Yesterday was rough. I walked into a room full of army recruits that looked like they had been training for the last six months. Take into account there was not another female recruit and this was my first time at a Future Soldier (FS) 'event', you can bet I was a little intimidated. Ok, A LOT intimidated. I had no idea what to expect.
Okay, let's back up a few months.
If you have been following my life, you might be scratching your head wondering why I'm not talking about grad school. Do to my awesome skills of procrastination, I waited too long to submit my applications for grad school to be considered because all the spots in the programs had been already filled. There is nothing like a slew of rejection letters to initiate those 'Where am I going in Life?' questions.
After I got over the initial feelings of failure and rejection, I started thinking. Did I really want to go to grad school? Do I really want to spend the best years of my life inside working with scads of urine samples(or worse). Am I happy? Will I be happy 10 years down the road I'm currently traveling? You get the idea.
So what do I do when I contemplate the direction of my life? That's right, I call Kate.
My big sister has always been the problem solver. If she thinks she can make it better, you can bet she is going to try. As always, my sister is a big advocate of the military. No surprise, she immediately offers military service as a solution to all of my 'problems'. I don't know if she knew I would bite, but bite I did. This was February.
Fast forward to May. Kate comes home to celebrate our little brother's graduation from high school. I pick her up from the airport, but before we drive home, we make a stop at the AMEDD(Army Medical Department) recruiting office. We set up some initial contacts and then go home to celebrate Paul's accomplishment.
June saw many meetings with my recruiter and the ASVAB (the army's general aptitude test). July saw the most gruesome aptitude test I've ever endured and some physical tests to determine whether or not I was fit to serve in the first place. On July 3rd, I took the oath. Since my BCT (Basic Combat Training) doesn't start until the end of September, I'm in the DEP (Delayed Entry Program). This means I have roughly two months to get myself ready for the rigors of basic.
Which brings us back to yesterday.
When you are in the DEP, you have certain requirements. Keeping in contact with your recruiter weekly and participating in FS events are just a few of these obligations. Since Kate and Steve didn't go through DEP I didn't have my normal 'people' to let me know what goes on at these events. Yesterday's event, for instance, was simply an hour long physical training(PT) session. It took everything in me to keep going. But go I did. I didn't know what muscle failure really felt like or that it was possible for me to sweat that much until yesterday.
It totally PUMPED ME UP!
Don't get me wrong, it was hard, but it was so encouraging! I know that as long as I keep going to training each week I will be as ready for BCT as possible by ship date.
I could go on and on (and have actually - sorry for the long post!) but I'll stop for now.
After I got over the initial feelings of failure and rejection, I started thinking. Did I really want to go to grad school? Do I really want to spend the best years of my life inside working with scads of urine samples(or worse). Am I happy? Will I be happy 10 years down the road I'm currently traveling? You get the idea.
So what do I do when I contemplate the direction of my life? That's right, I call Kate.
My big sister has always been the problem solver. If she thinks she can make it better, you can bet she is going to try. As always, my sister is a big advocate of the military. No surprise, she immediately offers military service as a solution to all of my 'problems'. I don't know if she knew I would bite, but bite I did. This was February.
Fast forward to May. Kate comes home to celebrate our little brother's graduation from high school. I pick her up from the airport, but before we drive home, we make a stop at the AMEDD(Army Medical Department) recruiting office. We set up some initial contacts and then go home to celebrate Paul's accomplishment.
June saw many meetings with my recruiter and the ASVAB (the army's general aptitude test). July saw the most gruesome aptitude test I've ever endured and some physical tests to determine whether or not I was fit to serve in the first place. On July 3rd, I took the oath. Since my BCT (Basic Combat Training) doesn't start until the end of September, I'm in the DEP (Delayed Entry Program). This means I have roughly two months to get myself ready for the rigors of basic.
Which brings us back to yesterday.
When you are in the DEP, you have certain requirements. Keeping in contact with your recruiter weekly and participating in FS events are just a few of these obligations. Since Kate and Steve didn't go through DEP I didn't have my normal 'people' to let me know what goes on at these events. Yesterday's event, for instance, was simply an hour long physical training(PT) session. It took everything in me to keep going. But go I did. I didn't know what muscle failure really felt like or that it was possible for me to sweat that much until yesterday.
It totally PUMPED ME UP!
Don't get me wrong, it was hard, but it was so encouraging! I know that as long as I keep going to training each week I will be as ready for BCT as possible by ship date.
I could go on and on (and have actually - sorry for the long post!) but I'll stop for now.