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.
My journey to enlist in the Navy so far
Just over 30 days ago someone close to me who decided they were interested in joining the Air Force asked me to come with them to the recruiter in order to see if it was something that I would be interested in joining. While on the way to pick them up it was raining and my truck spun out and I got into an accident where I did not hit any cars and just popped up onto the curb. My truck was not damaged, but I was scared because it was my first accident. I called my friend and told them I was not going to be able to pick them up because I was scared to drive around while it was raining. I talked to someone else and they convinced me that I should still go. I went to pick my friend up and we got some sandbags from the local fire department and put them in the back of my truck to prevent me from spinning out again.
We arrived at the recruiter’s office 10 minutes early and chatted with him. While my friend was taking their practice ASVAB test I was speaking with the recruiter who was a really cool guy and mentioned that I have a plate in my arm. The second I mentioned this his facial expression changed and he said “Oh you have hardware still?”, to which I informed him that I did. Immediately he told me that I was not eligible to join the Air Force and we continued talking for a bit and he mentioned that other branches aren’t as strict about this. I asked him what the Navy’s policy was, and he told me he was not sure but he would walk next door and check. He left and returned a few minutes later and said that the Navy was OK with hardware and a recruiter would be willing to chat with me in about 15 minutes. We continued chatting and then the person I came with finished their practice test and I sat there wondering what life in the Navy would be like while the two of them went over some paper work.
After about 15 minutes sitting and listen to my friend and the Air Force recruiter talk about the paper work they were filling out, the Navy recruiter called the Air Force recruiter and had me sent over to their office. There I met with my recruiter for the first time and we discussed what joining the Navy would be like, the types of jobs available, their experience in the Navy, and why I was interested in joining.
After our first meeting we met a week later to take a practice ASVAB test which I scored a 78 on and filled out some paperwork. We finally met one more time to discuss what would happen at MEPS as they would not be able to drop me off due to a prior engagement.
During the week leading up to MEPS, which is when I am writing this, I finished my SF-86 form and took an online ASBAB test where I got high enough scores to get any of the rates I am interested in. Now I am two days away from leaving, and I am getting nervous. I was honest about my past life, which involved using marijuana, and I am afraid that it is going to prevent me from enlisting or getting one of the technical rates that I was interested in and scored high enough to receive.
All of this has led up to what will be my first day at MEPS tomorrow. I have been told to arrive no earlier than noon tomorrow in order to verify my PiCAT scores as well as take a few other tests. I will then be taking a shuttle to a hotel where I will be staying the night. The hotel will wake all of the applicants early in the morning and feed us breakfast before we get back on the shuttle for our second day of MEPS when our medical processing and swearing in will occur.