My Enlistment: Part 11

Wow, so it's been quite awhile since I have updated here since there was not a whole lot of change to update on. Pretty much it has been the same deal, DEP meetings the 3rd thursday of each month, and I have continued to work out. I was able to get a sweet deal on a gym membership for the 3 months that I would need it, and my buddy got one as well so he could help me work out and get back into shape, which was awesome, I don't think I would be anywhere close to where I am at now without his help.
I have to say that in the beginning it was a bit rough, I have been out of any big activity for about 9 years now, so I was a joke at first. At this time the requirements for the Air Force are as follows:

Male Fitness Requirements
Standard	Run (1.5 miles)	Push-Ups (1 minute)	Sit-Ups (1 minute)	Pull-Ups (no time limit)
Liberator (minimum graduation standards)	11:57	45	50	0
Thunderbolt (honor graduate minimum standards)	9:30	55	60	5
Warhawk (highest standard)	8:55	65	70	10

Lets just say I was no where near the minimum... I was running a mile and a half in about 15-16 minutes, about 35 push ups in a minute and maybe 26 sit ups in a minute... pretty pathetic I thought.
I started doing 80 push ups each night, doing 30, 30 and then a set of 20, and kept doing this each night. I didn't really do sit ups as much in the beginning which I am regretting now. I ran around the neighborhood and lake next to my house a few times but it was impossible to tell how far it was and the terrain is so up and down that I really couldn't use it to compare running on a track, so I started running on treadmills and elliptical's at the gym at least. We continued to work out about 2-4 times per week for about 2 hours each time, starting off with a run and then moving to legs, arms, chest, back, etc. depending on what night it was. We didn't focus on being able to lift a million pounds, more so being able to lift less weight more times, that's what is key.
During the first month or so my body was just drained after each workout. Been told before that your workout wasn't hard enough if your not puking, well mission accomplished... twice. But throwing up during training at BMT is not out of the norm, they push you til you do almost, but tell you that if you throw up you better keep going, no stopping...
After the past 3 months almost now, I can say that my fastest run time has been 8:40 for a mile and a half, which is 15 seconds faster than Warhawk. My other areas have improved as well but not nearly as well as my running times. My pushups are at about 45-50 solid military style pushups in 1 minute and about 36-40 situps per minute, I have a feeling I will be able to get this up to maybe 45 within the next 2 weeks before I ship though. Also I used to be able to do a million pullups, even tying the new record for most pulls ups back in Jr. high, but those were underhand, and we have to do them underhand and drop all the way down and all the way back up, none of this coming down halfway crap. Two weeks ago I could do maybe 2. Last night I was able to complete 5 full solid pull ups overhand going all the way down and back up, I am hoping to be able to get another 1 or 2 in each set before I leave. But remember BMT isn;t about being able to run fast, it's more about being able to run a long distance fast enough. We will be running for about 30 minutes every morning, and only parts of it will be sprints, but its all non stop.

Two weeks and counting. At first it seemed like it was so far away and it was going by slow, but recently the time has gone by so fast it's freaky. People keep asking me if I am nervous or excited, and all sorts of questions. I am not so much nervous I guess for BMT, I am excited, to an extent. I'm excited to start this whole thing, and the experience I am about to go through, but I am not excited to get my ass kicked everyday, and get yelled at for every little thing even if it was right, but it is what it is and is all part of the experience. I guess I am more worried that I have taken care of everything I could back here at home for my wife and kids. I want to make sure they don't have to worry about anything, I've come to terms that you will never be ready for BMT no matter what, but I want to be sure things are ready here at home for me to be gone for so long. I would feel like crap if I left with anything up in the air for my wife and kids to have to deal with and it would probably just affect my performance at basic and make it even more miserable. So that is my number one concern. Otherwise sure I'm a little nervous, it's the unknown, so how could I not be a little I guess.

Going along with the theme of having issues a long the way, my recruiter scared me a bit about a month or two back saying that MEPS was missing some information on my security clearance, He didn't say anything was wrong with it, just that they were requesting more info and missing things from the agent and place that conducted the interview with me. I never heard anything back so I kept following up on it and it sounds like it was taken care of since I never heard anything back on it recently now (I hope), but it's still in the back of my head that something will come around and bite me in the ass and mess with my ship date or something.

But on the good side of things I finally told my work at the beginning of August, giving them about a 2 month notice. My boss wasn't upset, and was happy I was going to do something I wanted. He was also happy that I gave him such a large notice and not just left him with a two week notice. Time is getting closer and he still hasn't found a replacement yet, but it sounds like he is going to hire 2 separate people to take over my duties. I always recommend to never burn a bridge, you never now what could happen down the road, and he helped me out get back into the workplace at a time when not a lot of others were hiring so I wanted to help him out in return.

If you want to follow along with basic training for someone that is there, or for information there is an Air Force BMT Group on Facebook that post pictures and keeps up what the trainees are doing each week: USAF Basic Military Training
Also for a hilarious group filled with actual stories of people from BMT check out: What The Piss Trainee

At this point, I only have 2 weeks from today til I ship, so we will see if I get a chance to update before I ship out, otherwise when I get set up at my tech school at Keesler AFB, I will update with how basic was and my experiences that I had while I was there.

My Enlistment: Part 10

So as I was waiting to hear about my contracts I decided to check in with my original recruiter, since my new one was gone on leave for about 2 weeks. I sent her a quick message over the weekend seeing if she had seen anything yet, and she said she would check on Monday, July 11th. Monday came and she said nothing was in yet, but sent up a message to have the contracts sent directly to her, and if she didn't see them by noon the next day that she would call again. Tuesday morning came and before I even got to work she left a message on my Facebook wall that my contracts were in and she would be around for most of the day.
Finally my time has come to put my signature on those famous contracts.

I waited until lunch and headed straight over to the recruiters office on the other side of town. I went in thinking they were going to be these huge things that we would have to go over and it would be really in depth, but it was the complete opposite. Two pages, and all the details were pretty much on the 2nd page only, with a ton of blank space. They just had my info on it, the job I booked, the date I leave and what my ranking would be because of my college credits. I signed on like one or two lines and dated it, and that was it, I finally signed my Air Force contracts on July 12th, 2011.

