In less than 48 hours, my recruiter will pick me up. In less than 72 hours, I will swear in again at MEPS and officially become a recruit for the United States Navy. I will miss my family, friends, and home — but I am ready to move on, challenge myself, and serve my country’s Navy. I am 36 years old. I have overcome many things already, and I know I have the strength inside me to overcome even more. ...
In 9 days I will be leaving my current life to begin a new one as a United States Navy sailor. The beginning of this new life is one that I have tried to prepare for by reading and researching online, but one that I can never be fully prepared for as it will be completely foreign to me. I write this letter today for the version of me who has completed this first step of the new chapter in my life as a sailor. This first step will be one that every sailor must complete, which is Navy RTC, or more commonly known as boot camp. While I have had some time to prepare a physically by running, doing push-ups, and planks, I am not sure how ready, but I know I will be able to overcome the challenges that will be presented to me during my 9 weeks in boot camp. ...
This post will be a description of the version of myself who finishes Navy boot camp. I will be describing him as if I am meeting him for the first time. What this version of myself is like Physically he will be lean and in shape. He will be comfortable pushing his body past its comfort level. He will be able to complete over 50 push ups in one sitting, be able to plank for over 3 minutes, and complete a mile and half run in under 14 minutes, which is less than a 9 minute mile pace. ...
I was watching a video on the topic of God and making decisions a few days after visiting the Navy recruitment offices in order to schedule my appointment for MEPS. The video was on the topic of over thinking decisions and the problems that it can lead to. For instance thoughts of relying on the self can begin to take hold of your life when weighing decisions for extended periods of time. The recommendation in the video was to make a decision, and then rely on God to for strength and help through the decision. After hearing that, I decided that I would enlist in the Navy and not debate with myself any longer. With that being said over the last month and half after making this decision I have still had thoughts about whether or not I am making the right decision, when I have these thoughts I remember that Jesus will support me through this and if it is not the right thing to do than He will not let me enlist. ...
Last Friday I swore in at MEPS. I accepted a 6 year contract for the AECF (Advanced Electronics and Computing Field) rating. I have been taking care of some things so I can spend the last month of my time as a civilian spending time with people, getting in better shape, and doing my first solo bike camping trip. Moving on I put in a Military Leave of Absence to my job and have one more week left until I am no longer on the schedule. I will probably pick up a few shifts to help out and spend some time with all of my co-workers who I am definitely going to miss. I am very grateful for the position I was given by my bosses and I will miss them and my coworkers, as well as many of the customers and the ability to get them out on the road riding their bike. I enjoyed being a bike mechanic and since I have put in military leave, I have the option to go back to it after my six years serving the country is over. I am looking forward to keeping in contact with many of my coworkers and seeing their growth from afar in the next six years. ...
Today was my first of two days at MEPS (Military Enlistment Processing Station), and it was an interesting experience. I am writing this recap at around 7PM, 3 hours after getting back home from MEPS. I got a small taste of what it was like to be in the military while doing some testing there today, and I have a feeling I will get more of a taste tomorrow as I will be there for around 12 hours. The process of testing today took me about 2 hours but it was a bit nerve wrecking and hectic. I know I will be getting some great sleep tonight, which is nice because I will need to be up early tomorrow. The following is a run down of how the process went and how I will prepare for my bigger day tomorrow. ...
I have two more days ahead of me before I head to MEPS in order to verify my PiCAT (Online ASVAB), get checked out by the doctors, and if all goes smoothly, enlist for the Navy as a Cyber Warfare Technician or IT. As the day approaches the reality of the situation becomes more present in my daily life. I am in my mid 30’s, working as a bicycle mechanic for the last decade. I was in a long-term relationship, nearly 10 years, that just ended and I am feeling like I need to take on some new challenges to begin this new chapter in my life. Since I am older and probably a lot more mature than most of the people coming to MEPS as hopefully recruits I feel a bit more prepared for this event, which makes some of the advice I read online not targeted toward me as it is mostly telling people to expect to have to take orders and be bored while waiting for things to happen. ...