS, am i going to have HIGH BLOOD pressure will they find a HERNIA. I know I am causing more stress than I need, but I figure I will get it out now and feel relaxed by the time I hit the rack tomorrow night. I must of went to Target to use the blood pressure machine 3 or 4 times today. When I first went it started off a little high, but then when I went back it was 128/68 which was perfect......Guess I learned not to do it right after I work out. Tomorrow I am going to not take any diet pills or drink any caffeine so I am in the best for Thursday. Thanks to all who get the chance to read this I hope the info I can provide helps when you go down the same path I am going down now. Until Tomorrow:)

MEPS Week

Today I met with my recruiter and finished and signed all my paper work for enlistment and my security clearance. It was pretty exciting stuff, but at the same time a little boring cause he had to go back and make some changes on things he messed up on. I was there for a total of about two hours or so. SO I am off to MEPS on Thursday so I will meet him at the office at 0345 in the morning for the short drive to Tampa. This is exciting cause if all goes well I will get sworn and get my BCT day which I still hope is OCT 3rd, he said it should be no problem and the class is not full as of yet. Now I just want to loose a few more pounds, I dont have to but I want to. STAY TUNED!

Happy Weekend

Well here we are....SATURDAY and man am I hung over. That will be the last time I do that before I ship. I need to run and sweat alot today and this weekend to be as light as I can be on Wed.....I still cant decide If I want to go down to Tampa and stay in the hotel or just drive down early Wed morning.....SFC Wilson left it up to me, but I will decide later. I am very excited for this to come and go. If sworn in on Wed I will be able to get my wife her dependant ID so she can use the commisary while I am gone ( WAY TO GO GUARD) I have been reading the boards hourly looking for updates and all the info I can get. Well I am off to run!

MEPS here I come

Well I finally got a hold of SFC Wilson and the news is good. I will go to MEPS on Wednesday, but I have to do a consel with a doctor off site for my knee, he said it is simple and he had to go through the same thing. Basically they will make sure my knee is stable (which it is) and maybe they will take a Xray to make sure the bones are intact (which they are) SO I am excited and have a little more time to loose a few more pounds.

GOOD NEWS....I think

I did not hear from my recruiter at all yesterday which kind of discouraged me, but this morning I saw he left me a message at 9pm and stated he HAD GOOD NEWS and to call him today. So it sounds like my medical release came in OK:) YEEEEEEEAH!

MEPS Update

Well here we are at noon and still no answer to my medical read. I cant even get a hold of my recruiter.....SO the waiting game continues!

Still no word

Guess those MEPS doctors like to take their time. Still no word on my med read which will now put my MEPS day back to sometime next week. Lets hope we get some news tomorrow, I am tired of dieting. Stay tuned!

I hate waiting

Well I guess I better get used to the hurry up and wait moto of the Army. I am still waiting for word from the MEPS doctors on my waiver, I have called my recruiter, but he is not in the office or just not answering the phone. He told me the other recruiters are in a training class this week and he is alone so maybe he is just busy. It is now 11:25am and I am going to keep calling....GRRRRR this is fraking frusterating!

Final daily update

No call back from the doctor today, SFC Wilson said to give him a call first thing tomorrow morning. I will post here once I know, but I am positive about it.....just the waiting game kinda sucks. Have a good night all!

Update

Well I decided to head down and see SFC Wilson and find out what was going, besides I had to give him my high school transcripts and a few other things. I am all set to go other than the waiver. He called the MEPS office while I was in the office to see if the reading came back yet, but nothing yet. He said this is totally normal and is positive about the whole waiver thing. I will call him at 6pm or so and see what happens....Worse case tomorrow, but I really want to get into the Oct 3rd class. STAY TUNED!

The next step

This past Thursday I turned in all my paperwork to SFC Wilson. He told me that he should hear back from the MEPS folks sometime today (Tuesday) about my medical waiver and ok to come on down for an examination at MEPS. He also told me that once he get the go ahead he will write up my contract with my MOS and all my bonuses and I can come in a sign it on Wednesday (tomorrow) once this happens I should be at MEPS this coming Friday........Well I just called the office to check in and SFC Wilson is not in yet, must be nice to sleep in:) J/K.