Afterwords I spent a bit of time asking questions about basic and other things, and we just went over a whole bunch of stuff of what things are like, things that I may have never asked before and all that, like do I bring a charger for my cell phone to basic and what the Recruiters Assistance Program was and so on. The Recruiters Assistant Program (RAP) is basically a two week job that you do back at your recruiters office when you finish tech school, not every has to or gets to do it, but it's additional time that you get to spend back in your home town before heading to your 1st duty station that you don't need to take leave for. You pretty much just help the recruiters out a bit with daily things, and help talk to anyone that has questions about just joining at the DEP meetings and things like that. I look at it as an additional 2 weeks I get to be at home seeing friends and family before we move away. (And yes, you do bring the cell phone charger, and they give you time to charge your phones.)
As I was leaving the recruiters office I noticed I had already taken about an hour and 10 minute lunch break and have to cross town knowing it would take me about 20 minutes or so to get there. I hoped my work wasn't paying attention. I don't for sure if they were as I just walked in, sat down and started working like nothing happened and didn't say anything to anyone. No one said anything so I guess mission accomplished?

Time to start getting to work and working out now, next step is leaving for basic, so no more of this paper work stuff, or jumping through hoops. Now it's the real deal...

My Enlistment: Part 9

So it took me a few weeks to finally get this updated.
Thursday June 16th, 2011 we had our DEP meeting, I was called the day before by someone helping out in the recruiting office that had just come back from technical training, he said that we would be doing a pre-PT test to see where we are all at so bring PT gear. I was kinda worried since I had stopped working out pretty much when I found out I wasn't leaving July 5th. During the DEP meeting our recruiter stated that we couldn't get onto the tracks to do a PT test until after 7pm so we could either go home and come back later after our meeting or just go to a park nearby and work out a bit, which was the choice from all. Soon after someone had the idea to play Ultimate Frisbee instead and everyone seemed to like that idea, so that became the final verdict.
After the DEP meeting was over most people started heading over to the field, I stayed back to ask if I booked a job that he knew of since I hadn't heard yet and he said he hasn't heard either, but should know tomorrow. I felt I didn't again, but at least held hope that there was another day before I would know for sure.

I went and got changed and headed over to the field down the road. We picked teams while waiting for our recruiter and his helper to get there and we started to play. I felt good at first and was as fast as I used to be and remember, surprisingly. But after playing about 20 minutes I was dead, I don't remember that, haha. I used to play hockey, soccer, run on the cross country team and go skateboarding and snowboarding and all that and play for hours and not be tired. Now I'm winded after playing frisbee, haha. It was good though, it got me used to running on real ground instead of a treadmill and kept me moving, no matter how tired I was I didn't take a break I wanted to keep at it, even though some were stopping for a few minutes.
I pushed through and we played for maybe an hour and a half straight, and I was dead tired but it was worth it.

The next day I was sore as hell, but it was a good feeling also, I almost felt like going for a run and keeping it going to build the muscles back up and keep them used to it, but I said almost, so I didn't, heh. I called my recruiter on my lunch break though to ask him if he would know when I will find out if I booked a job or not, kind of hinting I was already wanting to know if he knew something and to my surprise, he said "Yeah man you booked a job this drop!" My excitment level rose through the roof, now I just needed to know what job I got. Hoping for one of my top 3 I asked what it was and he replied "Something like Client Systems, or something like that. Something with computers", I knew exactly what he was talking about, it was about 5th on my list of 7, so it wasn't my top 3 but I'll take it (like I have a choice).
I remember pulling up to my house on my break and going in and calling my wife and telling her that I booked it, just as I was pulling up the description of the job online. It looks really similar to what my brother does for a living, only it looks like more with some networks and video/radio devices as well. Sounds cool, so we will see.
From some of the people on Facebook groups that have my job, most seem to like it, some aren't as thrilled with it, so I guess I will just have to see. Its' nice being able to talk to people that already have your job or others going through the whole process of enlisting on groups on Facebook and places. I would highly recommend them for anyone ever interested in enlisting, you can find out so many answers to your questions that maybe recruiters can't answer. It's interesting to see how everyone has a different experience, it prepares you to be ready for anything, and that not all experiences will be the same. An example would be like calling home during BMT, some got to call home every week, some only got 2 calls the entire time, so you really can't go in thinking you are going to get a lot of calls to home.

My recruiter didn't know my ship date yet, so that kind of sucked, but said he would know it on Monday. I will admit I wasn't thrilled about going a weekend without knowing my ship date knowing I booked something. It's like giving someone a wrapper and telling them they have to wait for the candy to go in it for a few days.
Monday finally came and I saw my recruiter on Facebook (another good thing to do online, friend your recruiter, I recommend it) and asked him if he knew yet. He told me my Ship date would be November 8th, 2011, and my contracts should be in within a few weeks to sign. That's it, I finally have my job, and my date, although it is probably the longest wait I have ever heard of. A 20 week wait was really long compared to others saying they had about a 12-16 week wait max. Either way it give me more time with my family, but after looking into it, it puts my graduation for BMT the week after Christmas just before New Years. It also put's my date for completing tech school just after my oldest daughters 4th birthday, so it looks like I will be missing Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, mine and my wife's Birthdays, Valentines day, and my oldest daughters 4th birthday. That that really sucks, but I have to do, what I have to do I guess.

Two weeks later now and my contracts haven't come in yet, but some of the others have it sounds like, so I will know more when I see those and sign them. Then it's all official.

