Day 0 1/12/10

Day 0 1/12/10 Tues MEPS

Get a wakeup call at 04:45, not bad. I actually was able to sleep a little but whenever the heater would kick on I would start roasting so I kick some covers off. Then the heater would turn off so then I would get all cold. I never could find the happy medium. I was close with sticking the one foot out but later that would prove useless.

Anyways, wake up, grab a quick breakfast, then roll call in the lobby, then load up on the bus and hauled to MEPS. This place sucks, there is no other way to describe this place. There is a lot of waiting and doing nothing. Plus a lot of the civilians that work here treat everyone like garbage. But it is a necessary evil if you want to enlist. This if my 5th time at MEPS too, very poopy. The 1st time was for the ASVAB, that wasn’t too bad. The 2nd was for my physical, which I failed my urine test because of too much protein. 3rd time was to urinate in a cup again. 4th time was to ship, but because I sprained my ankle the week before I did not ship. 5th time is now. So here I am waiting till like 1300 or 1400 to take a bus back to the hotel. If anyone is ever thinking about joining the military, come to MEPS. Granted basic training will be worse, but this is a good introductory taste.

So we got here about 05:55 and had to weigh and height measured. I am 68.5” and weigh 195. I had to be taped which means I weigh too much for my height. Had my neck and waist measured which results in 22% body fat. 26% is the limit. Once that was all done it is sit and wait time.

At 10:00 we had lunch. At lunch, there is some disgruntled fat guy standing behind a counter giving out sandwiches. You can tell this guy doesn’t want to be here but he can’t get any other job so he does this and makes probably $8 an hour and takes out his frustration on us by yelling, “FIND YOR NAME ON THE LIST AND SIGN IT!” Then he asks you, “turkey, ham, roast beef?...mayonnaise?” And he talks so quick that you can’t understand him, “lettucetomatoespicklesgreenpepperscucumbers?” “Yes,” is what I answer. He definitely is not happy.

There is this nurse guy who works here. He is probably 6’ and weighs 350-400 lbs. just a big fatty. He has the bi jelly front that hangs down to his knees, pretty nasty. Anyways, a bunch of us are in line in this hallway and he needs to get through the door, which he can’t cause he’s a fatty, so he yells, “make a hole!” Yup, make a hole indeed. In fact let’s make another doorway for you tubby.

Then later as I’m sitting, waiting, again he walks across the room with peoples’ medical records in one hand and a candy bar in the other. Then he starts flipping through the records. Nice. Gets chocolate on those papers. Pretty sweet seeing stuff like that.

So now it’s 11:25 and I am waiting. UGH! Oh well, I should probably be enjoying it while I can. Once basic comes it will be non-stop go. And we do have TV’s here and arcade games to keep us entertained. I know reception won’t have that. Plus we will have to stand. So enjoy the couches while I can I guess.

Well it’s 12:15, still sitting in the same spot. I went to the bathroom to take a leak and while I was ther I checked my cell phone for messages. We are not allowed to use them while we are here, but they can’t see me when I am in the latrine. My roommate last night told me how he made the mistake of pullig his cell phone out and then promptly got his butt chewed. So here I sit, bored, watching “the George Lopez Show” Lou Diamond Philis is a guest on the show today. Very bored right now I am.
I move back to the ARNG Liason office where some other guys are watching Ultimate Knockouts on Spike. Much better than that crap on the other TV.

I am maybe back there for 30 minutes when we get the call to leave MEPS with our flight info. They hand us this brown manila envelope stuffed full of stuff and tell us not to loose this otherwise we will be stuck in reception for 6-8 weeks while they make another one. I am guessing it has all our personnel info inside. I will be holding on to this envelope very tightly.

We take a cab back to the hotel and arrive just before 14:00. We are given the freedom to leave but have to be back by 20:00 for another meeting thing. I text Russ to see if he can come hang out, pick me up and go somewhere. Not till 17:00 he says cause he is working. So in the mean time I play Call of Duty 4 again where I proceed to beat the living crap outta the other guys. Pretty fun it is.

Russ shows up at 17:30 and we head to the Gateway and eat at Costa Vida. Good stuff. We walk around for a bit and talk before he takes me back. It was nice to do that. Especially considering the punk stood me up on Sunday for family dinner. That last dinner together with the fam.

Back at the hotel I am watching TV till 20:00, go to the meeting to arrange travel to the airport. My flight doesn’t leave till 08:30 the next day, which equals sleep in time for about 45 minutes. After the meeting a couple more games, back to the room, watching some TV. Talk to Nate, Virg, and Amy again. Then off to bed