The search begins

In the beggining of August I drove down to my local Army recruiter to speak to a Reserve recruiter, the office was closed and I was approached by a young gentleman who asked me if I was wanting to join the Army. I told him yes, but was not to sure who he was since he was in civilian clothes, he introduced himself ( i still cant remember his name) and asked me if I had ever considered the National Guard, I told him that I had and was going to make my way down to speak to them right then. We talked for a while and he sorta convinced me that NG was the way to go, he was 11B ( Infantry) so he could not answer to many questions about the MP mos I wanted to enlist as. I drove down the NG office and spoke to SGT Wilson, I sat down with him and told him exactely what I was looking for, he was very honest with me and made me feel very comftorable. I was only there for about 20 min as I just wanted to get some basic info and then still meet with a Reserve recruiter to find out what they had to offer me. A few days later I met with a local Reserve recruiter ( finally, seemed the office was always closed) who was actually very helpful, he had me do the practice asvab on his computer, and I just new I would score low due to the fact I have been out of school 10 years. I scored a 31 which was green and told him I was eligible for enlistment, he also did my body fat which I was fine on and told me to study up my math and I should be fine on the ASVAB. He scheduled the ASVAB for me which I was not able to make due to a family emergency, this is where he kinda got weird on me and told me he now wanted me to go to MEPS and do it all at the same time, I told him I would get back to him, but I did feel a little pressured from him at this point.

Why the National Guard?

three weeks ago I went to a local job fair here in Orlando and of course was immediately drawn to the ARMY booth. I lingered around for a few minutes and then began talking to a young active duty recruiter, he was a SPC so I am not to sure if he was a recruiter or just someone who was helping out. I explained my situation and told him I could not decide between the Guard or the Reserves. He pulled me to the side and quitly told me to go into the Guard, he stated that he started in the Guard then went Reserves and the Guard is much more square away, now I know this is one man's opinion, but it was just enough to make my mind up for me. I left the job fair and drove right to the National Guard recruiting office where I met with SGT Wilson another time. I walked in and told him I wanted to go into the guard and told him exactely what I wanted as far as a MOS and when I would want to ship. My wife and I initially said I would go to BCT in Jan, but we both decided I needed to get it out of the way and go as soon as possible so first of October sounded good to us. I told him this and he began my packet and asking me the normal questions for his computer. He also scheduled me to take the ASVAB at the local Reserve center which just so happens to give the paper test. I AM SOOO GLAD I TOOK THE PAPER TEST!

The ASVAB

OK OK so here we go....hope you are prepared for this one......Now remember how old I am???? I have been out of school for almost 10 years and have not stepped one foot into a class room since. I knew right away where my weakness was....MATH....MATH.....ohhh ya and MATH. I went to a book store and got my hands on a ASVAB study guide and also got a basic algebra for dummies book....did this all help me you ask???? NO......What really helped me was my wife, she explained and helped me sooo much. I was supposed to take the test on a Wednesday, but called my recruiter Tuesday and told him I was just not ready, but would take the test the following Monday....He said NO problem. That whole weekend I studied, studied, got frusterated, cried, and studied a little more. I knew I had to get atleast a 95 for my ST score and wanted to get atleast a 50 AFQT score. Well the Sunday night before the test I studied some more and forgot everything I had just studied about 30 min later..I decided it was time for bed about 9pm and figured if I did not know it now I never would:) I woke up after a great night sleep and went to the recruiters office to meet with SGT Wilson. He drove me to the test site and I was a little uneasy, but we talked about life ( NOT Military) and this kind of put me at ease. Once at the test site I sat down and started to fill out the forms (remember I took the paper test) as the room filled up with 17 and 18 year old kids I began to feel like I was the old man in the room...OHH WAIT...I was. When it was time to open the test I did so with confidence, I dont have my exact line numbers, but I can tell you did very well.....MUCH better than I thought I was going to thats for sure. My AFQT was 50 and I would later find out that my ST score was 102.... Which was right where I needed to be for the MOS I wanted. On the car ride back SGT Wilson made a comment that I seemed much more relaxed. We also talked about what was next in the enlistment process, which was to finish my packet and get it into him by Thursday, I had already given him my medical forms for a past knee surgery which he had already sent off to the MEPS doctors. Phase II was over for me!