My Enlistment: Part 8

Been awhile since my last update, about a month. The last Job drop came and went and I didn't get anything, nor did anyone else in my DEP Group. They said it was a horrible drop all around, just not a lot of jobs available and the ones that did come were crap.
We talked about doing volunteer opportunities that we need to do as a group and a few ideas came around, the main one being a ranch that we can go to and help with the horses, like cleaning up crap or helping kids ride them and stuff like that. I'd prefer to help a kid than shovel some crap, but that's just my two cents.
Since then I had an idea of seeing if 'Defending the Blue Line' needed any help. They are a group that tries to raise money and equipment to give to kids whose parents are in the military and might not be able to afford for their kids to play hockey, Awesome group! I have talked briefly with one of the people higher up about our group volunteering and he is prior Air Force as well and would love to have us come out and help with some things. On the side I also submitted a design for a memorial logo for Derek Boogaard that played for the New York Rangers last, but with the Minnesota Wild for his whole career pretty much. He died accidentally in his Minneapolis apartment after mixing prescription drugs and alcohol. The contest ends tomorrow (6/14/11) and after over 40 entries mine made it to the top 10 and is currently in the lead by about 34 votes with over 1,100 votes total so far. The winning design will be made into a t-shirt and sold with all the benefits going to Defending the Blue line, which Derek was a huge supporter of. So it's neat to see everything I am doing helping this group, since it is two things I am interested in together.
Our next DEP meeting is this Thursday, June 16th 2011, and I am supposed to bring any more info I have on the event for helping with Defending the Blue line. I also found out the job drop came through, but they won't be finished booking jobs until sometime next week so I won't know until then if I booked a job or not. I hope I did, not that I want to leave my family sooner, but want to finally know whats going on and get it done and over with so I can start my families new life soon. It's been stressful not knowing we can plan this or that because I don't know if I'll be around or not.

The last DEP meeting we had had a guy that just finished his technical training and hasn't reported to his first duty station yet even. It was nice to be able to have us all ask questions and see what it was like so recent going through basic and all that. He did say that while he was down at Basic that 3 different people tried to commit suicide, with 1 succeeding. I just can't see how it can be that bad, I mean he signed up for it, so why sign up if it's nothing you wanted to do, or knew you couldn't take it? I've heard its really stressful on your mind and body, but I can't see it getting as bad as to take your own life, and not just at basic, but anytime in life. But only time will tell how stressful it really is to one person.

Hopefully I will have some good news within the next week, if not expect another break between updates.

My Enlistment: Part 7

I haven't heard anything in awhile, which is pretty normal. The job drops come only once a month and it's about the same time that our DEP (Delayed Entry Program) meetings are (around the 3rd week of every month). We have one next Thursday, so I am assuming I will know if I booked a job or not by then. In the mean time I have been trying to workout at least 3 times a week. I got a free 30 day membership to a gym close by to get me out and away from the house so I can concentrate on working out, otherwise I know I would just sit around and say I can do it later, or something.
I have been trying to get my running time down to the basic requirement which is 1.5 miles in 11:57. It took me a few times of running to get used to it again, but after a little bit of work I finally reached it, I can now run 1.5 miles in 11:50, but now the objective is to make that an easy thing to do on a daily basis. The timing is to put the treadmill at 7.6 mph and that gets you finished at about the 11:50 mark. Withing the next few times I want to just kick it up to 8mph and just keep it there and use that as a base point to run at. Eventually I will take to running the path around the lake at my house, but until then I figure this is a good way to get started and get my legs really used to the running again. In jr. high I used to be able to run a mile in like 5 minutes, but I have gotten old since then, that was about 13 years ago when I was in 8th grade. I also lift some weights and things while at the gym, but nothing major, I don't need to be the incredible hulk or anything, just toned enough to do enough push ups, sit ups, and pull ups on command, and to pass my physical fitness test.

In other news, my youngest daughter, Nora, fell off the slide and sliced open her forehead the other day at daycare. My wife took her in and they just used the surgical glue and steri strips to close it up, and said she will have a small scar. At least it's on her brow line so that might cover it some. But it's things like this that are going to be hard for me. Sounds dumb, but when I am away I will not be there for my girls when they get "owie's". Its hard because I don't want to miss being there for them, but I just have to keep thinking that this will be good for them all in the long run, even if I don't get to be there for them for every "boo boo".

Well hopefully next week I will have some news, otherwise it will be another month before I hear anything again. I will update again next week after we have our DEP meeting.

My Enlistment: Part 6

Now when we were on the way to lunch it dawned on me about the timing. While we were going over everything in a hurry at MEPS he was listing dates off for me, and it occurred to me then that the date that was listed as the soonest I could be shipped out was April 12th, I could leave in as little as 3 weeks if something came up! Me and my wife were kinda freaking out about this at first, but then I remembered that while in the DEP (Delayed Entry Program) it would probably be about 4 months out before I would leave from whenever I find out, I confirmed this was still the case with my recruiter and he told me anything is possible, but the soonest I would probably leave would be about 3 months out if I was lucky, unless I wanted to go the quick ship route and take any job available. No thanks.

Now that everything was finalized it was kind of surreal, like it was fake or didn't happen yet and it was just another day of waiting, and I almost didn't know what to do on a daily basis anymore, it was weird.
I knew things had to be done, I needed to get things in order for when I am gone and to make sure that my wife will be OK with everything while I am away for who knows how long. I knew that the car situation was not the greatest, she had a 2001 2 door car still and it was starting to have some issues. We looked at a few cars online and had an idea of what we were looking for. During my lunch breaks I would talk with banks to see about getting approved for a new loan for a car. Surprisingly my own bank turned me down, after about 14 years with them and not as much as a small loan, even though they said the car I was interested in was valued at double what they were asking for, really Wells Fargo? Dumb Move! I checked with another bank I used to work close to and they called me back the same day and told me I was approved and got an awesome rate and everything, I told her the situation and she even told me I could break the loan up into 2 loans so when I sell my wife's old car, I can pay off the 1 loan with that and only have the 2nd loan left and have half the monthly payment, score! My wife had no idea I was even talking with banks so that night when I came home and told her we could go look at a car she was a little thrown back and surprised. She called and asked her parents to see if they could take the kids for a bit while we ran up to check on one of the cars she was eyeing, and she loved it. The car was great, but it was dirtier than all hell. I talked with the owner a bit and he was only willing to come down a bit, otherwise he said he would just give it to his son. Price was fair so the next day I called up the bank and set everything up and by lunch I was able to go pick up the checks. That night my wife was anxious so we set it up to take it over and have one of our mechanic buddy's take a look at it since his shop was right down the road from where the car was. It turned out great, so we went back filled out the title and I handed the check over. It was was great surprise for my wife, and a huge relief off my shoulders knowing I don't have to worry about her with a car if it would break down or something on her, and will be easier having 4 doors with the kids.
I still need to teach my wife about most of our finances since I handle all the bills and things, but she will do fine, and I made a bill chart on the computer for her to help learn each bill and keep track of things.

Everything was finally starting to look up for us, and one day I got an e-mail from my first recruiter, who was promoted recently so she wasn't officially my recruiter anymore, but still helped out a ton. She said that she was able to peek at the list just as the job drop was coming out, and said that I was booked under the General area, meaning I will pick a job at basic instead of before hand, and will be leaving July 5th, yikes! She said it's not 100% until the official lists comes out but rarely do things change. It was scary knowing that my date has finally arrived, and was a little odd that it was 1 year to the date pretty much from when I finally decided I was going to do this to the date that I would leave, and I would be leaving the day after the patriotic day in America (July 4th). Things started going through my head like I was a mother nesting just before the baby comes, I started taking care of this and that without even hesitation.
Another buddy of mine that I haven't talked to in awhile had just enlisted in the Army Reserves and said he would take me up to gym at Fort Snelling so we could work out together and try to help motivate each other, and God knew I needed to work out, boy was I out of shape. We went up one night while the wife's and kids got together. We only stayed for a bit because the gym was closing soon by the time we got there, but enough to get a bunch of sit ups in, a mile and a half run, and to lift a few weights, and some pull ups. Surprisingly that night and the next day I wasn't that sore. The following day I went over and signed up for a free month membership to Fitness 19 down the road and went back that night and worked out a bit again. I know that the bare minimum for the mile and a half run is about 11:57 or so, and it took me almost 15 minutes to run it the first time, so I had a long road ahead of me to be able to knock about 3 minutes off my time.

I talked a bit with my 1sy recruiter again later that week, and she mentioned that I might have been bumped since it doesn't look like I was on the 2nd draft of the job drop list. I was kind of bummed, but it was also a good thing also. Now I will be able to at least get to spend my 5 year wedding and 10 years together anniversary with my wife at the end of July. I knew I was going to miss most holidays and events, but at least this gives me one more before I leave.
My first DEP meeting came which was the 3rd Thursday of the month, April 21st. When I first got there we had to weigh in and then sign in with any updates. They had a few people that had only been in the Air Force for a short time that we could ask all sorts of questions to, and they gave us their experiences and things. The recruiter went over a few things, and then they gave everyone an MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) to take home and try. I searched through the box and seen a ton of Tuna, no thanks! I got Beef Patty in the end, sounded good at least. I then went over a few things with the recruiter when the meeting was over and got a t-shirt and a nice big backpack. He then confirmed that I had not booked anything on this job drop so I would have to wait another month to find out if I get anything on the next one.
That night I went home and decided to try out the MRE. I pulled out the first thing which were some Cheese Cracker things, and they frickin rocked! Next was some "Cheesy Bacon Spread", and some things they called "Wheat Bread Snack" pretty much looks like a loaf of bread compacted into the size and shape of a pop tart. I spread some of the cheese stuff on and it was OK, nothing to rave about, but was edible. Then I pulled out the main courses, the Beef patty, and a surprise, "Mexican Style Macaroni & Cheese", I pulled out the heater bag and read the directions on how to heat it all up. I got it set up and it started to heat up so I left it sit on the counter to do it's thing and went back to the ridiculously awesome cheesy cracker things. I ate those and the 2 pieces of bread things and made the Fruit Punch Juice packet that came with it, and it wasn't bad either. Now onto the main course, I took the beef out and opened it up, it didn't smell to bad, so I slid it out of the bag and looked at it, I almost threw up just from the look, I took the spoon and cut off a small piece and tasted it, no go. I was done with that. It looked like it had chunks of eyeballs in it or something. I pulled out the Mexican Mac and Cheese and opened it up, and just the smell alone was enough to kill a man. It looked more like bad salsa with some cheesy noodles thrown into it, I didn't even bother and threw it back in the bag. If they were all like this, then I will need to learn to live off of the snack food that comes with it alone that 6th week in basic where you live off these things for about a week.

Until I have more news from one of my recruiters all I can do is continue to workout and hope for the best that I get one of my top jobs, and maybe try some of the other MRE's if they don't kill me first, heh.

My Enlistment: Part 5

Surprisingly not long after that I re-submitted all of the paperwork signed by an MD I got a call from my recruiter saying that the decision had been overturned and I was finally approved to join the Air Force. All I had to do now was go up and do a quick check up, do my jobs and swear in. I felt weird, like after all this time and these delays could this really be it? Finally?

We went to set up my next MEPS visit on Thursday, March 24th 2011. Two days before my recruiter calls me up that night and says it can't happen because we need another signature on something that he forgot, so I wasn't able to go up. In a way I was ok with this, because that was my oldest daughters, Lily, 3rd birthday and I wanted that to be her day, not mine. So we set it up for the following Monday the 28th. I had to come up with some smooth moves to get off of work that day since they had no clue I was trying to enlist in the Air Force.
Sunday the night before I went off to the hotel yet again to stay the night. There was already a roommate in the room when I got there. He was joining the Army, and leaving for boot camp in the morning. He was going to get to drive tanks around and stuff, sounds like an awesome job, but I couldn't be away from family that long. They don't need too many tank drivers in the US, but good for him. We talked a bit and then he went down to get something to eat and didn't come back for almost 2 hours, it was about 10:30pm when he got back. We talked a bit more and then went to bed.
Same drill in the morning, wake up call at about 4:20, we got ready and headed down. I went for my famous year old stale Rice Krispies. Afterwards I slammed a bottle of water just in case I needed to do a urine test again.

Same thing, we got off the bus around 5:15 at MEPS, and proceeded through the security desks, and went upstairs after forming line after line. I went into the medical lab, and they directed me back to the famous 'Underwear Olympic' room again. After a few minutes, the bench was full of people, but it was the same drill, Strip! We didn't have to do the whole Olympics over again, just the basic check over, height and weight check, and a few other things. Then at the end we had to go up to the desk and hand over our paper work, it was the Chief Dr. that everyone dreaded, and was kind of an ass to me the time before when he told me about the diabetes thing. I told him I was there for a re-check because last time there was a false glucose reading, and he said "No, there was no false reading, you do have high levels and you just need to watch what you eat!" I wanted to smack him and just tell him sorry, but you are wrong! I have tons of tests and paperwork telling me so, sorry your stupid little test strips didn't work, but yes, you are wrong, I do not need to watch what I eat!" But I didn't I just said OK, and moved on. I was then directed to the Air Force office, where they told me they would call me in shortly to make my jobs list up. I sat for a long time, but it was OK they had 'Office Space' on the TV in the waiting area. I got to watch the entire movie almost when they called me back in and told me to go check when the next swear in is at at the front desk. I walked out and asked them and they said it would be at 10am. I quickly peeked in the civilian waiting area and got to see my wife and her family real quick. I spent a minute with them and then went back in and told the office that it was at 10am, which they replied ok we'll get you on that one, then you can come back and do you jobs afterwords. This was backwards, but I didn't care I just wanted to keep on moving with things.

They then sent me down the hall for my interview and fingerprint process. I walked in and didn't see anyone but a bell so I rang it and sat down. A few seconds later someone popped out and told me to come on back. She went over all my paperwork and asked me all about my family members, and background info and the bacis background check kind of stuff. Then the next few questions threw me off a bit, not the questions themselves but how they were presented I guess. "Who would you like to receive your body when you die?" "Who would you like to receive your last paycheck when you die", I noticed it was "When you die", not "if" or "in case", but "when", like it was a guarantee I would die while serving. We then headed over to a machine that scanned all my fingerprints individually, and together, about a million times at different angles and everything. The printed it all out and sent me on my way back to the Air Force office where I sat until 10am.

10am came and I checked in with the office, they told me to head on down to the main desk, check in and sit in the black colored chairs. This is something I noticed all along, they use color coated chairs everywhere to coordinate what people are supposed to be doing or where they are going next.
They then directed all 9 of us into a side room and made us go over all these policies before we swore in, majority of them were about not being gay and stuff like that. Then he took us into the swear in room and went over how to properly stand and how to stand at attention and stuff like that. He told us to wait there and then went to get the family members and the Officer that was going to swear us in. He walked back in with the family's and had them line up against the back and then a Naval Officer walked up and talked a bit to us all about how we were joining the best military in the world and so on, and then started the swear in. It went quick and was an honor to be standing there going through this. Afterwards they brough us back into the side room where they had to verify everyone's identity and take our Photo ID. I then walked back into the swear in room and took some pictures with my wife and her family and the Officer that swore me in.

Afterwords I headed back to the Air Force office, and they had me wait a few minutes and then sat me down to go over jobs. I got out my list of ideas I had and noticed about 5 I had listed were not even available anymore, they said they either merged them together or got rid of them all together, great, now I had to come up with a whole list of other jobs that I had no clue about. Before I put any jobs down he grabbed me and took me over to a weight set and had me to the X-Factor test. There was a weight bar on the ground and different lines on the rails it was connected to that listed the different branches, Army was at the bottom, Air Force was at the top, on other words I had to lift the weight above that line for a lot of the jobs in the Air Force. I was worried because I tweaked my back a few days before coming up and if I made a wrong move it would knock the wind out of me. I reached down, grabbed the bar and positioned my hands, then when he said "go" I lifted it up to my waist, reset my hands and then lifted it over my head as far as my arms could stretch and held it there, He said told me "Great", and took me back to the desk. I put down the first 3 still that I knew I would want for sure, even though I knew I had few chances of getting any of them. Next I listed jobs that were similar to the ones I wanted, or sounded similar at least to ones I wanted. After I was done I moved to another desk where they asked me a whole bunch of goofy questions like if I was afraid of spiders, or blood, then they asked me if I was afraid of guns. I said if I was afraid of guns why would I be joining the military, he looked at me and said "I feel the same way, heh." After this was all done, they got all my papers together and handed them to me and said "Welcome to the Air Force, you are free to go now."
It was done, I was finally swore in to the Delayed Entry Program. Afterwords, me and my wife and her mom and grandparents all went out for a late lunch. It was a little scary knowing that now I could get a call anytime with a date I will be shipping out and leaving my family behind for a few months.

My Enlistment: Part 4

After the ASVAB was done, I felt so relieved, I thought things would go smooth from there on out... Wrong! This was the middle of August or so. From here everything was submitted up through the rankings to get to the commanders desk for final approval. If there was anything little that was going to delay this next step, it did...
Extra signatures might have been needed, or other information, or whatever, it was always sent back down for further info or for something unrelated. This process I heard takes an average of 2 weeks for final approval. It took me about another 6 months for the final approval. I can't even begin to imagine how many times I heard the words "it will take another week or so, we should hear something by the end of next week". Not that it was my recruiters faults, but it felt like forever, and I hated hearing those words, as you can only hear them every week for so often before it becomes routine.
I was learning hurry up and wait the hard way, before I was even enlisted.
Things were delayed because of Holidays, or someone was on vacation, there was even a new guy who sent it back down because he didn't know what to do with it, making it so it had to climb the ladder back up again taking even longer. Sometimes it might need a new signature because it had been so long, or they had updated the smallest piece of info, you name it, and it happened. I checked in at least once a week for those 6 months until February 9th came and I received an e-mail and call from the Flight Chief, Master Sgt. Gonzalez congratulating me, I was finally approved. At this point I had waited about 7 and a half months to get to this point. There were so many emotions it was crazy, things were taking so long that for awhile I went on with my life as if it was never going to happen, and started living that way as if it was a done deal that there was no way I was going to be able to join.

Now the next step was setting up my MEPS physical visit. We set it up for Friday, February 18th, 2011. Feb 17th, the night before I went up to stay in the hotel they put me in. I was waiting in the room a bit just watching TV before my roommate for the night came in. He was joining the Army as soon as he finished college this next summer, he was just up for a routine check up. We stayed up watching some military shows about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and finally turned it off around 10pm.
Wake up call came 10 minutes early at 4:20am. We got ready and headed downstairs by about 4:40am and sat down to have breakfast. I had some Rice Krispies that tasted like they had been sitting out for about a year or so. After I was finished I ran out to throw my bag in my car and then jumped on the bus for MEPS. We got there about 5:15am and filed off the bus, and formed a few rows, the guy that took us off the bus started going over all the rules and what we needed to do to go through security. He told us all to take out our Photo ID and have it ready, I reached back to grab my wallet and nothing, I was confused as I could be until I remembered I had put it in my bag for the night, and I put my bag in my car, oh crap. I told the guy what had happened, and he walked me through and vouched for me, then when we all got to the 3rd floor, he just checked me in on the computer and everything was good to go.

We were all then brought into the MEPS Physical briefing room, where we went over pages and pages of forms that we had to fill out about our past medical history, and other information. Once we were all done they went around the room and gave everyone a breathalyzer test. Since I had a history of bad luck I was kind of nervous, I could just see this coming up and detecting something for whatever reason and showing something, even though I can't even remember when the last time I had a drink was. Everything was fine and we were then split up to go to the different stations. I headed over with 2 other people to give blood first, the guy was a bit quick on sticking the needle in, but it was fine. I then headed over with some others to do the urine test. This was a bit awkward, but I better get used to it, they make you stand angled at 45 degrees at the urinal about 6-12 inches away so they can actually see the urine leaving your body and watch you the whole time, not to mention everyone standing in line can also. I brought my cup up and placed it on the mark on the counter and the lady on the other side of the counter stuck a test strip in it, she pulled it out and held it to the container of strips with a confused look on her face, so she threw it away and did another one. Same thing, confused look on her face so she marked it down on my papers and told me I had a high glucose reading and that I would need to see the Chief Medical Dr. before I left today and highlighted it. Sounded weird to me about a high glucose reading, but whatever, it was 250 which I had no clue as to if that was extremely high or just above normal.
Next I went over and did my vision test, you just stick your head in a view finder and they put different slides in front of it to read off, or see if anything looks 3D and things like that. It takes a bit for your eyes to adjust to it, and after a bit they start to water even since you are trying to focus them on something new every few seconds, and the test takes about 15 minutes. The Air Force also has a few extra tests they need to conduct they said, so I had a few extra things to do than the others. Next I went over to do the hearing test. While I was waiting for my turn they came and took my blood pressure and then I headed in. I sat in the middle booth and had people on both sides of me. I put the headphones on and listened to the instructions. It just said when you hear a beep, to push the trigger on the hand remote. The best thing was to just hold my breathe to be able to hear the different ranges and tones of beeps. After holding your breathe for a minute or two you begin to pass out so it's not easy. I had to keep taking a big breathe between beeps and then listen, breathe out and then suck in another gasp of air to hold for another minute. For the 6+ minutes test, I probably only took about 4 breathes. Afterwords it tells you just to sit still until it releases you individually. I was fine with this since I needed to catch my breathe so I wouldn't pass out when I stood up or something. I walked out when told and was told I aced it, sweet! Next up were the parts I am sure everyone was thrilled about, they were the final two parts, the Dr. visit, and the Underwear Olympics.

I waited at the end of the hall to go in to the Dr. hoping I didn't get the older crabby guy that I had heard about from people at the hotel. Just as he came out to call my name, he said hold on he would be right back and went to the bathroom, and just then the other Dr. came out and called me in, I got lucky. He just asked me a whole bunch of questions which I had answered about 5 million times before, and then he had me sit on the table with my shirt off, and looked me over. Then he had to check my eyes over for about a minute and then said for the Air Force that they have an extra ear test that we need to pass in order to qualify, which was news to me also. He said we have to be able to control our ear drums to relieve pressure on command. He had me try this while he had his device in my ear, and he had to make sure the ear drum moved when he told me to do so. Odd, but I passed. Then the awkward part, he sat in a chair and had me stand right in front of him and I had to drop em'. He made me do the ol' turn my head and cough and some other things, then turn around and examine the back end, I feel sorry for him...

Next we all had to go into a big white open room and wait. There was a bench across the back wall with hooks above it and a desk in the corner, and that's it. We all sat against the wall and waited for the Dr. to come in... Welcome to the Underwear Olympics! He pretty much told everyone to stand up and strip to our boxers. We all did and then he had us go up one by one in front of everyone and state our name and branch and then show him our hands, he looked at each one, had us flip them over and then examined the other sides. Then we had to turn around and raise one foot up behind us and grab our ankle so he could examine our feet, one by one. Then he had us bend over and try to touch our toes so he can check our spines.
After this we created 2 lines facing each other in the room and he had us doing all sorts of weird stretches, exercises and kicks. Then we had to drop to our knees and walk just on our knees to the end of the room and back, not so hard, but on ceramic tiles floors, it doesn't feel so great when you need to go from a standing position to dropping on your knees in a flash, and then walk on them with no other support. Then we had to flip to our feet again without hands or a jumping motion. I did it with no problem, and so did most of the others, except one kid had a problem with it, so they made notes and I think he had to see the Chief Dr. in the end as well. After this they made us walk in some funny ways, diagonally across the room, and a few other things, including the duck walk, where you have to stand on your feet but bend your knees so you butt is inches off the ground and walk heel to toe around the room. After this we did a few other things and then had to go in a line to get a height and weight check. Finally we were finished with this part and could get dressed again and wait for our papers to get signed and move on.
From there I sat in the waiting area to see the Chief Medical Dr. about my high glucose, he said he didn't know what would happen to me, but asked if I had diabetes, and said I might need to watch what I eat, and that was it. I went out and turned in my folder and waited in the chairs so they could update my record in the computer with everything. A few minutes later they called me up and said that I was Permanently Disqualified because my glucose was too high and it looked like I had diabetes. WHAT?! This was news to me, but he sent me to the Air Force office and said I needed to talk with them.
They told me that they will send it all down to the Surgeon General to look over everything once all my test results came back the next week and see if he would overturn it, but that it could take about 45-60 days to hear back. I felt horrible, like I did something wrong or something. I asked him if I could go get tested at my Dr.'s and see what they say and if that would help. He said if I did, to turn in any results they come up with and they will send it down with all my other results, and it might help.
I felt like absolute crap, like I had failed my wife and kids. I fought for this for how long just to be turned down, and on top of it I might have diabetes, great...
I went in to tell my wife and her family that came to watch me swear in to the Delayed Entry Program, and just didn't even know what to say, I felt ashamed that something out of my control was keeping us from joining.

We got to the car and I called up the Dr.'s office and told them I wanted to be seen ASAP, I didn't care which location or who it was with I just needed to get checked out now. There was an opening in Prior Lake in about 45 minutes, so we raced over. On the way my wife had an unopened bottle of water in the car, and I slammed it down, I wanted to make sure I flushed out anything that would have been in my system from the morning or night before. We stopped at a gas station and my wife grabbed me a giant bottle of water, and I slammed that as well. I don't think I have ever had as much water in me at one time. I called my parents on the way to see if anyone in our family had diabetes, and found out that my uncle does and my grandma has some glucose issues as well, crap! We got to the office and sat in the waiting area. A few minutes into it a guy from the Air Force also walked in and sat down, it was odd, kinda like holding something in front of me I couldn't have. Just odd that out of all the places and times, I ran into someone from the Air Force there. Finally I got called back and had to pee so bad, but I held it in doing a little dance. The Dr. came in and I told them what was going on and they said they would run every test under the sun for me. I couldn't hold it anymore and bursted out,  "I gotta go now, get me a cup!"
After that I went in and they took blood, for my second time of the day, and then I had to go to the bathroom again. I waited for the results as I read a diabetes pamphlet... The Dr. came in and said after everything, it looks like I am 100% fine, no diabetes, no high glucose, nothing. She said the test strips they used must have been old or bad, or maybe the lady read them wrong, because a glucose reading of 250 was extremely high, and there is no way it could have dropped from 250 to normal in that short amount of time. Normal is between 80 and 100, I was an 89, right in the middle. Another test would come back the next week telling me what my levels were for the past 90 days also.
As we left the clinic I was upset that my day was cut short because of a false reading, like I was cheated. I wanted to go back up and be like "Here, nothing is wrong with me, lets finish my processing!" I called my recruiter and told them everything, and they told me there is nothing we can do at this point, I just need to wait for all the results to come back in and turn it all in to be sent to the Surgeon General.

To add on to my already horrible day, when my wife dropped me back off at the hotel to pick up my car, she had just pulled away and I was just pulling out when I heard a big clunk and my car shifted, I coasted the next 40 feet or so to get to the other entrance to the hotel so I could pull back in and see what happened, and as I was rolling in and trying to turn to the right, Bam! A big clunk and the passenger side of my car dropped down. I got out and looked, my axle had snapped off and the knuckle came off the ball joint... Yay! And it's not like I could call my wife who had just left because my phone had also broke the night before, so that was also on top of the whole crappy day. I had to go in and get it towed to my buddy's shop, and a couple hundred bucks later... Worst day of my life...

After we turned all the medical papers in, it was now just a waiting game. Two weeks later I received a call saying I needed to call back about it all. I was excited so I called back right away and asked what was going on, boy was I let down. They said that the results from my clinic weren't signed by an actual MD, so I needed to get everything re-signed and re-submitted. Great, another delay...

My Enlistment: Part 3

I talked to one recruiter that I was referred to by someone in the Air Force Reserves that I had met recently. He told me he couldn't help me join since I had a wife and 2 dependents, and wouldn't even allow me to speak with him anymore and wouldn't return my calls. I began to call other recruiters offices hoping this wasn't the end, not after I had debated for so long then finally made a desicion to be shot down instantly. I heard similar from a few other recruiters further away until I called a Sgt. Gonzalez in Rochester, MN. I told him the situation and he said he would have no issues helping me with a dependency waiver to get by with the extra child. He referred me to speak to a Sgt. Lori Smith in the Burnsville office which I didn't even knew was there. I called and set up an appointment for me to talk with her, my wife came with to ask questions, and my dad came along as well. We talked for awhile and then she had me do a practice ASVAB to see where I qualified.
I sat out in the other room taking a test with questions and problems that I haven't seen in about 9 years. A 54 was my score. 50 is passing for the Air Force, from what I have seen the Army was 31, the Marines just a bit higher than that and I think the Navy was closer to the Air Force, but then I was told that I needed to get an even higher score because of having more than one kid. I needed to score a 65 they told me and I was getting worried, I was smart but I haven't done things like this in 10 years and didn't know how I would get better, I hated tests.
I remember running out on a stormy night and picking up the "ASVAB For Dummies" book at Barnes and Noble for about $20. For the next 2 weeks or so I locked myself upstairs in my office doing nothing but studying everything in that book over and over again. I had a few friends over to help me remember some of the math stuff that I just wasn't remembering. I can't even count how many practice tests I had done online and in books and everything. I think I studied more in that two weeks that I ever had throughout high school.
August 17th, 2010 I took off of work and went up to take the official ASVAB at the MEPS in Fort Snelling.
When I first walked into the building it was like a scene from a movie. It's just a giant white room with a metal detector, a desk and a few guards standing in the middle of the room. When I got upstairs, the guy at the desk directed me down the hall. There was I think 1 or 2 other people in the testing room, with two people from the Marines at the front desk. I sat down and started to breathe heavy. I knew that if I didn't get the score I needed this time I only had 1 more chance to take it before I would have to wait such a long grace period that would be past the time frame of me being old enough to join, so I knew it was this one time or one more chance, which put even more pressure on me.
I started the test, and thought I did OK on the first part, and then the 2nd part was word knowledge, which can be tricky, I thought I was doing OK at first, then I started second guessing myself and probably started messing up. Towards the end of that section I would hit an answer so fast as time ran down that by the time I was seeing the screen flash to the next screen I would realize I put the wrong answer, and before I knew it that section was done. I was scared because I knew I probably screwed that section up even though I knew the answers, my nerves were just getting the best of me. Shortly after was one of the mathematics portions, I normally did awesome on this type in the practice tests so I wasn't too worried. I started in and knew I was nailing most of them, if I would get close to an answer I would guess the most logical one as to not waste any more time and move on. Then as I was just about to finish a problem I looked up and saw that there was about 4 seconds left with another 4 questions or so to go, I was screwed. I tried to get the answer in for that last question not knowing if it accepted it and the timer came up and said that portion was over. I knew I was done for because I didn't even get to guess on those last ones, and hey a guess has a 25% chance of being right. How could I have been so dumb to not pace myself enough to let time run out on me. I finished up the test and knew I was done for, I was so disappointed in myself that I had a hard time walking up to the desk to get my score. He printed everything out and started circling things and then flipped the paper towards me and began to go over my scores. After he went through all the different individual area scores he pointed to a number and said "this is your ASVAB score", I looked down and held my breathe... A 72. I got it, not what I wanted, but what I needed. I was disappointed in myself because I knew I missed some that I knew and the time ran out on me on one of the math portions, but I couldn't be too upset, I went from a 54 to a 72 in just under 2 weeks of studying after being out of high school for about 8 years. I'll take it.
I remember as I walked out of the building I turned my phone on as I walked out to my car, I called my wife and told her the great news, she said she was so proud she was about to cry. I called the rest of my family and told them all the great news that I had passed.
That night it was finally time to relax after stressing for so long, it was the UPROAR Fest with Disturbed, Stone Sour and Avenged Sevenfold. I seriously felt like the biggest weight was lifted off my shoulders, I felt lighter and could actually breathe easier, it was crazy.

My Enlistment: Part 2

I gave my self deadlines, telling myself if I didn't get a job by X date then I would join. I would get so close to a job that the deadlines would get pushed back more and more. I went to meet with an Air Force Recruiter but I guess they were out for training so instead I sat down with a Navy recruiter. Once he told me I would be on a boat somewhere for 6 months, then home for another 6 months and then back on a boat for 6 months  and back and forth for the first 4-6 years or so I knew it wasn't for me. I don't mind serving my time where needed, but signing up to be away from home that much with a family just wasn't for me. About a week later I had talked with a Air Force recruiter who didn't seem to know much and was just trying to get me to join more for him than me. His name was Sgt. Hart I believe, and just didn't really seem to have any answers to any of my questions, or just didn't care. His partner was the "Macho Wacho" type, getting in my face asking why wouldn't I be signing up right now, I was an idiot if I didn't, and all that crap. I knew if I joined, it wouldn't be through the West St. Paul office.
I kept putting it off, and had a job lined up for me until one day I called to get everything finalized and they told me they were going to be merging with another company and couldn't hire me at the time anymore. Later, I kept putting the Air Force off because I knew how difficult it would be on me leaving my family and not being able to talk or see them for such a long time. At this point the longest I had ever been away from my girls was for about 36 hours when I had to go to Chicago for work.

June 2010 came around and I was finally offered a job close to what I had been doing for the past 5+ years. I started mid June and had been there for a few weeks and things were going good. It was a neat experience and I learned a lot of new things. Things were going OK, or so I thought. I started having these feelings about joining the military that I didn't have before. It was different because now I wasn't being forced or pressured to join from being unemployed and needing to support my family. Like when someone who finds out they are pregnant and acts unhappy and scared until they find out they lost it and feel sad that they really did want that kid. I know it's the weirdest way to put it, but that's how I felt about the Air Force. Now that it was truly my decision without pressure from myself, I really wanted to do it.
We were driving up to my wife's grandparents cabin for 4th of July weekend, and as we were driving I told all my feelings to my wife, and she told me she kind of had the same feelings, which was great news to me. We enjoyed our weekend knowing that when we got back into town we were going to pursue the Air Force finally, after about 8 months of thinking and hesitation.

I never really thought about joining before this whole experience. After high school I had a girlfriend, went to college, got engaged, finished college and got a job in my field, we got a house, got married, had a kid, got a better job (or so I thought), had another kid and then things tumbled downhill shortly after.
I know one thing that hit home with me was when Todd Selge, someone I had known a fair amount since 1st grade pretty much, had been killed in Iraq about the same time my 2nd daughter was born. I went to his wake and was just in awe at the whole experience. There were guards standing every few feet on the road all the way up and into the funeral home, the Soldiers that stood guard at his casket, you could just feel the patriotism in the room. I remember sitting there in my seat as they said a few words and then draped the stars and stripes over his coffin the memories I had of Todd. He wore an American Flag as a cape on Patriot day in high school and was suspended because they said he was disrespecting the flag, which is kind of hard to imagine when he is dressed up similar to something like a US themed Super Hero. Then when we graduated and he was handed his diploma he turned toward the ramp, took a few steps and stopped, he then reached down the back of his gown and pulled the American flag out and let it drape down as a cape once again and proceeded to walk down the ramp to his seat. The entire auditorium erupted with cheers and applause. That is something I will never forget. Then I started thinking that Todd did all this for his country, and what have I done? Heck, he was shot in the back in Iraq about a year, or year and a half ago, and asked to go back to join his squad, and received a purple heart.